After racing to his second final in two races Doug starts at the O’Reilly Mid West Nationals in 5th place in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series points. Friday morning the weather doesn’t look like it will cooperate but around 3pm the bikes are able to make their first qualifying attempt. Doug stages and drops the clutch and the bike spins violently and makes a move left, after checking it appears the rear tire still had water on it and causes the tire to spin. As soon as Pro Stock Cars start to run a rain storm puts everything on hold. Rain continued to fall and the race was called off until tomorrow. Doug now will have to wait and hope for favorable weather on Saturday.
Contrary to the forecast, Saturday morning brought beautiful conditions and the safety safari was able to prepare the track. With Doug's shut off pass on Friday, he is the second pair out, and runs a 7.09 @ 182.55 for the #13 spot. With that pass Bob now has something to tune from and it looks like the team will get another chance in qualifying. In the 3rd session Douglas lays down a 6.994 at 187.57 to put him #9 for Sunday, he will run against Karen Stoffer on the Geico Suzuki.
Sunday brings 70 degree weather and a track that has gotten better with every pass. At the start Karen leaves early and red lights to advance Douglas to the next round. In the quarter finals Douglas faces the #1 qualifer and new record holder, Andrew Hines on the Harley Davidson V-Rod. At the line Andrew leaves early and Doug will advance to his third semi-final in a row, going up against Houston winner Craig Treble. At the start it is almost even with Doug's .021 to Craigs .022 reaction time. Douglas has the lead to half track and the bike seems to lose power, Craig take the win 6.96 @ 193.10 to Doug's 7.030 @184.90. The teams plans to test in the four weeks off before running in the NHRA Rt 66 Nationals at Joliet Il. June 5-7.
Douglas would like to thank Chesapeake Harley Davidson, Maryland Portable Concrete, Cecil County Dragway, Red Line Oil and Rance Aluminum Trailers for their continued support.
