GEICO Powersports racers confident in California

SONOMA, Calif. (July 18) – Both GEICO Powersports NHRA racers will have difficult, but not impossible draws for Sunday’s eliminations at the Fram-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway.

Both Top Fueler Morgan Lucas and Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Karen Stoffer will be starting Sunday’s eliminations from the lower half of the ladder.

“Weekend started off good, but we’ve been chasing our tails since,” Lucas said. “It seems week-to-week, we’ve been inconsistent.”

Lucas had a best pass on the weekend of 3.966 seconds at 294.88 mph to qualify 10th. He faces No. 7 qualifier Tony Schumacher who ended with a best run of 3.926 at 305.98 mph. Lucas said he’s ready for the challenge that Schumacher presents for the GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster.

“Something is obviously wrong with the car, for the car to be as inconsistent as it is right  now,” Lucas said. “I can’t say it’s any individual part, or problem that’s going wrong.
 
“It’s fun to race guys like Schumacher first round, because you go up there and try to hit that home run. I definitely think we have the potential to do as good, if not better than anyone else out there.  It’s just bringing the potential to the surface.”
 
Stoffer had a best lap of 6.966 seconds at 191.43 mph on the GEICO Powersports Suzuki, and faces No. 6 Michael Phillips, who had a 6.926 at 193.99 mph.

“We were plagued with issues as usual, but real happy to be in the show in the 11th spot,” Stoffer said. “Second round, we broke a transmission.
 
“We can pull it all together tomorrow, we got Michael  Phillips, but this GEICO Powersports machine is going to take it to him.”

Eliminations for the Fram-Autolite Nationals begins at 11 a.m. PDT from Infineon Raceway. Television coverage of eliminations begins on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. EDT.