Monday, August 24, 2009

Toliver Advances to Quarterfinals at Weather-Plagued Reading Race

In between rain showers and track "weepers" throughout the race weekend, Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver found time to get a round win and advance to the quarterfinals in today's final eliminations at the 25th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway.

Toliver qualified the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy 14th after two rain-shortened qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday to earn a first-round match-up with defending event champion and No. 3 qualifier Jack Beckman. In the first round, Toliver steered the CANIDAE car to an elapsed time of 4.327 seconds at 258.27 mph and the win over Beckman's 4.662 e.t. at 204.08 mph.

"What a miserable weekend," Toliver said. "But it was nice getting past Beckman in the first round. It has been awhile since we've gotten a round win, so that was a nice boost for the team and the hard work they've been putting in."

The second round was delayed more than two hours to address the intermittent "weepers" from the seeping of water from the rain-saturated ground through the asphalt, but when on-track activities continued, Toliver squared off against No. 6 qualifier Mike Neff. Unfortunately for Toliver, Neff turned in the quickest elapsed time of the round with a 4.239 e.t. at 275.39 mph to turn on the win light as Toliver broke as he launched the CANIDAE car from the starting line.

"We lost the burst panel at the hit," Toliver said. "But then Zippy (Mike Neff) goes and makes the quickest run of the round, so that's kind of been our racing luck this year. I sure wouldn't go so far as to say we're on a roll or anything, but this is a step in the right direction, and it's always nice to get round wins.

"Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) is really gearing up for Indy. He's won there before ('99 U.S. Nationals and '97 Big Bud Shootout) and always seems to run well there, so maybe this will give us a little momentum heading to 'The Big Go.'"

Next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Series is race No. 18, the final race of the regular-season Countdown to 10, the 55th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis from Sept. 2-7.

by Kirk Weeks



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Sunday, August 23, 2009

Toliver to Start 14th after Rain-Shortened Qualifying at Reading

Rain hampered qualifying and limited teams to a single session both today and Friday for the 25th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. After more than a four-hour rain delay yesterday Jerry Toliver drove the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy Funny Car to a 4.289-second elapsed time at 276.52 mph to claim the 12th qualifying spot on the provisional Funny Car grid.

Rain and track "weepers," water seeping through the asphalt at the top end of Maple Grove Raceway's quarter-mile, limited today's qualifying to another single session and Toliver was unable to improve his time and dropped to the 14th qualifying position. Ashley Force Hood was the No. 1 qualifier with a 4.114 e.t. at 301.47 mph.

"Weekends like this are the kind that are tough on the teams and make crew chiefs just want to pull their hair out," Toliver said. "With the rain delays we don't know if or when we're going to run, and then when we do, it's a real challenge to tune these cars to get down the track. We had a good, safe pass last night but just couldn't back it up today. But everybody's in the same boat, so hopefully the weather cooperates tomorrow and we'll see what the CANIDAE can do."

Toliver faces No. 3 qualifier Jack Beckman in tomorrow's first round of eliminations.

by Kirk Weeks



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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Toliver Looks to Continue CANIDAE Car's Improvement

Last week at Brainerd CANIDAE Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver and the Jim Dunn Racing team turned in a season-best qualifying effort, and now they return to the track with the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy for this weekend's 25th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway determined to build on that performance.

"Last week we improved our performance each time down the track," Toliver said, "so that's a positive, but now we need to keep building on that. We need to consistently qualifying in the top half of the field so we can improve our chances to go rounds on Sunday, and then we'll have something to build on so we can compete for a win.

"We're not over the hump yet, but, man, Jim and this team keep working hard and I think that showed last week. Now we need to continue to improve. This is a tough class and a tough business, and if it were easy everybody would be doing it. But we're not giving up and now we get to put on a show for these great East Coast fans. They really support their drag racing so it's always nice coming out here."

A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD on Sunday, Aug. 23, beginning at 1:00 a.m. (ET). Coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD continues on Sunday when NHRA Race Day kicks off eliminator coverage starting at 11:30 am (ET), and concludes with three hours of final-eliminations coverage beginning at 10:00 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks

Sunday, August 16, 2009

CANIDAE Racing NHRA Brainerd Results

After a near three-hour delay, a rain-interrupted final day of the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway was finally completed, and CANIDAE Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver lost in his first-round match-up with Del Worsham.

Toliver qualified a season-best ninth for eliminations with a 4.209 e.t. at 296.50 mph, and the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy had the second-fastest speed through qualifying. In the first round Worsham had a winning elapsed time of 4.150 seconds at 302.62 mph to best Toliver's 4.299 e.t. at 289.20 mph. Tony Pedregon defeated Ron Capps in the Funny Car finals.

"Give Worsham and their team credit," Toliver said. "They stepped it up a little bit from qualifying and we fell off a little, and when it's 8 (qualifier) vs. 9 (qualifier) that's all it takes. But we'll take away some positives from Brainerd.

"We had our best qualifying effort of the season, and we had the second-best speed in qualifying, so Big Jim (team owner/crew chief) is obviously making some horsepower. We just need to be more consistent, and as we showed here this weekend, nobody on this team is giving up, so we pack up and get back after it at Reading."

Next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Series is race No. 17, the 25th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., from Aug. 20-23.

Kirk Weeks

Toliver Turns in Season-Best Qualifying Effort at Brainerd

Qualifying was completed today for the 28th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, and Jerry Toliver drove the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy Funny Car to his best qualifying position of the season with a 4.209-second elapsed time at 296.50 mph to claim the ninth qualifying spot on the Funny Car grid. Toliver's speed was second-fastest in the class for the weekend, only being bested by No. 1 qualifier Mike Neff. Neff had a 4.126 e.t. at 304.46 mph.

"We got better with each qualifying run," Toliver said, "and it's nice to see the hard work put in by Jim (team owner /crew chief Dunn) and the team start to show on the track. The next step is to carry it over into consistent runs on Sunday so hopefully we can do that."

After yesterday's two qualifying sessions, today's qualifying was rain-shortened to just one round, and Toliver will face No. 8 qualifier Del Worsham in the first round of eliminations.

"We would've liked another round to try and move up into the top half of the field, but I don't think lane choice is going to be that big of an issue here at Brainerd. We just need to build some momentum from qualifying and get some round wins."

Kirk Weeks

Friday, August 14, 2009

Toliver Anxious to Get Back on Track at Brainerd

After a two-week break most NHRA teams are anxious to get back on the quarter-mile for this weekend's 28th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, and for Jerry Toliver, driver of the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Funny Car, truer words may have never been spoken.

"For some reason I looked at the schedule wrong and I actually had a flight booked and was ready to go to Brainerd last week," Toliver laughed. "It's funny because I looked on NHRA.com where they count down the days to the next race and when it said eight days and so many hours, I just thought they hadn't updated it. Then it registered and I thought, 'You dummy, Brainerd's next week.' Oh well, I rebooked my flight and I'm ready to go.

"The biggest problem we're having is we're not qualifying the CANIDAE car high enough. We're getting knocked out first round by cars that have just plain out-qualified us. We need to step it up and Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) is working really hard on that. We're working hard to get to the next level and then be consistent with what we have. There are just too many good cars out here so you've got to be there."

The Jim Dunn Racing team had good performance numbers with the CANIDAE car at Norwalk, prior to the just-completed Western Swing, matching its best qualifying effort of the season and posting the second-fastest speed of the meet. Toliver and the team now look to regain some of that momentum starting this weekend at Brainerd.

"I'm not going to say we can't get over this hump, we just haven't gotten over it up to this point," Toliver said. "We're certainly not going to roll over and quit trying. We're going to keep working hard and see if we can't get this thing turned around. Making the top 10 is out of the question, but we want to make a good showing and finish the year strong."

A one-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD on Saturday, Aug. 15, beginning at 6:00 p.m. (ET). Coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD continues on Sunday, Aug. 16, when NHRA Race Day kicks off eliminator coverage starting at 11:00 am (ET), and concludes with three hours of final-eliminations coverage beginning at 10:00 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

CANIDAE Motosport.com Kawasaki Takes Loretta Lynn’s by Storm!

Nothing could stop the CANIDAE Motosport.com Kawasaki team at the Ranch. Not Mother Nature. Not the tough competition. Not the rough track. Nothing! Team CANIDAE steam rolled over the competition with seven moto wins, six runner ups and a total of 16 podium spots not to mention two National Titles from this team; not a bad weekend for the boys in Green.

Zack Freeberg had a good weekend, but some transmission troubles in his 450 moto kept him from a podium spot in this class. Zack would bounce back and podium two out of three times with a 4/3/3 for a 3rd overall in the 250B class. This kid is going to be a name to watch in the near future, you can count on that.

Justin Bogle also had a good weekend as he competed in the Schoolboy B/C (12-16) class on his 125cc Kawasaki and the Schoolboy B/C (14-16) class on his 250F Kawasaki. Justin struggled with starts on the 125 and just missed the podium in this class, but made up for it with triple deuces on the 250. With his 2/2/2 finish, he took home the silver medal and sent notice to the other riders just who is the one to beat next year.

Malcolm Stewart showed tremendous heart and perseverance during a week when the Florida rider could not buy a start. Malcolm clawed his way to the top in almost every moto he raced. In the Four Stroke class, he finished second overall for the week with a 1/6/1 performance. In 450A, Malcolm was consistent with three, second place finishes for another silver medal. Watch this kid next year as he continues to dial in his program.

Dean Wilson came to Loretta Lynn’s as the man to beat and he did not disappoint. If it were not for his first moto in the 250A class, Dean would have swept every moto he competed in the entire week. He finished 3/1/1 in the class for his first National Title of the weekend, then walked away with the 450A/ProSport Championship with a 1/1/1 tally. Dean proved that his amazing year is no fluke and he is ready for the stardom that is coming his way.

CANIDAE All Natural Pet Foods could not be more proud of their team, the riders, the mechanics and the families that make this program the elite powerhouse that it is. The entire ream works tirelessly to improve and represent themselves and their sponsors at the highest level. We at CANIDAE salute you fine young men for a job well done.

Jason Cobb