Toliver Loses Rematch with Neff at Englishtown

In today's first-round match-up against Mike Neff at the United Association NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Funny Car veteran Jerry Toliver was looking to draw some positive vibes from his first-round defeat of the Force Racing driver earlier this season at Gainesville. Unfortunately for Toliver, history didn't repeat itself.

Toliver in the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy made his best pass of the weekend with a 4.213-second elapsed time at 303.43 mph, but Neff used the quickest elapsed time of the round to avenge his earlier loss. Neff had an elapsed time of 4.051 seconds at 308.92 mph to get the better of the Jim Dunn Racing entry. Tony Pedregon went on to defeat Neff's teammate, Ashley Force Hood, for his second consecutive Funny Car win.

"We kind of put ourselves behind the eight ball in qualifying," Toliver said. "We've been making gains on the CANIDAE car, but it seems like every time we take a step or two forward with it, we take another one backwards. That's what makes this class so tough.

"We could have used that extra qualifying session that got rained out yesterday. We need all the laps we can get to find that window and dial this car in. Big Jim (Dunn) and the guys are working hard and we're just going to keep plugging away at it."

Next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Series is the Third annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, from June 25-28.

Kirk Weeks