Toliver Loses First-Round Match-Up with Force at Atlanta

Jerry Toliver and his CANIDAE Racing team made an early exit from the Summit Racing NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway after a first-round loss to 14-time Funny Car champ John Force.

After near-identical reaction times, Force slowly pulled away with a winning elapsed time of 4.123 seconds at 308.57 mph as Toliver drove the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy to an elapsed time of 4.213 seconds at 301.74 mph.  

"Even though we lost, this was a good bounce-back weekend for us," Toliver said. "We made consistent runs in qualifying, and then made a good, solid run in the first round today that just wasn't enough. (John) Force is obviously a tough match-up, but we made a good pass and at least made him earn it. We got some good data this weekend, so it's on to St. Louis and we'll keep trying to get better." 

Toliver qualified 15th for the 16-car Funny Car field with a 4.201-second elapsed time at 299.13 mph to earn his first-round pairing with No. 2 qualifier Force. 

Next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Series is the 13th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Int'l. Raceway in Madison, Ill., from May 1-3.

Kirk Weeks

Toliver Looks to Bounce Back at Atlanta

Despite a temporary set-back at Las Vegas when he was bumped in the final qualifying session and failed to make the 16-car Funny Car field for the first time this season, Jerry Toliver is confident his CANIDAE Racing team can get back on track at this weekend's 29th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway on April 16-19.

"Las Vegas was just a bad, bad weekend all the way around," Toliver said.  "We went in there with a lot of confidence in how we were improving the car, but we just had a bad weekend and ended up hurting a lot of parts.  We were fortunate that there was an off weekend between races, so the team had a chance to regroup before heading to Atlanta.

   

"But you're going to have a weekend like that over the course of a 24-race season, so we just have to put that one in the rearview mirror and keep marching forward starting with the race this weekend at Atlanta."

  

Starting the season as a new driver of the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy Funny Car with a new, untested Murf McKinney chassis, potential performance results, especially early in the year, were relatively unknown.  After qualifying for the season-opener at Pomona on a one-lap flyer due to weather conditions, Toliver qualified a season-best 10th at Phoenix, had his best race weekend to date with his first round-win of the season at Gainesville, and despite a close, side-by-side loss in the first round at Houston to No. 2 qualifier Del Worsham, Toliver qualified for his fourth consecutive race to start the season.  

Now he looks to start a new streak starting with Friday's first qualifying session; Toliver was a No. 1 qualifier at Atlanta Dragway in 2001.          

"Atlanta Dragway is a nice track and we're looking forward to a successful weekend there," Toliver said.  "Big Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) and the guys are working hard at this thing and that's all you can ask for."

A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, April 18, beginning at 6:00 p.m. (ET).  Coverage on ESPN2 continues on Sunday, April 19, when NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage starting at 11:00 a.m. (ET), and concludes with three hours of final eliminations coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks

CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki takes on the Georgia Dome!

The CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki team pulled into Atlanta, GA ready to race for the 2nd round of the “East” series for the Lites riders and the 8th round overall. The last time the Lites guys raced was almost a month ago on January 24th, in Houston, TX. Since that time, the team has lost Hunter Hewitt to a broken femur leaving just Branden Jesseman to battle in the 250cc class and Tommy Hahn to fight for a win in the Supercross (450cc) class.

The #74 Kawasaki of Jesseman jumped out of the gate in the # 4 position when Heat # 2 got underway. As the pack filtered through the first corner, Jesseman was in 5th and working his way forward. As Jesseman went wide in the second corner, the # 309 bike of Spenser Dally went down forcing Jesseman to slam on the brakes and find a way around the downed rider, moving him back in the pack. Branden would recover nicely and work his way up to 7th by the end of the first lap. Branden would eventually finish the race in the 6th position, and advance on to the Lites Main Event.

Tommy Hahn took to the track in the first Supercross heat race of the night. Tommy would get out of the gate with a mid-pack start and finish the first lap in 12th position, well outside a transfer spot for the Main Event. Hahn would work hard and move his Kawasaki into a transfer position when the checkered flags flew, ending up in 8th place.

CANIDAE All Natural Pet Foods sponsors the "Lucky Dog" Last Chance Qualifier, which is the final opportunity for all remaining riders to make it into the "Big Show.” # 20, Nico Izzi and # 34 Matt Goerke were the last two "Lucky Dog's" to qualify for the 20 rider Main Event in the Lites class and Charles Summey and Nick Wey would move on in the premier class.

The Atlanta crowd, at 68,933 strong, was ready for the main event and the racing left no one disappointed. When the gate dropped, all 20 riders shot down the long start straightaway and into the first left hand corner. Branden Jesseman was inside the top 10 trough the first section and would finish lap one in 6th. Jesseman would move back one spot to 7th where he would stay for the next 5 laps before making a pass on Will Hahn (brother of team CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki 450 rider Tommy Hahn) for the 6th spot and then up to the 5th position when he got around the stalled bike of Austin Stroupe. With 4 laps to go, Jesseman would pull to the back wheel of Matthew Lemoine in the fourth spot. With a great move, Branden would drive around the outside of Lamoine in a tricky section and take over the 4th spot but only to leave the door open for Blake Wharton as he would cut to the inside of Jesseman leading up to the triple jump sending him back to 5th where he would eventually finish. The excellent finish would move Jesseman up three positions in the championship points stands, into 7th. 

Tommy Hahn lined up for the Supercross Main Event ready to face the demanding Atlanta track and the rest of the stacked field. Hahn would get off the start line mid-pack but quickly find himself at the back of the pack after the first corner chaos. Tommy would put on a strong charge moving up as high as 14th but the night was not his and he would have to settle for a 16th place finish. 

Check back for the next report as the series moves into the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy!

Jason Cobb