Crampton draws defending world champ Langdon in Reading’s opening round

READING, PA – A blustery and cold final day of professional qualifying at Maple Grove Raceway caused fits for rookie Top Fuel driver Richie Crampton and his GEICO/Lucas Oil dragster team. In the end, his first qualifying attempt of 3.814 seconds at 317.49 mph posted early Friday afternoon was his best, earning the popular Australian the No. 10 starting spot when eliminations begin Sunday morning.

“It was decent to run that 3.81 right out of the box,” Crampton said. “It really got the weekend off to a good start and alleviated any extra pressure you have when the weather forecast is iffy. Fortunately, we got all four qualifying passes in but you never know when its this time of the year and you’re in Reading.

“Historically, this car runs well when it’s cool like this but we had a few issues in the other qualifying sessions, including a fuel line coming off in Q4 that absolutely drenched me in nitro. I stepped on the gas and a split second later I was cover in fuel. I had to shut it all down immediately because we sure didn’t want a fire. I knew we were solidly in the field so it was time to be smart.”

As the No. 10 qualifier, Crampton yields lane choice to defending world champion Shawn Langdon in their first-round match-up. Langdon qualified seventh with a 3.773 at 325.77 mph. The good news for the GEICO team is that Crampton has a 3-1 head-to-head record against Langdon.

“It should be a good race,” Crampton said. “Shawn’s a great driver and that team always is prepared so we’ll need to be on top of our game to have a chance. Fortunately, I think this fuel line issue we had is the final gremlin we’ve been chasing. It’s such a rare occurrence for the fuel line to come off but if it was an issue I’m glad we’ve got it handled.

“He’s got lane choice but this is thankfully a track where that doesn’t matter. Both lanes were producing good numbers and when you can throw a lot of horsepower at a track when the weather cools off like this, it’s really a level playing field.”

Crampton could use a big day to seal his bid for the Auto Club Rookie of the Year award. He’s already won twice, including a victory at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, the sport’s oldest and most prestigious race, and qualified in the top half of the field at half the races on the schedule.

Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. All action will be shown on ESPN2.