DEJORIA’S CAMRY REACHES FINALS AT EPPING

EPPING, NH  – Alexis DeJoria advanced to her fourth final round of the season, but came up just short of the victory in her Patron XO Café Toyota Camry at today’s Auto-Plus NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire.

DeJoria defeated Tony Pedregon, Tommy Johnson and John Force before falling to Ron Capps in the final.  Had DeJoria won, she would have become the first woman in history to win three Funny Car races in the same season.   With the finals appearance, she has moved up into second place overall in the Funny Car point standings.

In addition to DeJoria’s efforts, both Cruz Pedregon and Del Worsham advanced to the second round in Funny Car.  Pedregon lost the closest Funny Car race of the season by just .0012 seconds against Capps in the second round, while Worsham lost to Courtney Force. Tony Pedregon lost in an all-Toyota first-round match-up against DeJoria.

In Top Fuel, Richie Crampton advanced to the semi-finals by defeating Dom Lagana and Spencer Massey before falling in the semi-finals.  It was the second time in the last three races that Crampton advanced to the semi-finals or beyond after winning Englishtown two races ago.

Antron Brown and Khalid alBalooshi each advanced to the second round, while Bristol winner Shawn Langdon smoked the tires and lost his opening match-up.  Brown was the number one qualifier and set a new track E.T. record on Friday night.  He lost his second-round match-up to eventual race winner Tony Schumacher.

The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is back in action next weekend at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA at Nationals Route 66 Speedway in Joliet, Ill., June 27-29.