LANGDON WINS ALL-TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINAL AT SONOMA
SONOMA, CA – Shawn Langdon defeated Morgan Lucas in a battle of high school classmates to win an all-Toyota Top Fuel final at 
Shawn Langdon – Sonoma – Competition Plustoday’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series’ Sonoma Nationals at the Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
The victory was the fourth of the season for Langdon, who had set a new track record for low E.T. on his first pass of the day with a 3.743-second run. It also boosted his series point lead to 102 points entering the final three races before the Countdown to the Championship. He defeated Bob Vandergriff, Doug Kalitta and Antron Brown before his finals match-up with Lucas.
“This is a dream season,” said Langdon. “Just to get one win is very gratifying, but to get four is really special. We made an outstanding run in the first round (track record) and then we just made good runs. Our focus this season has been on making good runs every time down the track. Al-Anabi’s back!”
For Lucas, who had won the only previous finals match-up with long-timer friend and former teammate Langdon, it proved to be a stellar day until he smoked the tires in the final. He knocked off T.J. Zizzo, number one qualifier Dave Grubnic and Spencer Massey to reach the final round. He also registered the top speed of the event with a 328.30 mph run.
Despite losing to Langdon, Brown advanced to the semi-finals for the seventh time this season. He defeated Clay Millican and Tommy Johnson in the first rounds. Khalid alBalooshi made it four Toyota-sponsored Top Fuel cars to advance past the first-round when he defeated Brandon Bernstein.
In Funny Car, only Alexis DeJoria was able to record a round victory as she reached the semi-finals today. The second-year Nitro driver upset top-seeded Matt Hagan in her first run and then beat former Funny Car champ Robert Hight on a hole-shot in round two. She narrowly lost in the semi-finals to John Force in a thrilling match-up decided by just a few feet.
Cruz Pedregon, Tony Pedregon and Del Worsham each were unable to get a clean pass and fell in the first round.
The final stop of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series three-race Western Swing takes place next weekend, Aug. 2-4, at Pacific Raceways in suburban Seattle, Washington.
