Toyota Drivers DeJoria, Brown Advance To Semis At NHRA Sonoma Nationals
SONOMA, CA – Alexis DeJoria drove her Bandero ROKiT Toyota Camry to the semifinals in n Funny Car, while Antron Brown did the same 
in his Matco Tools Toyota in Top Fuel as the top finishing Toyotas at Sunday’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway.
DeJoria opened the day with Cruz Pedregon in round one. Pedregon had a lead off the tree, but DeJoria took the lead at the 330’ mark and then pulled away for the victory in running an outstanding 3.942. In round two, she would race Tim Wilkerson. DeJoria had a solid starting line advantage on the way to a decisive win to send her to her fourth semifinal in the last six races.
In the semifinals, DeJoria would square off with Matt Hagan, who she faced in the final round last weekend in Denver. The two ran similar times through the 660-foot mark, but DeJoria would drop a cylinder as Hagan pulled away for the victory.
Also in Funny Car, J.R. Todd drove his DHL Camry to an opening round win over John Force before being eliminated by eventual winner Robert Hight in round two.
In Top Fuel, Brown went wire-to-wire for the win against Buddy Hull in his opening run of the day. In round two against fellow Toyota driver Shawn Langdon, Brown had the starting line advantage and never trailed for the win as Langdon started to lose traction just past half track and clicked it off. That set up a semifinal matchup with Steve Torrence in a battle of the series’ point leaders.
Brown had the better light, but Torrence was able to push past him early on the way to the win. It was the sixth time in nine races that the long-time Toyota driver had advanced to the semifinals or beyond.
Fellow Toyota Top Fuel drivers Doug Kalitta and Langdon each advanced to the second round.
In the opening round vs. Mike Salinas, Kalitta had the starting line advantage and never trailed for the win as he made his quickest pass of the weekend. He would make another solid pass in round two, only to fall to Torrence. Langdon earned a first-round win over Clay Millican, using an outstanding .050 reaction time to nip Millican by .002 on a holeshot. Langdon’s 3.789-second pass was his best of the weekend.
The Camping World Drag Racing Series closes out the Western Swing with the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, July 30-August 1.
