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Gaines Goes to Semis at Gateway, Leads Field of Seven Mopar Pro Stockers

V. Gaines drove his HEMI®-powered Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus R/T to his third semifinals appearance of the season in the NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Sunday. Gaines was the best of an impressive group of seven Mopar-powered drivers who qualified for the 16-car NHRA POWERade Pro Stock field.
Gaines, who advanced to the semis at Houston and took the event win at Phoenix earlier this year, defeated Greg Stanfield in the opening stanza. He then knocked off fellow HEMI-powered driver John Nobile in the quarterfinals with a pass of 6.626/207.91 coupled with an impressive reaction time of .023. Gaines' strong outing ended in the semis with a red-light loss to Kurt Johnson.
For the first time this season, Allen Johnson failed to start his Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T driver in the top five — he qualified sixth. Johnson faced off with May Naylor in the first round and treated the crowd to an impressive HEMI-powered show. AJ edged out Naylor's VegasFuel Dodge Stratus R/T for the victory by just 17 inches. Johnson went into severe tire shake in the quarterfinals, handing the round win to Dave Connolly.
20-year old rookie Rickie Jones had a memorable outing, scoring his first career round win with a victory over Mike Edwards. Jones, who has qualified for all four events he has entered, lined up with the formidable Greg Anderson in round two. Jones took Anderson off the starting line with a .037 reaction time to Anderson's .045 but couldn't hold off the former Pro Stock champ. Another pair of HEMI-powered Pro Stockers, Matt Hartford and Todd Hoerner, were sent to the trailer early after first-round defeats.
Johnson remains fifth in the Pro Stock standings, with Gaines seventh. Next up is the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, Johnson's home track, May 16-18. For more info on the NHRA, visit nhra.com.