Thursday, April 17, 2003 | 10:15 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Doug Kalitta made the NHRA Top Fuel points battle a little more interesting with his victory Sunday in the O'Reilly Spring Nationals in Texas, but Kalitta's emergence as a threat for the title came as no surprise to at least one of his competitors.
Top Fuel rookie Brandon Bernstein, who trails front-runner Larry Dixon by 40 points and is only 29 points ahead of third-place Kalitta, said he knew this year's title chase would be more than a two-car battle.
"We knew this season would be more than just the beer wars -- Bernstein vs. Dixon," Bernstein said. "We knew Doug Kalitta would be right in there and his car is running really strong right now."
Bernstein, who advanced to the semifinals last weekend at Houston Raceway Park, managed to gain 19 points on Dixon, who lost in the second round to Doug Herbert.
Kalitta matched the record set by Gary Beck in 1983 by being the top qualifier at the first five races of the season when he turned in the fastest run in NHRA history -- 333.91 mph -- in Friday's qualifying session.
"We knew we would get a win eventually," Kalitta said. "Now we hope to carry our momentum into Bristol and get another win at the Mac Tools Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals."
Kalitta will have this weekend off before the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series heads to Bristol Dragway in Tennessee for next week's Thunder Valley Nationals.
Savoie leads Geno Scali by 77 points and Craig Treble by 78 after two PSB races with Antron Brown's Team 23 Racing.
"I feel so lucky and so blessed," Savoie said after her 30th career victory. "It doesn't look like it but our team really is struggling through it.
"We do need a sponsor really bad and we need to finish our dyno room for this brand-new engine program, (but) the whole Team 23 program is looking very strong."
It was Pedregon's third win of the season and allowed him to extend his lead to 63 points over John Force Racing teammate Gary Densham. Whit Bazemore is third in the standings, 83 points off the pace.
Lin, 19, defeated Michael Dudley in the final round of Sport Compact competition while Lamb, 15, beat Dennis Evans in the final round of the Pro class.
Other winners included John Phlegar (Super Pro), Nick Ariotti (Street), Andy Lewis (Motorcycle) and Pat Jones (Super Eliminator). Saturday morning Junior Dragster winners included Tristan Craig (Thunder class), Neisha Mackay (Lightning class) and Alyshe Janoska (Rookie division).
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