Dream Chaser Racin’, Janette Thornley was excited to get back on her bike and continue chasing points at the AHDRA Thunder in the Valley Nitro Nationals held in Bristol Tennessee August 4 and 5. With the Tulsa Oklahoma race, scheduled for the end of June, being cancelled it’s been nearly two months since the bike ripped down the track. Qualifying #3, Janette ran competitively and still holds the number five spot in the Hawaya Racing/Vreeland’s Harley-Davidson Pro Drag class in the 2012 AHDRA Championship Series.
“As a rookie, I was concerned I may have lost some of my knowledge/experience from earlier in the year and not sure how comfortable I was going to be but with some good preparation and coaching, I jumped back on and ran a good solid test pass” said Janette. “I felt good all weekend actually, happy with my performance”.
Qualifying rounds were limited to two due to the storms that rolled through Friday night. Despite the roll off on the throttle, for reasons she is still trying to overcome, Thornley ran a 7.666 ET at 149.85 mph and 7.616 ET at 175.80 mph during qualifying. Her 175.80 mph happen to be the fastest for the Pro Drag class all weekend and her personal best.
Paired with Rich Crouthers, Janette took the win during round one eliminations.
Thankfully Janette pulled a good light (.139) as she still have room for improvement here, and was ahead of Rich because she dropped a hole at the top end and began to lose speed rather rapidly. Finished that pass with 7.852 ET at 159.36 mph.
Stepping into the semi-finals, Janette struck an even more impressive light (.090) but it wasn’t enough to stay ahead of Dale Niles and lost by 0.0549, running a 7.721 ET at 166.31 mph vs 7.606 ET at 165.13 mph.
“This is hard to take, losing by such a small amount”, said Thornley, “but this is a very tough, competitive class and someone has to be the winner/loser. I’ll get Dale next time, he’s one up on me now!”
Janette Thornley is owner and operator of her nitro burning, carbureted, 121 ci Pro Dragster and Dream Chaser Racin’. She is excited to have added LAT Racing Oils to her list of sponsors as of August 2012. Thank you to all my sponsors: Autolite Sparkplugs, LAT Racing Oils, Lowry Callahan of Quality Refrigeration Company and Mark Lavine. Special thanks to Ray and Jean Price; Freddie Robbins; Bill Hendren; and Doug Atkinson for your time; and to the Ray Price Race Team – Tommy Grimes, Justin Heinle, Jeremy Hoy, and Mark Morgan for all you do; and Dalton Matthews. Sponsors always welcome!
Contact Dream Chaser Racin’ at dreamchaserracin@yahoo.com
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