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Kalitta wins Top Fuel at Baytown

Posted: Monday April 14, 2003 9:55 AM

BAYTOWN, Texas (AP) -- Doug Kalitta completed a dominant weekend by getting his 12th career NHRA victory Sunday at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals.

Tony Pedregon, Kurt Johnson and Angelle Savoie also won their categories at the $1.9 million event, the fifth of 23 this season.

Kalitta earned his first win of the year when he powered his dragster to a time of 4.580 seconds at 323.43 mph to beat Cory McClenathan. Kalitta led Top Fuel qualifying for a record-tying fifth consecutive race Saturday at Houston Raceway Park.

Pedregon won his third race of the season by narrowly defeating Del Worsham in the Funny Car final. Pedregon had a run of 4.969 (313.07 mph) in a Ford Mustang to hold off Worsham's Pontiac.

Johnson, who set the NHRA national speed record at 205.57 mph in qualifying, drove a Chevy Cavalier to his second win of 2003 and 25th of his career when he edged Scott Geoffrion at the finish line.

Savoie, the three-time consecutive NHRA Pro Stock Bike champion, rode to her 30th career victory and second of the season by beating rival Craig Treble in an all-Suzuki final.

NHRA-O'Reilly Spring Nationals Results
Top Fuel
1. Doug Kalitta. 2. Cory McClenathan. 3. Doug Herbert. 4. Brandon Bernstein. 5. Rhonda Hartman-Smith. 6. Clay Millican. 7. Melanie Troxel. 8. Larry Dixon. 9. David Baca. 10. Tony Schumacher. 11. John Smith. 12. David Grubnic. 13. Darrell Russell. 14. Scott Weis. 15. Bruce Litton. 16. Mike Smith.

Funny Car
1. Tony Pedregon, Ford Mustang. 2. Del Worsham, Pontiac Firebird. 3. Gary Densham, Mustang. 4. Whit Bazemore, Dodge Stratus. 5. Cruz Pedregon, Firebird. 6. Dean Skuza, Firebird. 7. John Force, Mustang. 8. Tommy Johnson Jr., Chevy Camaro. 9. Ron Capps, Camaro. 10. Tim Wilkerson, Firebird. 11. Scotty Cannon, Firebird. 12. Gary Scelzi, Stratus. 13. Frank Pedregon, Firebird. 14. Bob Gilbertson, Firebird. 15. Johnny Gray, Firebird. 16. Dale Creasy Jr., Firebird.

Pro Stock
1. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cavalier. 2. Scott Geoffrion, Ford Escort. 3. Jim Yates, Pontiac Grand Am. 4. Mike Edwards, Grand Am. 5. Warren Johnson, Grand Am. 6. Ron Krisher, Cavalier. 7. Darrell Alderman, Dodge Neon R/T. 8. Bruce Allen, Grand Am. 9. Greg Anderson, Grand Am. 10. Jeg Coughlin, Cavalier. 11. Allen Johnson, Dodge Stratus. 12. Greg Stanfield, Neon R/T. 13. Mark Pawuk, Grand Am. 14. JR Carr, Cavalier. 15. V.Gaines, Cavalier. 16. Terry Adams, Cavalier.

Pro Stock Bike
1. Angelle Savoie, Suzuki. 2. Craig Treble, Suzuki. 3. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki. 4. Antron Brown, Suzuki. 5. Shawn Gann, Suzuki. 6. Geno Scali, Suzuki. 7. Reggie Showers, Suzuki. 8. Fred Collis, Suzuki. 9. Sean Conner, Suzuki. 10. Mike Berry, Suzuki. 11. Steve Johnson, Suzuki. 12. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson. 13. Fred Camarena, Suzuki. 14. John Smith, Kawasaki. 15. Joe DeSantis, Suzuki. 16. Chris Reuter, Suzuki. 

 
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