COTTRELL, SOROKIN, DAY HEADLINE MARCH MEET WINNERS

by Bobby Bennett; Photos by Dave Kommel    Mon, 2019-03-11 13:27

Defending NHRA Heritage Series Funny Car champion Bobby Cottrell picked up where he left off at in Bakersfield, as he drove Bucky Austin's flopper to the title at the 61st annual Good Vibrations March Meet outside of Bakersfield, Ca.

Joining Cottrell in the winner's circle of the NHRA Heritage Series season opener was Adam Sorokin (Nostalgia Top Fuel) and James Day (AA/Fuel Altered).

Cottrell clocked a 5.718-second elapsed time at 249.03 mph to stop the Cinderella-like effort of first-time Funny Car racer Jerry Espeseth, who reached the final in Jason Rupert's Camaro flopper.

“It actually was really tough (Sunday),” Cottrell said. “The air was a lot better than I think people thought and thank God Bucky made the right calls and I just tried to drive the car to the best of my ability.”

Sorokin, who races in honor of his late father, the legendary Mike Sorokin, scored his second Nostalgia Top Fuel title when defending series champion Mendy Fry's dragster broke on the starting line.

Sorokin clocked a 5.844-second elapsed time at 212.16 mph on the solo pass.

“It started out pretty tough, actually,” Sorokin said. “We went through a bunch of adversity and the guys kept putting the car back together and it kept getting a little better each time. I kind of knew by the way Bobby (McLennan) was helping in that he had a tune-up in it. He tends to belt me in a little tighter every time it is a little bit more hopped-up. Two March Meet (wins) is unbelievable. One was a dream come true and to win another is some special. This one is for Jim McLennan and Mike Sorokin, my dad.”

Sorokin defeated Rick McGee, Rick White to reach the final round.

The AA/Fuel altered final looked like a classic rerun of the 2014 March meet Funny Car final, or maybe a play out of James Day's classic starting line cageyness when as a major underdog he won the title over Dan Horan.

This time Day unexpectedly rolled in and deep-staged, and by the time multi-time Bakersfield champion James Hix realized what had happened, the former Funny Car pilot had nearly .08 on him out of the gate.

In the semi-professional divisions, Dan Hix won the 5.90 Classic Funny Car class while Mike Halstead repeated as event champion in Rear-engine Top Fuel.

 

 
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