St. Louis Report
By
Joe Sherk
May 6, 2007
Yates' Pontiac Makes Right Move at Wrong Time
Sometimes being first in line isn't the best place to be, especially if it' s the first pair of Pro Stock cars in the opening round of an NHRA POWERade Series race.
Such was the plight of Jim Yates Sunday when he and V. Gaines squared off in the Midwest Nationals, because his Wiley X/Sea Ray Boats Pontiac GTO didn't like the tune-up. Yates' car made a move to the right and out of the groove at the hit of the throttle, slowing him to 6.869 seconds at 203.86 mph. Gaines, meanwhile, lit the win light with a 6.722 at 206.99.
"We just missed the tune-up," Yates said matter-of-factly. "The track wasn' t as good as it appeared to be. We didn't have an opportunity to see other cars go down. If we had, we would've had a chance to change things." He returns to competition at Bristol, Tenn., May 18-20.# # #