Standing room only at TXR!!! The weather was great all day and cooled off just enough for the eliminations to kick off the 2007 TOPMA points chase. The Houston area dominated the field taking the top 3 qualifying positions and here's how it went down:

#1 Don Wooton - 4.161 at 164 mph
#2 Bobby Booth - 4.249 at 164 mph
#3 Frankie Taylor - 4.257 at 159 mph
#4 Thomas Myers - 4.282 at 170 mph (Happy Birthday Thomas)
#5 Howard Brown - 4.705 at 145 mph
#6 Jackie Deaver - 4.843 at 143 mph
#7 Jetty Wright - 4.889 at 141 mph
#8 Eddie Roach - 5.121 at 142 mph

#9 HT Wilson - 5.256 at 96 mph (Glad to see your OK, HT)
#10 Steve Wiley - 5.857 at 114 mph
#11 Gaylen Smith - 6.817 at 66 mph

First Round:

Frankie Taylor (W) 4.108 at 177 mph (.137 RT)
Jackie Deaver (RU) 4.841 at 140 mph (.035 RT)

Jackie was going for the upset win by repeating his qualifying time and getting a huge holeshot advantage but it wasn't enough to overcome the great performance by the Taylor boys.

Bobby Booth (W) 4.448 at 152 mph (.121 RT)
Jetty Wright (RU) 5.072 at 137 mph (.404 RT) Wake up Jetty!

I didn't see this run but on paper it looks like Bobby was a little loose and Jetty watched him wiggle from the starting line.

Thomas Myers (W) 4.209 at 172 mph (.107 RT)
Howard Brown (RU) 4.770 at 137 mph (.142 RT)

Neither one of these guys chopped the tree down but it didn't matter because Slick had enough ET to take the win on his birthday.

Eddie Roach (W) 4.794 at 141 mph (.043 RT)
Don Wooton (RU) 4.831 at 170 mph (.425 RT)

Can you say UPSET? Don was on an off paced pass anyway and adding insult to injury he slept big time on the tree and Eddie took advantage of that and cruised on in for the win.

Semi Finals:

Thomas Myers (W) 4.251 at 169 mph (.107 RT)
Eddie Roach (RU) 4.822 at 145 mph (.052 RT)

Looks like Eddie was going for upset #2 but Thomas said not at my birthday party.......

Frankie Taylor (W) 4.134 at 178 mph (.125 RT)
Bobby Booth (RU) 4.176 at 169 mph (.104 RT)

Frankie had to work for this win. Bobby had a slight starting line advantage but Frankie had more determination. The whole crowd was on their feet watching this race. I don't think Bobby or Frankie knew who won until the lights came on.

Finals:

Frankie Taylor (W) 4.080 at 177 mph (.152 RT)
Thomas Myers (RU) 5.006 at 107 mph (.052 RT)

Thomas had his best light of the night. He wanted his cake and wanted to eat it too but Frankie crashed his party. After he watched Slick leave he never looked back to see Slick darting all over his lane and Frankie sailed right on by taking the win with the first 4.0 pass of the evening.

Congratulations to Frankie and crew on their first win this season. The track wasn't giving the ET or the wins away. The drivers had to earn them tonight. The staff of TXR also had their work cut out for them too. The had 3 pretty major clean ups to do and still manage to get 5 rounds of racing in. Thanks guys!