John Weaver Sonoma wrap up

Weaver reaches semifinals in Sonoma

SONOMA, Calif. - NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car veteran John Weaver and the Meer Capital Partners Racing Team were able to bounce back from a first round loss in Seattle with a semifinal finish during this past weekend's Fram-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. The strong showing moved the team to seventh in national points standings.

Weaver, from Orting, Wash., qualified the Bob DeVour tuned Camaro seventh in the field with a 5.650 second elapsed time at 253.90 mph. In round one, he received a competition single when his opponent Bucky Austin was unable to fire, and soloed to a 5.693 at 252.28 mph. In round two he took out Jay Payne, who had just reset the national speed record the round prior with a 5.656 at 254.90 mph, setting up his semifinal round match with Roger Bateman. Weaver's mount was loose in the middle of the track, slowing him to a 5.720 at 252.19 mph, which was not enough for Bateman's 5.637 at 254.38 mph.

"We had a good weekend," said Weaver. "Everything went pretty smooth except for banging the blower in the first qualifier. We had some pretty tough people to run. We got a break when Bucky's car wouldn't fire, then Jay had some problems against us in the second round. We were able to capitalize on those opportunities, but we still ran pretty good in the process. We just had to run our own race."

"There in the semifinals, it drifted over towards the center line, and I tried to bring it back, but it just wouldn't go. We would have liked to get the win, but we'll just move on to our next race and try to go from there."

Tuner/Crew Chief DeVour cites a wiring problem that was found in between the races helped the team's performance this weekend.

"I think we had an electrical problem," stated DeVour. "I basically rewired the car in between the races. That's why it banged the blower the first pass; it really stepped the car up, and I didn't richen it up enough to compensate. We're still not the fastest car out there, but we've been running consistent. We just need to take what we've learned and try to reach the next level."

"We seem to have a handle on some of our parts problems," explained Team Owner Ron Meer. "We just need to continue to fine tune the combination. Once again, the entire team did an excellent job. The way everybody on the team performs their jobs, from the driver down to the crew, I really feel confident as an owner good things lay ahead for the team."

The team will get a few days to refresh before getting back into action at the same track for this weekend's Lucas Oil Division 7 event. There Weaver and the team will try to maintain their Division 7 points lead.

Meer Capital Partners is a real estate development firm which builds and develops master-planned communities and large mixed-use projects primarily in the Western U.S. To find out more, log on to MeerCapital.com

Contact: Will Hanna/ Pro Race Communications
Email: Will.Hanna@InsideTopAlcohol.com