NHRA and event officials are thrown a curve ball by the weather during the O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals at Memphis. Untimely rain storms move in during round one of Professional eliminations for Pro Stock Bike and end up washing out the rest of Sunday’s scheduled action. That forces a Monday event conclusion.

John Force is finally able to take advantage of an early round exit by FC points leader Ron Capps and moves into first place for the first time this season with his second win of the year, and 121st of his career. Force’s Castrol GTX team saved their best effort of the weekend for the final as they blew away opponent Tony Pedregon with a track record elapsed time of 4.786 seconds (at 318.24 mph) – low ET and top speed. That easily beat Pedregon’s 5.048 secs at 238.72 mph driving his Q Racing Chevy Monte Carlo.

The win puts Force 17 points ahead of Ron Capps, who had led the POWERade Series standings since the second event of the season. Capps, who qualified No. 13 in his Brut Dodge Charger in a dramatic last session qualifying pass on Saturday, was clipped in round #2 by Tony Pedregon.

Robert Hight was the No. 1 qualifier in his Auto Club Ford Mustang with his 4.849-second pass at 297.75 mph. That was in fact Hight’s seventh No. 1 qualifier this season.

Team Force was dominate at the event with Hight, Eric Medlen, and John Force qualifyng 1-2-3 and all three advancing through to the semifinals.

Round two of FC eliminations included a ferocious fire for Whit Bazemore, driving the Matco Tools Dodge Charger. Bazemore had a good start and was ahead of Force before his car burst into flames. Whit was forced to jump out of the still moving car but was not injured, however his Matco Tools Dodge suffered significant damage.

In Top Fuel Doug Kalitta extended his overall POWERade points margin when he claimed his 29th career victory. Kalitta powered his Mac Tools dragster to an exciting and narrow final round win over Hillary Will’s KB Racing dragster. Kalitta ran a 4.604 secs at 313.95 mph compared to Will’s 4.644 secs at 312.13 mph. Kalitta is now a perfect five-for-five in final rounds this year.

For Rookie of the Year candidate Will, it was her first career final round appearance. She had beaten Melanie Troxel, Scott Palmer and Morgan Lucas in earlier competition.

Doug Kalitta’s victory included two very points consequential rounds where he eliminated two of his closest points pursuers; Tony Schumacher in the quarters and Brandon Bernstein in the semis.

The event’s defending 2005 champion, Rod Fuller earned his second career No. 1 qualifier when he drove the Valvoline/David Powers Homes dragster to a 4.575 secs pass at 318.54 mph. That quick time was however bettered by Bernstein in round two on Monday who ran a 4.553 secs to collect low ET of the meet.

Bernstein’s Budweiser-sponsored dragster also had top speed overall at 327.59 mph.

Melanie Troxel, who led the POWERade Series points through the first 12 events of 2006, slipped back into fourth place following her first-round loss to Will. Troxel now trails Kalitta by 158 points.

Kurt Johnson earned his third win of 2006 and 35th of his career when he used a final round holeshot to beat overall NHRA POWERade points leader Jason Line in the Pro Stock championship run. Driving his ACDelco Chevy Cobalt, Johnson combined a .013 RT with a run of 6.718 secs at 204.42 to turn back the Summit Racing GTO driven by Line which ran 6.703 secs at 205.38 mph.

“KJ” had to beat three Mopar cars while enroute to the final round topping Richie Stevens Jr., Larry Morgan and Allen Johnson consecutively.

Pro Stock class action included a rare but always amazing prefect light. Oklahoma’s Mike Edwards hit a perfect .000 RT in his quarterfinal win over Warren Johnson.

Runner-up Line set both ends of the Memphis Motorsports Park track record during Monday’s eliminations when he beat Dodge driver V Gaines with a 6.694 at 205.10 mph.

Line’s Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson claimed the event’s No. 1 qualifier at 6.742 secs. That was Anderson’s 9th pole this season and the 49th of his career.

Harley Davidson V-Rod rider Andrew Hines regained the POWERade Series points lead with his final-round win over Antron Brown, who red-lighted on his U.S. Army Suzuki. Hines took a victory lap on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines machine, crossing the finish line in 9.085 seconds at 96.61 mph for his second win of the year.

The win put Hines (830 points) ahead of Brown (827) with 11 of 15 Pro Stock Motorcycle events for 2006 now complete. Hines also helped out his own cause by beating 3rd place points sitter Chip Ellis (739 points) and Brown en route to the win.

It was Hines’s first career win as a defending event champion – he won at Memphis last year as well. It was his seventh career win and 14th career final round.

Matt Smith, riding for George Bryce, claimed the No. 1 qualifying spot atop his Torco Race Fuels Buell hitting a 7.060 secs at 188.02 mph. Antron Brown however reset that track record in the semi-final running his Suzuki to a 7.048 secs.

The track speed record for PSB also fell during the event when Michael Phillips ran 189.04 mph on his Suzuki.