Cleeves: Hirata wrap up

CLEEVES, Ohio - Division 3 Federal Mogul Dragster driver Dave Hirata had a his four race final round streak broken during this past weekend's Federal Mogul Drag Racing Series Division 3 Race at Edgewater Sports Park in Cleeves, Ohio.

Hirata qualified No. 1 with a 5.549/262.69 and was scheduled to run No. 8 qualifier Mike Miller in the first round. A fuel line on the Hirata Motorsports A/Fuel Dragster began to leak during the burnout, and Hirata was forced to shut off before the race began. Miller had problems of his own during the run, and coasted to a 9.24/78 for the win.

Hirata said, "The fuel line wasn't leaking when we first started up, one of my crew members would have spotted it; it must have came loose during the burnout. It was a valve close to the frame rail, and before the crew could find the leak, NHRA officials shut us off because of the leak and all the fuel we left on the track."

"It was a really good weekend right up until that. We overcame some problems in qualifying and stepped up to the No. 1 spot. This is really disheartening, because it pretty much knocks us out of contention for the Division 3 Championship," Hirata added.

Hirata's next race will be the granddaddy of them all, the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park held on Labor Day Weekend. Hirata's father is a past winner in Top Gas.

"It is a neat race to go to, we always go. We will just do like normal, and give it our best."