Rapisarda Autosport Interational has slipped to 11th spot after going down to Antron Brown in first round of Top Fuel at the 44 th Annual Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.
RAI pilot Larry Dixon made the cut in 14th spot with a strong pass of 3.88/318.mph to book a race day match up against the 2012 NHRA champion.
Brown led from start to finish taking the win with a pass of 3.782/321mph.Dixon running his quickest pass of the weekend with a 3.881/302.mph.
“We went into the meeting confident of going well and to lose in first round was not the way we expected our weekend to finish,” said team owner Santo Rapisarda.
“We struggled in qualifying and made only two good runs. The 3.88 to make the field then we followed up on our next pass with a 3.93. On race day we were quietly confident that we could cause an upset against Antron. However it was not to be. Antron got a better start and went on to take the win.”
Brown went on to defeated number 10 qualifier Clay Millican in the final and leads the points chase after three rounds of the 2013 Mello Yello Championship.
