Fifth win at Pomona finals would be perfect season end for Enders

POMONA, Calif. - KLR Group driver Erica Enders hopes to do Sunday what her beloved Texas A&M Aggies did on Saturday: Knock off the No. 1 team.

Texas A&M, where Enders studied marketing, beat the No. 1 team in college football, Alabama. Enders could potentially face the No. 1 driver in Pro Stock, 2012 champion Allen Johnson, in the final round of the Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway.

But her goal for Sunday is simple: Win the race.

Erica Enders

Photo by: Cagnazzi Racing

Enders qualified No. 5 for the season-finale with a pass of 6.549 seconds at 211.83 mph.

The four-time Pro Stock winner starts eliminations on Sunday with Shane Gray, who qualified No. 12 with a lap of 6.573 seconds at 210.05 mph.

"We do have a consistent car," Enders said. "I know that's proven to win on Sundays.

We've not been the fastest car on the property before and driven right to the winner's circle. Hopefully that's the case tomorrow. We'll see how it goes."

Enders will be gunning for her fifth victory of the season, which has been an historic one for the 29-year-old.

Enders became the first woman to win in the ultra-competitive Pro Stock class when she went to victory lane at Chicago on July 1.

She then won four times in 10 races, adding to her gaudy statistics for 2012: seven final rounds, 10 semifinal appearances, two No. 1 qualifiers and two track elapsed-time records.

Enders will exceed her finish in the points over 2011, when she set her career-best with sixth place. She's third heading into the final race day of the season, with an outside shot at coming home second.

"Either way, it's been a really good year," Enders said. "I've got one more job to get done tomorrow, and I'm coming out swinging, for sure."

KLR Group Racing