Pritchett No. 1 in top fuel

mohnton, pa.» Leah Pritchett raced to her first career No. 1 qualifier in Top Fuel in the Dodge NHRA Nationals.

Pritchett had a 3.705-second pass at 327.35 mph at Maple Grove Raceway. She won in Phoenix this year for her first career victory and is ninth in the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Matt Hagan topped the Funny Car field, Vincent Nobile was fastest in Pro Stock, and Andrew Hines qualified No. 1 in Pro Stock Motorcycle in the third event in the six-race Countdown.

NHRA officials were forced to cancel the second session of qualifying Saturday because of persistent showers and mist. Because the scheduled Friday sessions also were wiped out, racers had only one session to qualify for the final eliminations Sunday.

Hagan pushed his Dodge Charger R/T to a 3.873 at 333.99 to set both ends of the track record. The twotime Funny Car season champion claimed his fifth No. 1 of the season and 26th of his career. He’s sixth in the standings with three wins and two runner-up finishes this year.

Nobile had a 6.552 at 211.83 in a Chevrolet Camaro, and points leader Hines ran a 6.784 at 196.22 on a Harley-Davidson.

• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix, beating his teammate and championship rival Nico Rosberg by four tenths of a second in qualifying.

Hamilton headed Mercedes’ firstever front-row lockout in Malaysia and set a new lap record at the Sepang International Circuit with a time of 1 minute, 32.850 seconds.

• Rain washed out the NASCAR Xfinity Series race and there will be a Dover doubleheader Sunday.

The second-tier series race will start at 10 a.m. at Dover International Speedway. The NASCAR Sprint Cup race is scheduled for 2:15 p.m.