FRIDAY ADRL RICHMOND QUALIFYING
ULSCH MAKES RECORD RUN IN HIGHLIGHT OF NATIONAL GUARD ADRL QUALIYFING
In
the competition debut of a new, purpose-built ’68 Camaro, Chuck Ulsch
of Clarksville, Maryland, overwhelmed the Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 crowd
in the opening round of qualifying for the ADRL NATIONALGUARD.com U.S.
Drags II with the quickest and fastest pass ever seen in the class.
Ulsch tripped the eighth-mile beams at Virginia Motorsports Park (VMP)
in 4.01 seconds at 195.73 mph and can set official National Guard ADRL
elapsed time and speed records if he can back up his provisional
number-one qualifying numbers within one percent.
“Yeah, we were going after a three (-second pass) there, but I don’t
know if we’d be able to do that again in the heat tomorrow,” said
Ulsch, who thinks his Friday-night effort probably will hold up as the
polesitting pass. “Once eliminations start I’ll go into race mode; I
want to win one of those Minutemen (trophies).”
Joining
Ulsch on top of the qualifying lists was Quain Stott in Pro Extreme,
Mike Castellana, also in the debut of a new Pro Nitrous car, Eric
McKinney in Pro Extreme Motorcycle and Extreme Pro Stock racer John
Montecalvo.
“That actually was a little soft on the leave,” Stott said of his
3.79-seconds pass at 200.02 mph in his Columbus, NC-based ’63 Corvette.
“I missed it a bit on the tune-up and I really don’t know if that will
hold up (for the top qualifying position), but we should be in good
shape tomorrow, no matter what.”
Also making a great run was number-two Pro Extreme qualifier John
Stanley in the ’68 Camaro tuned by his legendary racing father, Camp
Stanley, as he also went 3.79 at 193.13 mph, both of which are
career-best numbers for the Hagerstown, MD, driver.
Earlier in the day, reigning two-time Pro Extreme World Champion Jason
Scruggs smacked hard into the left guardwall almost immediately upon
launching his ’68 Camaro on a test pass when an oil line broke,
spraying oil all over the track and his car’s rear tires.
“It was just one of those things you can’t even check for; the line
just pulled loose from the fitting under pressure,” explained Scruggs’
father and crew chief, Mitchell. “I’ve never seen that happen before in
30 years of racing.”
Undaunted, the Scruggs commissioned the help of a friend at home in
Saltillo, Mississippi, to haul their 2008 championship-winning Dodge
Stratus through the night to Petersburg, Virginia, so they can
transplant the Camaro’s engine and still attempt to qualify on Saturday.
Castellana’s new 1970 Camaro ran a near-record 3.87 at 192.17 to lead
teammates Shannon Jenkins and Khalid Al-Balooshi in the top-three Pro
Nitrous slots after one of three scheduled qualifying sessions.
“Today was my first time in the car, so it feels good to have it run so
well for me right off the bat, but I have to give credit to (crew
chiefs) Shannon (Jenkins), Rickie (Smith) and the rest of our guys for
that,” Castellana said. Like Ulsch, he believes his current
top-qualifier status will be safe until race time.
“I really don’t see anyone improving on that, including us,” the
Westbury, New York, driver said. “But once it cools off tomorrow night,
who knows? You might even see some new records here.”
McKinney, from Hamersville, Ohio, put his ’09 Suzuki on top of the Pro
Extreme Motorcycle list with a 4.23 pass at 168.09 mph. Also notable is
Kim Morrell, the only female rider in the class, who for the first time
in four starts is in a qualifying position, currently sitting 14th of
29 entries attempting to make the 16-bike field.
Montecalvo, fresh off a win at the National Guard ADRL’s most recent
event three weeks earlier at Topeka, Kansas, drove his ’08 Chevy Cobalt
to a 4.13 lap at 175.16 mph, edging Dean Goforth by just one-thousandth
of a second for the provisional top spot, who in turn held his own
one-thousandth advantage over Matt Hartford, while Bob Bertsch also
went 4.13 in qualifying fourth.
The second round of qualifying for the ADRL NATIONALGUARD.com U.S.
Drags II is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. July 25, with the third and
final session scheduled for a 1 p.m. start and eliminations to follow
at 4 p.m.
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