ADRL TURNS IN SOLID FIRST DAY COLUMBUS PERFORMANCE
Sat, 2009-08-22 08:01
The performances of the provisional number-one qualifiers for the
National Guard ADRL Summit Racing Equipment Ohio Drags III in 
Hebron,
Ohio, put to rest any concerns that some racers expressed over track
conditions at National Trail Raceway.
Frankie Taylor of Dickinson, Texas, blistered the National Trail eighth mile in 3.74 seconds at 202.52 miles per hour with his supercharged 2005 Corvette to lead 26 teams in the Pro Extreme class, while Eureka, Montana’s Pat Stoken ran a career-best 3.90 at 191.16 mph with his ’68 Camaro to finish on top of 28 Pro Nitrous entries after three rounds of qualifying on Friday.
In Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 action, Maryland racer Chuck Ulsch continued his recent domination of the class with a very strong 4.03 at 195.53 mph in a supercharged ’68 Camaro, while points leader and Ohio native Brian Gahm drove his ’07 Mustang to the provisional pole in Extreme Pro Stock with a solid 4.14 blast at 173.92 mph. Up on two wheels, Macon, Georgia’s Lance Hines leads 22 Pro Extreme Motorcycle riders with a solid 4.22-seconds pass at 169.30 mph aboard his 2009 Suzuki.
The performances of the provisional number-one qualifiers for the
National Guard ADRL Summit Racing Equipment Ohio Drags III in Hebron,
Ohio, put to rest any concerns that some racers expressed over track
conditions at National Trail Raceway.
Frankie Taylor of Dickinson, Texas, blistered the National Trail eighth mile in 3.74 seconds at 202.52 miles per hour with his supercharged 2005 Corvette to lead 26 teams in the Pro Extreme class, while Eureka, Montana’s Pat Stoken ran a career-best 3.90 at 191.16 mph with his ’68 Camaro to finish on top of 28 Pro Nitrous entries after three rounds of qualifying on Friday.
In Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 action, Maryland racer Chuck Ulsch continued his recent domination of the class with a very strong 4.03 at 195.53 mph in a supercharged ’68 Camaro, while points leader and Ohio native Brian Gahm drove his ’07 Mustang to the provisional pole in Extreme Pro Stock with a solid 4.14 blast at 173.92 mph. Up on two wheels, Macon, Georgia’s Lance Hines leads 22 Pro Extreme Motorcycle riders with a solid 4.22-seconds pass at 169.30 mph aboard his 2009 Suzuki.
Taylor was first after the opening qualifying session and the only driver in the first round to exceed 200 mph, but 2006 Pro Extreme World Champion Bubba Stanton stepped up with a 3.77 at 198.41 in his ’63 Corvette on Friday afternoon to steal away the provisional top spot.
“Conditions improved quite a bit tonight and that helped us,” Taylor said after responding with the second-best run of his career. “Now with us solidly in the field we can experiment some more tomorrow. But I’m not even sure we’ll run that session. We’ll probably wait and see what everyone else is doing before we make that decision.”
Following Taylor on the list are Stanton, Jason Hamstra, Alex Hossler and Cody Barklage, with Tommy D’Aprile currently on the bump spot in 16th with a 4.00 pass at an early shut-off 147.18 mph in the debut of a new 1970.5 Camaro for team owner Mel Bush.
Stoken was not in the 16-car field when the third and final qualifying session of the day began, but his best-ever elapsed time and speed quickly resolved the problem. It also helped keep his 2009 championship hopes alive as he fights to hold on to the eighth and last qualifying position for the season-ending Speedtech Battle for the Belts.
“That was a big run for us. I’m not so sure it’s going to hold up as number one, but it certainly takes a lot of the pressure off,” Stoken said. “At least now we know we’ll be racing for sure tomorrow and we can fool around with it a little in the final (qualifying) session.”
Stoken currently leads Shannon Jenkins, teammate Jim Halsey and Jenkins’ teammate Burton Auxier, who also is his closest rival for the transfer spot to the Belts playoff. The 16th-place qualifying slot presently belongs to the 4.10 at 177.77 mph by Terry Murphy.
After battling traction issues in his first two qualifying attempts, Ulsch was on a pretty pass in Friday night’s session when his car again shook its rear tires about 200 feet out. He didn’t lift, however, and drove straight through to the finish line. Team owner Gil Mobley stressed the traction issues stemmed from a problem with the Camaro’s set-up; not any problem with the National Trail racing surface.
“I think the track is good; I think we just missed it; we didn’t have enough power through the middle part of the track,” he explained. “So we’ll add a little more power through there tomorrow and hopefully that’ll take care of it. If not, we can always go back to where we were.”
Gary White and defending class champ Billy Glidden are second and third, respectively, followed by Jeff Paulk and Spiro Pappas, while Bill Lutz currently rounds out the 16-car field after posting a 4.66 lap at 139.46 mph.
Gahm is the only one of the current top qualifiers to have laid down his class-leading pass in today’s opening session. It was fortunate for him, too, as Gahm experienced mechanical catastrophes in both subsequent attempts, with the pinion gear in his car’s rear end breaking in the second round, then an intake valve spring broke along with his transmission in the third round.
“Hopefully all our bad luck is behind us and we’ll have good air and be able to step it up tomorrow,” he said. “We should’ve run quicker than that tonight; I figured it would’ve been about a .12 or so, maybe even better.”
Pete Berner, Robert Patrick Jr., Matt Hartford and Dean Goforth round out the top five in Extreme Pro Stock, while Mark Martino currently fills the 16th position just one-tenth-of-a-second behind Gahm.
Hines, a recent Pro Extreme Motorcycle event winner, led the field after each qualifying session, but improved from 4.28 to 4.22 in Friday’s last go-round to secure the provisional top spot over Ashley Owens, Ron Procopio, Monte Campbell and Paul Gast. A 4.42 at 161.32 has Eddie Gonder on the bubble for Saturday’s lone qualifying session, beginning at noon (Eastern). Elimination rounds for 16-car/bike fields in each National Guard ADRL professional class will follow.
Hebron,
Ohio, put to rest any concerns that some racers expressed over track
conditions at National Trail Raceway.Frankie Taylor of Dickinson, Texas, blistered the National Trail eighth mile in 3.74 seconds at 202.52 miles per hour with his supercharged 2005 Corvette to lead 26 teams in the Pro Extreme class, while Eureka, Montana’s Pat Stoken ran a career-best 3.90 at 191.16 mph with his ’68 Camaro to finish on top of 28 Pro Nitrous entries after three rounds of qualifying on Friday.
In Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 action, Maryland racer Chuck Ulsch continued his recent domination of the class with a very strong 4.03 at 195.53 mph in a supercharged ’68 Camaro, while points leader and Ohio native Brian Gahm drove his ’07 Mustang to the provisional pole in Extreme Pro Stock with a solid 4.14 blast at 173.92 mph. Up on two wheels, Macon, Georgia’s Lance Hines leads 22 Pro Extreme Motorcycle riders with a solid 4.22-seconds pass at 169.30 mph aboard his 2009 Suzuki.
TOP QUALIFIERS MAKE MARK ON NATIONAL TRAIL RACEWAY
Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor captured the provisional pole in Pro Extreme
qualifying Friday night. He faces one more round of qualifying on Saturday before
eliminations begin to determine event winners in five professional
classes.
Frankie Taylor of Dickinson, Texas, blistered the National Trail eighth mile in 3.74 seconds at 202.52 miles per hour with his supercharged 2005 Corvette to lead 26 teams in the Pro Extreme class, while Eureka, Montana’s Pat Stoken ran a career-best 3.90 at 191.16 mph with his ’68 Camaro to finish on top of 28 Pro Nitrous entries after three rounds of qualifying on Friday.
In Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 action, Maryland racer Chuck Ulsch continued his recent domination of the class with a very strong 4.03 at 195.53 mph in a supercharged ’68 Camaro, while points leader and Ohio native Brian Gahm drove his ’07 Mustang to the provisional pole in Extreme Pro Stock with a solid 4.14 blast at 173.92 mph. Up on two wheels, Macon, Georgia’s Lance Hines leads 22 Pro Extreme Motorcycle riders with a solid 4.22-seconds pass at 169.30 mph aboard his 2009 Suzuki.
Taylor was first after the opening qualifying session and the only driver in the first round to exceed 200 mph, but 2006 Pro Extreme World Champion Bubba Stanton stepped up with a 3.77 at 198.41 in his ’63 Corvette on Friday afternoon to steal away the provisional top spot.
Pat Stoken credited Pro Nitrous teammate Jim Halsey and his crew for
helping Stoken make his career-best pass in qualifying number one at
National Trail Raceway.
“Conditions improved quite a bit tonight and that helped us,” Taylor said after responding with the second-best run of his career. “Now with us solidly in the field we can experiment some more tomorrow. But I’m not even sure we’ll run that session. We’ll probably wait and see what everyone else is doing before we make that decision.”
Following Taylor on the list are Stanton, Jason Hamstra, Alex Hossler and Cody Barklage, with Tommy D’Aprile currently on the bump spot in 16th with a 4.00 pass at an early shut-off 147.18 mph in the debut of a new 1970.5 Camaro for team owner Mel Bush.
Stoken was not in the 16-car field when the third and final qualifying session of the day began, but his best-ever elapsed time and speed quickly resolved the problem. It also helped keep his 2009 championship hopes alive as he fights to hold on to the eighth and last qualifying position for the season-ending Speedtech Battle for the Belts.
“That was a big run for us. I’m not so sure it’s going to hold up as number one, but it certainly takes a lot of the pressure off,” Stoken said. “At least now we know we’ll be racing for sure tomorrow and we can fool around with it a little in the final (qualifying) session.”
Stoken currently leads Shannon Jenkins, teammate Jim Halsey and Jenkins’ teammate Burton Auxier, who also is his closest rival for the transfer spot to the Belts playoff. The 16th-place qualifying slot presently belongs to the 4.10 at 177.77 mph by Terry Murphy.
In just the third race outing for his new Vanishing Point-built Camaro,
Chuck Ulsch, who just two weeks earlier became the first Flowmaster
Extreme 10.5 driver to dip into the threes, seized the provisional
number-one starter position with a 4.03 in Friday-night qualifying.
After battling traction issues in his first two qualifying attempts, Ulsch was on a pretty pass in Friday night’s session when his car again shook its rear tires about 200 feet out. He didn’t lift, however, and drove straight through to the finish line. Team owner Gil Mobley stressed the traction issues stemmed from a problem with the Camaro’s set-up; not any problem with the National Trail racing surface.
“I think the track is good; I think we just missed it; we didn’t have enough power through the middle part of the track,” he explained. “So we’ll add a little more power through there tomorrow and hopefully that’ll take care of it. If not, we can always go back to where we were.”
Gary White and defending class champ Billy Glidden are second and third, respectively, followed by Jeff Paulk and Spiro Pappas, while Bill Lutz currently rounds out the 16-car field after posting a 4.66 lap at 139.46 mph.
Gahm is the only one of the current top qualifiers to have laid down his class-leading pass in today’s opening session. It was fortunate for him, too, as Gahm experienced mechanical catastrophes in both subsequent attempts, with the pinion gear in his car’s rear end breaking in the second round, then an intake valve spring broke along with his transmission in the third round.
Ohio’s own Brian Gahm is the provisional polesitter in the Extreme Pro
Stock class.
“Hopefully all our bad luck is behind us and we’ll have good air and be able to step it up tomorrow,” he said. “We should’ve run quicker than that tonight; I figured it would’ve been about a .12 or so, maybe even better.”
Pete Berner, Robert Patrick Jr., Matt Hartford and Dean Goforth round out the top five in Extreme Pro Stock, while Mark Martino currently fills the 16th position just one-tenth-of-a-second behind Gahm.
Hines, a recent Pro Extreme Motorcycle event winner, led the field after each qualifying session, but improved from 4.28 to 4.22 in Friday’s last go-round to secure the provisional top spot over Ashley Owens, Ron Procopio, Monte Campbell and Paul Gast. A 4.42 at 161.32 has Eddie Gonder on the bubble for Saturday’s lone qualifying session, beginning at noon (Eastern). Elimination rounds for 16-car/bike fields in each National Guard ADRL professional class will follow.
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