USA: Cleveland round 8 qualifying

Summerton takes Round 8 pole

Cleveland, Ohio - July 2, 2004 . Jonathan Summerton (HBR Motorsport) won the pole for Round 8 of the 2004 Formula BMW USA Championship with a time of 1:16.462 minutes around the 2.106-mile Burke Lakefront Airport Circuit. In scoring his third pole of the season Summerton was the first driver of the weekend in the 1:16 bracket. Team mate Andreas Wirth bettered his Round 7 qualifying effort by one spot and will start second (1:17.167). Round 7 pole sitter Tom Milner will start third (1:17.337).

The quickest Rookies in the field were Summerton, Milner and Rookie points leader James Hinchcliffe.

"I told our Team Manager that I thought I could have done a 16.5 lap yesterday," said Summerton. "He told me that he did not think so I felt I had to prove it to him."

Wirth added, "I had a good draft on my quick lap, but was held up on the last corner a little bit. I was six-tenths faster than yesterday, but I still think I could have gone a little faster."

"A pole yesterday and third today," said Milner. "I have been mid-pack all season and it feels great to be up with the front runners."

Round 8 is scheduled to start at 12:15 p.m. ET tomorrow.

<pre> Qualifying: Round 8

1.    Jonathan Summerton (R)    (HBR Motorsport)        1:16.462 (= 99.155 Mph)
2.    Andreas Wirth             (HBR Motorsport)        1:17.167
3.    Tom Milner (R)            (Team PTG Motorsport)   1:17.337
4.    Brian Frisselle           (PoleVision Racing)     1:17.451
5.    James Hinchcliffe (R)     (AIM Autosport)         1:17.524
6.    Billy Johnson             (Team PTG Motorsport)   1:17.824
7.    Graham Rahal (R)          (Vitesse Farm Racing)   1:17.840
8.    Matt Jaskol               (Team Autotecnica)      1:17.940
9.    Tom Sutherland (R)        (Team PTG Motorsport)   1:17.982
10.   Daniel Herrington         (Jensen Motorsport)     1:18.543
11.   Lawson Aschenbach         (Team PTG Motorsport)   1:18.588
12.   Derek Burseth (R)         (PoleVision Racing)     1:22.939

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