Kane, Simmons Fontana qualifying notes

Fontana, Calif. (October 28, 2000) -- Team KOOL Green teammates Jeff Simmons and Jonny Kane qualified 13th and 14th for the Dayton Indy Lights season finale tomorrow at California Speedway. Simmons turned a lap of 39.933 seconds (182.916 mph), while Kane's best lap was 39.965 (182.770 mph).

Felipe Giaffone earned his third pole of the season today, with a lap of 39.478 seconds (185.025 mph). Points leader Scott Dixon turned a lap of 39.577 (184.562 mph) and will line up on the outside of row one.

Indy Lights drivers have an early morning tomorrow, as their warm-up will take place at 7:45 a.m. The 50-lap Indy Lights season finale will take the green flag at 9:30 a.m.(Pacific).

JEFF SIMMONS, #26 Team KOOL Green Lola T97/20:
(13th with a lap time of 39.993 seconds / 182.916 mph)
"We were flat-out from the moment we left the pits - I never lifted. We got slower and slower with each lap. I don't know why. Maybe the wind picked up. On my first lap out of the pits I was checking my speed on the back straightaway and I never saw that speed again for the rest of the run. My lap before I took the green flag was my fastest. But the KOOL car is pretty good. We've been working on the car's balance in traffic and we'll do some more of that in tomorrow morning's warm-up."

JONNY KANE, #27 Team KOOL Green Lola T97/20:
(14th with a lap time of 39.965 seconds / 182.916 mph)
"The KOOL car felt okay, but we ended up with some pretty slow times and I'm not really sure why. It must be the conditions because nobody is going especially fast. The good news is that qualifying isn't all that important here. You've just got to be around for the finish. We've spent most of the weekend working on running in traffic and getting a good race setup. We're trying to solve some of the problems we had at Michigan. Tomorrow morning we'll see if we can work some more on the car's handling in the morning warm warm-up."