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Englishtown: Chip Ellis Friday summary

First day qualifying finds Chip Ellis No. 4 ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 17, 2005) -- Chip Ellis, who rode the G Squared/S&S Buell to victory last weekend at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., picked up where he left off. The ...

Published: Jun 18, 2005, 3:58 AM

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First day qualifying finds Chip Ellis No. 4

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 17, 2005) -- Chip Ellis, who rode the G Squared/S&S Buell to victory last weekend at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., picked up where he left off.

The Americus, Ga., driver covered the quarter-mile at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J. in 7.145 seconds, good for the No. 4 spot on the qualifying ladder after the first day of qualifying.

"The first run was good but I think that we just missed the tune up by a little bit in that final pass," said Ellis. "We've been used to running in hot air and now that it's a bit cooler we need to make quicker adjustments according to the temperature. We'll put our heads together and figure out our strategy for tomorrow. We've got two more runs."

While longtime employee Ken Johnson is on the mend (see below), in his place G Squared is tuning by committee with team owners George Bryce and George Smith, along with Chip Ellis and Rick Maney, contributing to readying the motorcycle for competition.

Smith feels the committee is working together and producing results.

"The committee is doing a great job of tuning," said Smith. "Even though the bike slowed down in that last round, we feel we'll pick up again tomorrow. We're still trying to get things sorted out and apply what we learned during our testing session on Monday. We'll download the data and see what adjustments we need to make to put the S&S-powered Buell back on top. The committee will figure it out."

KEN JOHNSON UPDATE: Ken Johnson (pictured above, with his wife Kassi, on Tuesday, June 14, as he accepts the "Wally," emblematic of the win at the CARQUEST Auto Parts Nationals) is resting comfortably following surgery on Wednesday, June 15 to amputate the left leg above the knee. Johnson's leg and knee was seriously injured in a non-race related accident on June 4.

Surgery went as planned and Ken is already undergoing physical therapy. He is hoping for a release from the hospital early next week. A fund will soon be set up for financial donations to help to defray Ken's continuing medical expenses. The public will be notified as soon as this fund is established. In the meantime, for those who wish to make an immediate donation, your donations can be sent to: Ken Johnson, c/o Star Racing, P.O. Box 1241, Americus, GA 31709.

Also, a "We Need Ken Back at the Track" fundraiser is in the planning stages. Details will be released as soon as they become available.

-gsm-

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