Earl's Fast Qualifier 2004-08-09

Earl's Point Race Heating Up Like August Weather

Battles for supremacy in the 2004 Earl's Plumbing Fast Qualifier Championships are heating up like the August weather as USAC participants enter their busiest period on the calendar.

Dave Steele, Levi Jones, Josh Wise, Tony Hunt, Jerome Rodela, Chris Rahe, Chase Scott and Rex Norris III are the current leaders but Rahe and Scott appear to have the only comfortable point leads.

Earl's fast qualifiers last week were Jay Drake (Weld Racing Silver Crown), J.J. Yeley (National Sprint), Dave Steele (National Midget), Tony Hunt (Western Sprint), Bradley Galedrige and Chase Scott (Ford Focus). This week, Earl's points will be distributed at North East, Pa. and Salem, Ind. (National Sprints), Salem, Ind. (National Midgets) and Lima, Ohio, Watsonville and Petaluma, Calif. (Ford Focus).

Points are traditionally awarded at each USAC event based on an international system awarding the top-six qualifiers with points in the following scale: 1st-9, 2nd-6, 3rd-4, 4th-3, 5th-2, 6th-1.

Each USAC National, Western and Ford Focus Midget Car Earl's Plumbing FQ Champion will be honored at USAC's Champions Night ceremony in Indianapolis in December. The National and Western FQ champs will receive $5,000 each, while the Ford Focus FQ champs will each receive $1,500.

2004 Standings:

Weld Racing Silver Crown:
1-Dave Steele-31
2-Dane Carter-25
3-Jay Drake-18
4-Bobby East & Bud Kaeding-13.

Valvoline National Sprint Car:
1-Levi Jones-44
2-Josh Wise-36
3-Dave Steele-33
4-Bud Kaeding-30
5-Jay Drake & Jason McCord-27.

National Midget Car:
1-Josh Wise-52
2-Bobby East-50
3-Dave Steele-43
4-Dave Darland & J.J. Yeley-28.

Valvoline Western Sprint Car:
1-Tony Hunt-57
2-Michael Lewis-41
3-Brian McClish-19
4-Greg Taylor-18
5-Brad Bumgarner-15.

Western Midget Car:
1-Jerome Rodela-77
2-Garrett Hansen-61
3-Steve Paden-42
4-Johnny Rodriguez-39
5-Josh Wise & Michael Lewis-17.

California Ford Focus:
1-Chris Rahe-84
2-Josh Lakatos-61
3-Bradley Galedrige-55
4-Bobby Michnowicz-26
5-Nick Morago-24.

Carolina/Virginia Ford Focus:
1-Chase Scott-52
2-Sam Beam-25
3-Danny Bopp-20
4-Aron Oakley & Mike Ward-17.

Midwest Ford Focus:
1- Rex Norris III-53
2-Tate Martz-46
3-Jordan Noblitt-43
4-Ronnie Wuerdeman & Ryan Litt-27.

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