Earl's Fast Qualifier 2005-06-27

STEELE, EAST "TIED" FOR EARL'S SILVER CROWN LEAD

Dave Steele and Bobby East are tied for the lead in the Earl's Fast Qualifier standings going into this Sunday's "Rocky Mountain Classic" USAC Weld Racing Silver Crown Series event at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo. Steele was the fastest qualifier for last Saturday night's race at Richmond, Va.

Other Earl's "fast qualifers" in last week's action were East (Valvoline National Sprint Cars at Richmond), Damion Gardner (Valvoline USAC/CRA Sprints at Perris, Calif.), Brian McClish (Valvoline Western Sprints), Eric Wilkins (Western Midgets at Tucson, Ariz.), Benny Moon (California Ford Focuses at Stockton) and Tate Martz (Midwest Ford Focuses at Xenia and Columbus, Ohio).

Earl's points will be up for grabs this week in events at Fountain, Colo. (Silver Crown and National and Western Midget), Perris, Calif. (CRA Sprint), and Ford Focus races at Irwindale, Calif., Elkin, N.C., Tulsa, Okla., Gas City, Ind. and Sumner, Ill.

Points are 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. When qualifying is not held, points are awarded based on a system of lineup points earned in the preliminary heats.

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. The National and Western FQ champs will receive $5,000 each, while the Ford Focus FQ champs will each receive $1,000.

2005 Standings:

Weld Racing Silver Crown: 1-Bobby East & Dave Steele-15; 3-Josh Wise-14; 4-Tracy Hines-13; 5-Dave Darland-10.

Valvoline National Sprint Car: 1-Jay Drake-23; 2-Levi Jones & Bobby East-19; 4-Justin Marvel-15; 5-Rob Chaney-14.

National Midget Car: 1-Josh Wise-18; 2-Michael Lewis-13; 3-Bobby East & Ron Gregory-12; 5-Levi Jones & Teddy Beach-9.

Valvoline Western Sprint Car: 1-Brian McClish-31; 2-Tony Hunt-21; 3-Mike Murgoitio-18; 4-Tim Barber-11; 5-Kody Swanson-10.

Western Midget Car: 1-Jerome Rodela-27; 2-Robby Flock-18; 3-Steve Paden-13; 4-Tyler Brown-10; 5-Michael Lewis, Chris Rahe & Wally Pankratz-9.

Valvoline CRA Sprint Car: 1-Damion Gardner-127; 2-Rip Williams-54; 3-Charles Davis, Jr.-44; 4-Rickie Gaunt-22; 5-Seth Wilson-19.

Midwest Ford Focus: 1-Tate Martz-35; 2-Derek Fisher-22; 3-Stephanie Mockler-19; 4-Jordan Noblitt-18; 5-Brandon Hartsell-12.

California Ford Focus: 1-Alex Harris-55; 2-Robbie Whitchurch-39; 3-Chase Barber-38; 4-Benny Moon-37; 5-Jace Meier-26.

Carolina/Virginia Ford Focus: 1-Chase Scott-40; 2-Michael Sboro-22; 3-Robbie Ray-17; 4-Aaron Oakley & Mike Ward-15.

Oklahoma Ford Focus: 1-Jasiel Randolph-18; 2-Dustin Morgan-17; 3-Evan Sewell-16; 4-Leon Bacon-15; 5-Chett Gehrke-14.

Northeast Ford Focus: 1-Brit Andersen, Ryan Smith & Stephanie Stevens-9; 4-Jeff Abold-6; 5-Nick Wean & Dana Messier-4.

-usac-