Earl's Fast Qualifier 2006-11-20

RODELA CHALLENGES KAPLAN AT IRWINDALE FOR 2006 EARL'S WESTERN MIDGET FQ TITLE

Defending USAC Western Midget Champion Jerome Rodela stayed in the hunt for the 2006 Earl's USAC Western Midget Fast Qualifying Championship by posting the fastest qualifying time at Tucson, Ariz. Saturday night. Rodela trails Kaplan by seven points with nine available in Thursday's series finale at Irwindale, Calif.

Tony Jones was the fastest CRA Sprint qualifier in Saturday's series finale at Perris, Calif., while Damion Gardner won that Earl's title.

Earl's points will be up for grabs this week in USAC National and Western Midget and Western Sprint competition at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway.

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 for Ford Focus events, 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 Silver Crown FQ champ will receive $5,000, while National Sprint and Midget and Western Sprint and Midget and USAC/CRA FQ champs will receive $3,000 each. The Ford Focus FQ champs will each receive $500.

2006 Standings:

Silver Crown (Final) - (K & N Engineering): 1-Bud Kaeding-53; 2-Josh Wise-47; 3-Brian Tyler-32; 4-Jay Drake-28; 5-Dave Steele-27.

National Sprint Car (Final): 1-Josh Wise-116; 2-Levi Jones-97; 3-Jerry Coons Jr.-57; 4-Tracy Hines-56; 5-Bryan Clauson-42.

National Midget Car: 1-Josh Wise-87; 2-Jerry Coons Jr.-52; 3-Bobby Santos III-37; 4-Dave Steele-34; 5-Bryan Clauson and Darren Hagen-28.

Western Sprint Car: 1-Tony Hunt-72; 2-Kody Swanson-60; 3-Mike Murgoitio-43; 4-Nick Green-25; 5-Bradley Galedrige-20.

Western Midget Car: 1-Ryan Kaplan-58; 2-Jerome Rodela-51; 3-Garrett Hansen & Chase Barber-30; 5-Bradley Galedrige-24.

CRA Sprint Car: 1-Damion Gardner-193; 2-Cory Kruseman-97; 3-Tony Jones-88; 4-Mike Spencer-61; 5-Blake Miller & Levi Jones-40.

Midwest Ford Focus (Final): 1-Tate Martz-94; 2-James Robertson-43; 3-Chett Gehrke-36; 4-Jordan Noblitt-34; 5-Mario Clouser-29.

Indiana Ford Focus (Final): 1-James Robertson-49; 2-Tate Martz-41; 3-Shannon McIntosh & Zach Schiff-40; 5-Ricky Ehrgott-39.

California Ford Focus (Final): 1-Michael Faccinto-90; 2-Chris Veach-54; 3-Nic Faas-49; 4-Tim Skoglund-44; 5-Bobby Michnowicz-38.

Carolina/Virginia Ford Focus (Final): 1-Chase Scott-85; 2-Bradley Riethmeyer-72; 3-Aron Oakley-41; 4-Mark Burt-25; 5-Michael Sboro-15.

Florida Ford Focus (Final): 1-Ryan Smith-21; 2-Ryan Scott-18; 3-Craig Haack-15; 4-Ricky Ehrgott-13; 5-Terry Hall-11.

Northeast Ford Focus (Final): 1-Ryan Smith-64; 2-Nick Wean-30; 3-Sean Carman-24; 4-Jeff Abold-22; 5-Jesse State-21.

--USAC--