Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 19, 1995 TAG: 9503210061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Ronnie Thomas got around the Martinsville Speedway so fast Saturday afternoon it almost left the talkative driver from Christiansburg speechless.
``It was unbelievable, just everything worked out right,'' Thomas said of his Dodge Daytona. ``The car was great through the corners. It could move down the straightaway. I don't know what else to say.''
Thomas' qualifying lap of 89.023 mph earned him the pole out of the 101 Late Model Stock Car drivers which tried to qualify for today's Miller Genuine Draft 300. The top 20 earned spots for the race, while everyone else will try to get in by finishing in the top four in one of three 50-lap qualifying races. (Qualifying results in Scoreboard. C12)
``I knew I was on the pole when I got the 27, I knew it would be hard for someone to beat a 27,'' Thomas said, referring to his lap time of 20.271 seconds. ``I looked up [at the scoreboard] and saw my first lap was a 60 [20.640]. I knew I had gotten through the turns a lot better. I figured I had a 40 or a high 30s. I didn't figure a 27.''
Only one car came within 0.05 seconds of catching Thomas: the Pontiac of Southside Speedway champion Shayne Lockhart of Chester.
``I ran better in the morning than I qualified,'' said Lockhart. ``I still got in a good lap but I had no idea Ronnie Thomas would get in a lap like that.''
Thomas led a strong showing by drivers from New River Valley Speedway. Four made the top 10, including Roanoke's Tony McGuire, who will start third in a Chevrolet.
``We were struggling yesterday so we changed a few things [in the suspension]," said McGuire. ``This morning, we were real fast. We only practiced 15 minutes and we came in since we were running so fast.''
Tink Reedy of Roanoke held the pole before Thomas' run. He ended up sixth with the only other Chrysler product to secure a spot for the race.
``It's all clicking together,'' said Reedy. ``We've had a good car. We just hadn't figured out qualifying. But Arnie [Arrington, the crew chief] did his homework during the off-season.''
New River track champion Jeff Agnew of Floyd qualified 10th, the best performance of any of the six new Chevy Monte Carlos which attempted to qualify.
``That's pretty fantastic to build a brand new race car and the first time out and do this well,'' said Agnew. ``That says a lot about this team.''
Other drivers who raced at New River last year who earned spots Saturday were Tim McGuire of Vinton (13th), Johnny Rumley of Winston-Salem, N.C. (14th), Ray Young of Bassett (17th), Mike Porter of Princeton, W.Va. (18th) and Michael Dillon of Clemmons, N.C. (19th).
Other familiar names on the starting grid include Nathan Buttke, a part-time Busch Grand National driver (fourth), Barry Beggarly, a two-time winner at Martinsville last year (11th), Bugs Hairfield, winner of the 1994 Miller Genuine Draft race (12th) and Mike Buffkin, a former Martinsville winner (20th).
However five former Martinsville winners and six 1994 track champions failed to make the field. They will have another chance in the heat races which begin at 12:30 this afternoon.
The 200-lap main event will start after the final qualifying race.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB