Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 20, 1992 TAG: 9203200257
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Markham's success story at Martinsville rolled on Thursday as he captured the pole position for the 100-lap Late Model Stock Car portion of Sunday's $219,103 Miller Genuine Draft 500 tripleheader.
It was Markham's fourth straight and sixth career LMSC pole on the .526-mile oval. The 32-year-old Fredericksburg leadfoot has captured four career LMSC races at Martinsville.
"I can't explain it," said Markham.
"For some reason, I just always seem to be able to run well here."
Markham punched his Buick around the low-banked oval at 87.732 mph to nip defending Mid-Atlantic champion Johnny Rumley of Winston-Salem, N.C., for the top starting slot in Sunday's LMSC 100-lap season opener.
Rumley, whose Pontiac was second at 87.392 mph, was followed by Yorktown's Mike Buffkin (87.214), North Carolinian Dennis Setzer (87.206), Ferrum's Paul Radford (87.082) and Christiansburg's Ronnie Thomas (86.902).
Unlike in the past when he knew he had his competition covered beforehand, Markham said he was a bit apprehensive when he wheeled his Buick onto the track for time trials.
"I'm still in shock I won the pole," Markham said. "On my first [qualifying] lap, I kind of slid around in turn 1. So on the second one, I slowed down to go fast, if that makes sense.
"I went in the corner easy and came out good. It wasn't a fast lap by any means, but it was fast enough today. I still don't believe it. It didn't feel like that fast a lap.
"Hey, I lucked out. But like Bill Elliott last Sunday [in the Winston Cup stop at Atlanta], I'd rather be lucky than good anytime."
Markham appears to be both when it comes to Martinsville.
"I really don't feel like we've got an edge here," Markham said. "We came here before last September's race and did a lot of testing. We came up with a good setup, the same one one we used today."
Markham predicted Rumley will be tough to handle in Sunday's race.
"I thought for sure Johnny had won the pole today," Markham said. "If this track owes anybody anything, it's Johnny Rumley."
Other area drivers making Thursday's top 20 included Tink Reedy of Roanoke (19th) and Rodney Sawyers of Ridgeway (20th).
Emporia's Hermie Sadler, who originally qualified fifth at 87.106, was disqualified when NASCAR inspectors discovered his Chevrolet was equipped with illegal cylinder heads.
Activities for Sunday's program continue today when first-round time trials are held for the other two competing divisions on hand - Busch Grand National and Modified.
The BGN cars line up for qualifying at 2 p.m., with the Modified cars to follow. The top 20 positions in each field will be established today.
The final 10 positions in each of the fields will be determined Saturday in six 25-lap qualifying races.
Sunday's 500-lap card takes the green flag at noon. The 100-lap LMSC event goes first, with the 200-lap BGN and Modified events to follow.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB