THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 22, 1995 TAG: 9504220425
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE, VA. LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Bobby Labonte's healing left shoulder still hurts when he makes the wrong move. But that didn't stop him from making all the right moves at Martinsville Speedway on Friday.
Labonte's speed of 93.308 mph in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo gave Joe Gibbs Racing its first pole position ever, earning the top starting spot for Sunday's Hanes 500.
That, however, wasn't the biggest surprise of the day.
Chesapeake native Elton Sawyer, driving the Junior Johnson No. 27 Ford Thunderbird as a fill-in, had a stunning qualifying run in his Winston Cup debut, qualifying ninth at 92.915 mph.
``My big concern was, I just wanted to come here and make the race, even if we were 29th or 30th,'' said the 35-year-old who now lives in Greensboro. ``To have been 29th or 30th would have been just fine. So it was a great day.''
It was indeed, considering Hut Stricklin was unable to get Johnson's car into the race at Bristol and Jeff Purvis failed to qualify at North Wilkesboro, N.C.
Labonte said his shoulder, which he broke in a crash at Darlington, S.C., on March 26, ``is doing real well. When you're in the car, you don't hardly feel it. Out of the car, if I reach for something and don't think about it, it burns a bit. Of course, that was my excuse for last weekend.''
Actually, the last race was two weekends ago at North Wilkesboro. Labonte had to take a provisional starting spot to make the field, finishing 15th. No provisional will be needed this time.
``We just got a really good lap in,'' the 30-year-old Labonte said. ``I didn't hit the curb. We'd been looking for (that lap) all day and I did it in qualifying instead of practice. Sometimes you do it in practice and you don't do it in qualifying. Today it just happened to be the other way around.''
Labonte will be joined at the front of the Martinsville field by two more drivers who usually don't start there.
Rookie Robert Pressley, whose previous best starting position this year was ninth at Darlington, won the outside pole in another Chevy at 93.239 mph. Greg Sacks equaled Pressley's speed in a Pontiac Grand Prix, but will start third because Pressley's car owner, Leo Jackson, has more points than Sacks' car owner, Dick Brooks.
Darrell Waltrip qualified fourth in a Chevy at 93.221 mph, while Mark Martin was fifth in the fastest Ford Thunderbird at 93.194 mph.
Also in the top 10 were Bobby Hamilton, who circled the .526-mile oval at 93.116 mph in Richard Petty's Pontiac. Richard's son, Kyle, was seventh-fastest in another Pontiac at 93.074 mph. Ricky Rudd qualified eighth in a Ford at 92.933 mph. Dale Jarrett was 10th-fastest in another Ford at 92.883 mph.
Among other drivers, Jeff Gordon qualified 12th, Bill Elliott was 14th, Rusty Wallace was 15th and Dale Earnhardt was 20th.
Although there were showers here in the morning, the skies cleared and the sun came out shortly before qualifying began. This seemed to be an advantage for those who qualified early.
Labonte was the eighth of 43 drivers who made qualifying runs. Sawyer went off third. Kyle Petty was fourth, Waltrip 10th, Rudd 13th and Pressley 15th.
The sunshine, Labonte said, ``heated up the concrete a little bit and made (the tires) stick better, but it might have got a little too warm for some of those cars that went out later.''
This wasn't universally true. The first driver on the track for time trials, Chuck Bown, also was the slowest.
Sunday's field will have 32 qualifiers and four provisional starters. Those who are outside the fastest 32 are Dave Marcis, who was 33rd fastest, followed by Jeff Burton, Derrike Cope, Dick Trickle, Davy Jones, Mike Wallace, Ricky Craven, Todd Bodine, Jay Hedgecock, Jimmy Spencer and Bown.
Obviously, some good cars and drivers will be going home following the second round of time trials at 12:15 p.m. today. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Bobby Labonte, left, overcame a painful left shoulder to give Joe
Gibbs Racing its first pole ever. Chesapeake native Eldon Sawyer
qualified ninth.
by CNB