THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 1996 TAG: 9605040522
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SONOMA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
A new Sears Point star is emerging from among the oval-track stars in the Winston Cup series.
Terry Labonte beat Ricky Rudd and the other traditional fast runners at Sears Point International Raceway on Friday to win the pole for Sunday's Save Mart 300.
Labonte reached a track-record 92.524 mph in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo on his lap around this twisting, 12-turn road course in northern California's wine country.
Rudd was second-fastest at 92.189 mph in a Ford Thunderbird, followed by Ron Hornaday Jr., at 92.161 in Ricky Craven's Chevy. Mark Martin was fourth-fastest at 92.138 in a Ford. All four broke Rudd's previous qualifying record of 92.132 mph, set last year.
``It was faster than I expected,'' said Labonte, who earned his fourth pole of the year. ``That's a lot faster than we practiced. And, to tell you the truth, it kind of surprised me.''
Labonte already is an accomplished road racer. He's won two poles at Watkins Glen and a couple of races at Riverside. But he just hasn't won at Sears Point. And Friday's run gave him his first pole on the 2.52-mile course.
``I've come close before, but I've never won one here before,'' he said. ``Ricky has knocked me off the pole here a few times, so it's nice to finally win one.''
Labonte said he wasn't sure how fast a lap he could run because when he came into turn 2 during his mock qualifying run during practice, another car was sideways and ``that messed up our lap.''
He said he messed up turn 2 a bit, ``but the rest of the track I felt like I was pretty fair on. I guess if you mess up one corner on a long course, that's not too bad.''
Dale Earnhardt was fifth-fastest at 92.075, followed by Jeff Gordon (91.942), Rusty Wallace (91.761), Kyle Petty (91.750), Joe Nemechek (91.656) and Wally Dallenbach (91.628).
Hornaday held the pole for much of the qualifying session. He's filling in for Craven, who is recovering from a cracked vertebra and bruised lungs suffered in his horrifying crash at Talladega.
``The easier I drove it, the faster it went, so I learned something today,'' Hornaday said.
Ernie Irvan, making his first visit since winning his last Winston Cup points race here in 1994, qualified 18th.
``We made it back,'' he said. ``That's the main thing. Sears Point is a tough place, and I'm just getting acquainted with it again.''
Fifty cars made qualifying runs Saturday, vying for 38 regular starting spots.
Winston Cup regulars who are currently lower than 38th are Steve Grissom (39th), Mike Wallace (45th) and Jeff Burton (47th). Burton spun during his qualifying run. And Robert Pressley didn't make a qualifying run after crashing during practice. A second round of time trials will be at 1 p.m. today. by CNB