THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702220632
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: 72 lines
Mark Martin unleashed two weeks of pent-up frustration on North Carolina Motor Speedway on Friday, and the results were two poles and a track record.
Martin reached 157.885 mph in his Winston Cup Ford Thunderbird, surpassing the record speed of 157.620 mph Jeff Gordon had set two years ago.
It was the second pole position of the day for Martin. Earlier, he had run the fastest lap in time trials for today's Goodwrench 200 Busch Grand National race at 151.264 mph.
Martin's lap time of 23.189 seconds in his Winston Cup car was more than two-tenths faster than the 23.395 seconds it took Bobby Labonte to circle the track in his Pontiac Grand Prix. Labonte's speed was 156.495 mph.
To give an idea of how big that 0.2-second gap between Martin and Labonte is, David Green was two-tenths slower than Labonte and wound up 14th.
``An awful lot of bottled-up frustration was unleashed today for me,'' Martin said. ``It was just one of those situations where I've been bottled up at Daytona for two weeks, taking a beating down there. I had an opportunity to hold my foot down longer than anyone else in the field today, and that's what I wanted to do.''
So he attacked turns 1 and 2 at Rockingham with power that wasn't at his disposal at Daytona. In fact, power, not results, was his major problem at Daytona. Martin left Daytona highly encouraged after a seventh-place finish. But he has no use for restrictor-plate racing and its power curbs.
Rockingham is the kind of track where you have to back off going into the turns. It's up to the driver to decide when.
``I'll tell you about the lap,'' Martin said. ``I drove it in (turn 1) deeper than I should have, and it stuck and I slammed it to the floor. It came off turn 2 running what felt like 250 mph. I knew that if I didn't wreck, I would sit on the pole, because it didn't really matter what I did in (turns) 3 and 4 at that point. I had already gone so fast through 1 and 2, it didn't matter.''
Martin, who is usually conservative with his race cars, threw so much at his qualifying lap, it scared him.
``I was shaky after the qualifying run,'' he said. ``I was committed and I had to steer the thing through the deal or hit something.''
Labonte, meanwhile, obviously was pleased with the results of his first day of unrestricted combat in his new Pontiac Grand Prix.
``It was actually quite a handful, but we're getting a handle on the Pontiac,'' said Labonte, who had driven a Chevrolet last year. ``I could tell it was going to be an awesome lap because it got through the corners really well.
``I had a good feeling about things after that run, but I also knew Mark was going to be fast. He was two-tenths better than us in practice, so the writing was pretty much on the wall.''
Dale Jarrett was third-fastest in a Ford at 156.475 mph, followed by Jeff Gordon in a Chevy at 156.155 and Geoff Bodine in a Ford at 156.048.
Completing the top 10 were Chevy drivers Ken Schrader (155.928 mph), Steve Grissom (155.875) and Ricky Craven (155.743), and Ford drivers Brett Bodine (155.544) and Ricky Rudd (155.518).
Rookie Mike Skinner was 12th-fastest, while his teammate, Dale Earnhardt, had trouble with a loose-handling car and was only 27th-fastest. Others who struggled included Ernie Irvan (32nd-fastest), Sterling Marlin (35th) and Bill Elliott (37th).
Dick Trickle holds the 38th and final regular starting spot, followed by Robby Gordon, Rick Mast, Chad Little, Jimmy Spencer, Mike Wallace, Billy Standridge, Michael Waltrip, Gary Bradberry and Loy Allen.
A second round of time trials is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. today. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
``An awful lot of bottled-up frustration was unleashed today for
me,'' Mark Martin said. ``I had an opportunity to hold my foot down
longer than anyone else in the field today, and that's what I wanted
to do.''