{"id":8401,"date":"2013-10-10T15:25:06","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T19:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/52.90.244.159\/2013\/10\/10\/thursday-s-live-updates\/"},"modified":"2023-08-14T14:09:29","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T18:09:29","slug":"thursday-s-live-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/superdirtweek.com\/miscellaneous\/thursday-s-live-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday’s Live Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LIVE UPDATES 10\/10: NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week Qualifying Day<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n It’s Qualifying Day for the DIRTcar big-block Modified Syracuse 200 and ‘Salute to the Troops’ 358-Modified Championship 150 at the one-mile New York State Fairgrounds. Time Trials for both divisions are scheduled for this afternoon, beginning with the 358-Modifieds at 1:20 p.m. and then the big-block Modifieds at 2:45 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The top six starting spots in the Syracuse 200 and ‘Salute to the Troops’ 358-Modified Championship 150 will be locked in after today’s time trials. Results will also be used to align each division’s heat races during tomorrow’s S-T-R Trailer Repair ‘Friday Night Lights’ program.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Click the ‘Read More’ link below for live updates of the action on the ‘Moody Mile’ and other news and notes throughout the day, and check back tonight for updates from the DIRTcar 358-Modified Series ‘Hurricane 100’ at Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway. Be sure to refresh your browser regularly to read the latest information.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the hammer<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stewart Friesen made one spectacular lap of the one-mile New York State Fairgrounds oval on Thursday afternoon to put himself at the top of the qualifying list for the 42nd<\/sup> annual Syracuse 200. Then he topped that with an even faster<\/i> second circuit, securing his first-ever pole position starting spot for the DIRTcar big-block Modified classic.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As one of the last drivers to hit the track during time trials, the two-time Syracuse 200 champion from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., blazed around the Moody Mile in 30.237 seconds to put a resounding exclamation point on his qualifying effort. His clocking was over seventh-tenths of a second quicker than defending Syracuse 200 winner Brett Hearn of Sussex, N.J., who will start Sunday\u2019s $50,000-to-win event from the outside pole after turning a lap of 30.963 seconds.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNot really,\u201d said Friesen, who won the Syracuse 200 in 2010 and \u201911 but dropped out of last year\u2019s event in his bid for a threepeat. \u201cAfter we hot-lapped and had a good lap it definitely felt like a car that was capable of it, but you never know. You try to do as well as you can and see what shakes out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Friesen steered a brand-new Jeff Dailey & Sons-backed Teo-Pro car to his fast time honor. He earned a $1,000 check for his efforts from Pole Position Raceway.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe made a couple adjustments after practice and (motor builder) Chuck Cici did some tuning on the engine and it worked great,\u201d said Friesen. \u201cIt\u2019s just a good combination and we made good adjustments. Matt (Hearn) and myself work really good together, and with Loren and the Rochinski boys\u2026we got a good group of close friends who just are working for the same goals.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s real cool to be on the pole. We\u2019ll make a big deal of it all the way from now until Sunday. The boys work hard, so it\u2019s something to celebrate about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hearn, 55, had his Madsen Motorsports Teo-Pro car\u2019s No. 20 at the top of the scoreboard until being knocked off by Friesen. He fell short of his first Syracuse 200 fast-time since 2002, but beginning his bid for a record seventh victory in the event from the front row left him extremely satisfied.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe car feels very stable, it\u2019s rolling the corner real good and it\u2019s getting down the straightaway real good,\u201d said Hearn, who received $1,000 for his outside-pole performance from Page Trucking. \u201cI think we\u2019re gonna have a way different track on Sunday than we have right now though \u2013 it widened out really good but it\u2019s actually taking rubber in spots, which it hasn\u2019t done in a few years \u2013 so we\u2019re gonna have to keep an eye on the conditions and adjust to them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hearn was a bit awestruck by Friesen\u2019s sizzling circuit, however.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s pretty amazing,\u201d said Hearn, shaking his head. \u201cI could see (the pole winner being) a couple tenths faster, but seven-tenths \u2013 that\u2019s pretty big. That\u2019s traction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jimmy Phelps of Baldwinsville, N.Y., earned the third starting spot for the Syracuse 200 with a lap of 31.055 seconds in the HBR Racing Troyer car.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The surprise of qualifying was Jeff Rockefeller of Scotia, N.Y., whose lap of 31.101 seconds early in time trials with his Bicknell car held up to place him fourth-fastest in the final rundown. He became the rare driver to make a career-first start in the Syracuse 200 from a position in the top six.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Former Syracuse 200 winner Matt Sheppard of Waterloo, N.Y., guided Jeff Brownell Sr.\u2019s Bicknell machine to the fifth starting spot with a lap of 31.164 seconds while Carey Terrance of Hogansburg, N.Y., locked into the headliner in sixth place with a circuit of 31.187 seconds. Terrance was the lone driver to qualify in the top six for both the Syracuse 200 and 358-Modified 150.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Pictured below are the top six qualifiers for the Syracuse (l-r): Carey Terrance, Brett Hearn, Matt Sheppard, Jimmy Phelps, Stewart Friesen and Jeff Rockefeller. <\/span><\/p>\n For full results from Syracuse 200 qualifying, click here<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n R.J.\u2019s day<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Second-generation racer Ronnie Johnson of Duanesburg, N.Y., led the way in time trials for the 358-Modified 150, turning a lap of 31.754 seconds to earn the pole position in Saturday afternoon\u2019s headliner.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The son of two-time Syracuse 200 winner Jack Johnson, Ronnie steered Alton and Carol Palmer\u2019s Teo-Pro No. 76a to his first fast-time honor in the 358-Modified ranks at NAPA Super DIRT Week. He will make his sixth career start in the 150 hoping to better his personal-best finish of fourth, which he achieved in 2010 and \u201912.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been with the Palmers probably since 2005,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cWe got to know each other from racing at Fonda (Speedway) and we just kind of hit it off. We became good friends and our relationship has grown ever since. I\u2019m very fortunate to be able to race for them.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Johnson knows that Alton Palmer \u2013 a successful veteran Modified racer in his own right \u2013 and his better half always provide him a competitive car to run at the Mile. Nevertheless, besting the small-block field in today\u2019s time trials still surprised him.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCarol and Alton put this car away to save it just for coming here,\u201d said Johnson, whose pair of fourth-place finishes in the 358-Modified 150 sandwiched a fifth-place run in 2011. \u201cWe just run it here and we usually unload a top-10 car, but I never dreamed we\u2019d be on the pole with it.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know how good we were because you\u2019re out there by yourself. I\u2019ve run a lot of time-trial laps and felt like that was the fastest one and I come in and I\u2019m 10th<\/sup> or 12th<\/sup>, so you never know. But when I took the white flag lap I saw the (number) 76 up on the board so I knew we must have been pretty good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rising young star Chris Raabe of Napanee, Ont., timed a career-best second at 32.236 seconds, earning the outside pole starting spot for Saturday\u2019s 150. The two-time overall DIRTcar Sportsman champion will make his second career start in the event; he finished 29th<\/sup> in 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Carey Terrance of Hogansburg, N.Y., was third-fastest at 32.289 seconds to earn his seventh career start in the 150 (top finish: ninth in 2012). Marc Johnson of Guilderland, N.Y., was fourth-fastest at 32.328 seconds for his fourth career start in the event (top finish: sixth in \u201910); Larry Wight of Phoenix, N.Y., was fifth-fastest at 32.349 seconds (sixth career start with a top finish of fourth in \u201909); and Willy Decker was the final driver to lock in to the 150 with a sixth-fastest lap of 32.464 seconds (sixth career start with a best finish of eighth in \u201906).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Pictured below are the six fastest qualifiers (l-r): Willy Decker, Marc Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Chris Raabe, Carey Terrance and Larry Wight.Did Friesen, 30, think he could lay down a lap that was so much better than his rivals?<\/span><\/p>\n
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Johnson, who will celebrate his 40th<\/sup> birthday on Nov. 2, has a string of three consecutive top-five finishes in the 358-Modified 150 \u2013 all earned behind the wheel of equipment owned by the Palmers. He was proud to put the personable husband-and-wife team on the point for Saturday\u2019s headliner.<\/span><\/p>\n
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