07-22-2006, 10:14 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Texas
Posts: 3,461
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Ashley Nails Personal Qualifying Effort In Second Race With New Team
 ASHLEY NAILS PERSONAL QUALIFYING EFFORT IN SECOND RACE WITH NEW TEAM; Two-time champion enters Sunday fourth quickest
Seattle, Saturday - Mother Nature opened the door and NHRA POWERade Funny Car driver Mike Ashley knocked it off its hinges. The Knoll Gas - Torco Race Fuels-sponsored driver from Melville, New York turned in his best career qualifying effort during the NHRA Schuck's Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Seattle, Washington.
Friday produced unbearable conditions and yet Ashley earned a provisional spot in the sixteen car field. Today opened with overcast skies and enough cloud cover to drop the air temperature under 80 degrees.
That was the break that Ashley and crewchief Brian Corradi needed to leap initially as high as second in qualifying. Ashley's 4.872, 313.58 ended up as the fourth quickest run of the third session. Ashley's best effort since graduating to the Funny Car class was eighth.
"I'd say this is the textbook example of preparation meeting opportunity," Ashley said. "We had the opportunity to go out there and make a good run and Mother Nature opened the door for all the teams out there. We were prepared. It has been four weeks since our car was a bare chassis and last week we made the show in 9,000 feet of air.
"In only our eighth run on the car, we were able to qualify fourth," Ashley said. "I think that should speak multitudes about the preparation part. I have that same feeling that I had with my Pro Modified car when we won the championships. I knew then I had a car capable of going rounds and winning races. I have to give a lot of the credit to Brian Corradi and Evan Knoll and Torco Race Fuels for putting this together. We have a pretty serious team."
Ashley will race fellow Long Islander Tony Bartone in Sunday's first round of eliminations.
"That's funny. Of all the people you can meet in the first round, you end up racing someone that lives close to home," Ashley said. "Tony is tough. Every driver in this class is tough. This is the best this class has been in years. Any driver is capable of winning on race day. That's the great thing about this class.
"I will be up to the challenge tomorrow. Racing on Sunday is always exciting. But what makes it even more exciting is the fact we have a car and team capable of going the distance."
Final eliminations are scheduled for Sunday at 11 AM, PST.
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