Utah: Doran Racing qualifying report

Gidley qualifies sixth for Saturday's Sunchaser 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park

TOOELE, Utah - Doran Racing returns to the track this weekend at Miller Motorsports Park with Memo Gidley and Brad Jaeger behind the wheel of the No. 77 Feeds the Need/Kodak Daytona Prototype. With a new Roush-Yates engine under the hood, Gidley was able to qualify the No. 77 in sixth place for Saturday's Sunchaser 1000.

After a few races away from the track, owner Kevin Doran and his team have worked hard to get the No. 77 back into competitive shape. That hard worked of putting new parts on the car and getting the new engine in and ready to go was time well spent as the Doran team maintained positions in the top 10 during practice sessions and qualifying at the 4.486-mile track.

Memo Gidley - No. 77 Kodak Doran Racing Daytona Prototype (Qualified 6th)- "Kevin Doran and his crew have done an awesome job at improving the car after the races that we've missed. I think we learned a lot on the old chassis and kind of maxed that one out. We were fairly competitive earlier in the year, but we were just missing something and couldn't get up to the front. Kevin's a smart guy and the guys working for him are smart and they came up with something that was great. The quality of work is awesome, the car looks awesome and considering we haven't tested it, it runs great.

"The other factor in that is the motor. Ford has been busy working with the Roush-Yates engine shop and improving that motor. The motor looked awesome, but it's one thing to look awesome and another to go fast. Now I know we have a competitive package with the motor and we can go head to head with anybody out on the track. I've always been a Ford guy and around Fords, so I'm happy to be out here running for Kevin and with Ford this weekend to show off the new parts. Everything is working great. Setup-wise I'm very happy with the car."

WITHOUT HAVING MUCH TIME RUNNING WITH THIS NEW ENGINE AND TOMORROW BEING A 100K OR 7.5 HOUR RACE, DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT THE LACK OF TIME YOU HAVE IN THE CAR? "I have no concerns on that. The car is really good. As far as reliability, I have no concerns. Kevin and his guys did a great job preparing the car, the motor has never let us down. I've been running Ford motors for a couple years. I think the car will be good, we've got a 15-minute warm-up tomorrow and we've got a lot of ideas that I know will work that we can apply to the car. I think that it's going to be good. I'm very happy and very excited for the race and where we're at."

-credit: www.memogidley.com