NA-F2000: PAC: Buttonwillow round five qualifying notes

Podlesni Ends Westphal Streak

Buttonwillow, Calif. (May 3, 2008) - Robert Podlesni has ended Jeff Westphal's streak of pole positions at three as the Pacific F2000 Series presented by Hankook opened qualifying for round 5 at Buttonwillow Raceway this morning. Driving his Terminal Velocity/Alpinestars, DFR Van Diemen, Podlesni turned his best lap of 1:43.149 late in the session to take the pole position away from Westphal, 1:43.613, in his TNT Demolition/Cacci Construction PR1 Van Diemen. The two battled throughout qualifying and emerged 1.5 seconds clear of third qualifier Max Hyatt.

Hyatt in his Performance Drink, PR1 Van Diemen whose time of 1:45.310 just edged PR1 teammate Shaun Modisette in his Carson Trailer's Van Diemen by .024 of a second.

Row three will consist of the fourth PR1 teammate, Nick Freytag. Freytag in his G Phactory/Sodi Kart had a quick lap of 1:45.342 was only .008 of a second behind Modisette and another solid performance for the PR1 Motorsports team. Next to Nick on row three will be series returnee Bob Negron in his Fengshui, Negron Racing Van Diemen, who after missing the first four rounds of the season since an engine failure in Las Vegas at last years season finale, did an excellent job to qualify sixth fastest with a time of 1:45.743.

Row four will feature DFR's Chuck Hulse in his Silicon Salvage Van Diemen and Jeremy Shaw making his first appearance this season in his Comar Performance Inc., GS610 Maximum Performance Brake Fluid Van Diemen.

Peter Hastrup and Scott Rarick fill out the top ten when they start from the fifth row today. Hastrup will be driving his Western Building Materials, DFR Van Diemen and Rarick in his Piper/Fast Forward/Red Line Oil Piper DF5.

Today's race will also include returning drivers Les Phillips; Mygale, Bill Kincaid; Van Diemen, Chris Hundley; Van Diemen and will be the first race for Michael Murphy in his MSI Motorsports Mygale.

Round five will see the green flag at 1:00 pm local time.

-credit: f2000/pacific