Tim Wilkerson and his partially new crew came to Pomona with very little experience working as a team, and on Thursday and Friday that inexperience was evident. On Saturday, though, the Levi, Ray & Shoup crew hit a solid stride, and Wilk tuned his car to a pair of consistently strong runs.
A 4.099 in Q3 moved him up from 11th to 9th, and a tentative match-up with Matt Hagan, who was 8th at the time. In Q4, a slightly better 4.095 was just enough to sneak around Hagan, and turn the tables on the 8 vs 9 match-up. Wilk will now race from the 8th spot, and will control lane choice when he and Hagan meet in round one on Sunday.
The LRS Shelby Mustang has not usually been a big top-end speed car, but a clocking of 311.70 mph on the final run was a new career best for Wilk, at the 1,000-foot distance.
"The guys still have a ways to go, working as a unit and getting it done in the short amount of time we have between runs, but today they bolted this LRS Ford together just right, both times, and we drove it right on down there two times in a row," Wilkerson said. "The first run, we tried a few new approaches to the tune-up and it ran down there like it was as safe and conservative as it could be. It was truly never in any danger of getting in trouble.
"So, we came back to the pit and thought we'd step it up just a little bit. We were trying to run a little quicker than that, but just being a hair more aggressive made it a little squirrelly going down the track. Still, to run speed like that we're obviously figuring it out a little in terms of getting it to run on the back half. Now, we just have to come out here tomorrow and keep growing as a team, no matter how it all turns out. It's a process, and we have to see the big picture, but getting off to a good start would be nice."
First Round Pairings
(1) Courtney Force vs (16) Phil Burkart
(2) Jack Beckman vs (15) Todd Lesenko
(3) Gary Densham vs (14) Tony Pedregon
(4) Del Worsham vs (13) Bob Tasca
(5) Cruz Pedregon vs (12) Robert Hight
(6) Ron Capps vs (11) John Force
(7) Johnny Gray vs (10) Alexis DeJoria
(8) Tim Wilkerson vs (9) Matt Hagan
More...
A 4.099 in Q3 moved him up from 11th to 9th, and a tentative match-up with Matt Hagan, who was 8th at the time. In Q4, a slightly better 4.095 was just enough to sneak around Hagan, and turn the tables on the 8 vs 9 match-up. Wilk will now race from the 8th spot, and will control lane choice when he and Hagan meet in round one on Sunday.
The LRS Shelby Mustang has not usually been a big top-end speed car, but a clocking of 311.70 mph on the final run was a new career best for Wilk, at the 1,000-foot distance.
"The guys still have a ways to go, working as a unit and getting it done in the short amount of time we have between runs, but today they bolted this LRS Ford together just right, both times, and we drove it right on down there two times in a row," Wilkerson said. "The first run, we tried a few new approaches to the tune-up and it ran down there like it was as safe and conservative as it could be. It was truly never in any danger of getting in trouble.
"So, we came back to the pit and thought we'd step it up just a little bit. We were trying to run a little quicker than that, but just being a hair more aggressive made it a little squirrelly going down the track. Still, to run speed like that we're obviously figuring it out a little in terms of getting it to run on the back half. Now, we just have to come out here tomorrow and keep growing as a team, no matter how it all turns out. It's a process, and we have to see the big picture, but getting off to a good start would be nice."
First Round Pairings
(1) Courtney Force vs (16) Phil Burkart
(2) Jack Beckman vs (15) Todd Lesenko
(3) Gary Densham vs (14) Tony Pedregon
(4) Del Worsham vs (13) Bob Tasca
(5) Cruz Pedregon vs (12) Robert Hight
(6) Ron Capps vs (11) John Force
(7) Johnny Gray vs (10) Alexis DeJoria
(8) Tim Wilkerson vs (9) Matt Hagan
More...
