[coverattach=1]Tim Wilkerson put two very solid laps on the board on Saturday, giving every indication he can be highly competitive during eliminations on Sunday at the O'Reilly Midwest Nationals. His opening pass of 4.182 was good enough 4th spot after one session, and when the times began to fall in the second session, Wilk needed to step up in front of thousands of friends, sponsors, and backers if he wanted to stay in the top half of the field. His 4.150 did just that, propelling him back up into the 6th spot, and from there he will face Mike Neff in round one on Sunday.
"Everybody keeps asking me if it's a lot of pressure to have so many people here pulling for us, but I have to keep saying that I really don't think it is," Wilkerson said. "Pressure is being out here without people behind you like this, trying to gain that first foothold and keep your career going. This is great, and it means the world to all of us to have Dick Levi and all these people rooting for us.
"Everyone went out there for the first one just taking our best guesses at a track we hadn't been on yet, so that run we made was real nice one and a great starting point. Some very good cars didn't make it in that first session, and everyone was going to have the benefit of having made the first lap, so you just knew the order was going to shuffle and we'd have to step up. I love to qualify high on the sheet, but the first goal is to get in the top half, and we did that. Just like always, we'll have a tough car to face in round one, so all we can do is go out there and put the best possible lap on the board. If we win, we'll have a lot of people yelling and screaming for us, and that's a good thing."
"Everybody keeps asking me if it's a lot of pressure to have so many people here pulling for us, but I have to keep saying that I really don't think it is," Wilkerson said. "Pressure is being out here without people behind you like this, trying to gain that first foothold and keep your career going. This is great, and it means the world to all of us to have Dick Levi and all these people rooting for us.
"Everyone went out there for the first one just taking our best guesses at a track we hadn't been on yet, so that run we made was real nice one and a great starting point. Some very good cars didn't make it in that first session, and everyone was going to have the benefit of having made the first lap, so you just knew the order was going to shuffle and we'd have to step up. I love to qualify high on the sheet, but the first goal is to get in the top half, and we did that. Just like always, we'll have a tough car to face in round one, so all we can do is go out there and put the best possible lap on the board. If we win, we'll have a lot of people yelling and screaming for us, and that's a good thing."
