Once again ten more stock cars and eight more modifieds would get qualified for Saturday's main event. With a threatening forecast on Friday, Race of Champions qualifying events were also run Thursday night.
Jamie Colwell and Jeremy Christians sat on the front row for the stock car qualifying feature. Christians would get the edge at the stripe to complete the first lap, but Colwell was there on his inside rear fender. A quick caution on lap two brought things to a slower pace, but the action picked up immediately following the green flag coming back out. Chad Palmer, Colwell, and Christians raced three-wide at the flagstand for the lead on the next completed lap, but it was Christians maintaining the top spot. Mike Nichols found the top side to his liking as he moved up to the fourth spot after starting eighth. Up front Palmer challenged Christians on the inside for the lead, and on lap twelve Palmer took over the lead just ahead of the caution flag coming out again.
Mike Nichols took advantage of the lap fourteen restart as he slid under Jamie Colwell for the third spot late in the race. Up front there was no denying Chad Palmer as he picked up the win. Other qualifying drivers included Jeremy Christians, Mike Nichols, Jamie Colwell, Mike VanGenderen, Marcus Fagen, Michael Bruns, Brandon Czarapata, and Trent Murphy.
Later in the night thirty IMCA modifieds took to the track for their attempt to make the big show come Saturday night. Scott Olson and Cory Wray paced the field to the green flag with Olson racing out front for the lead. Eric Dailey was quickly on the move as he advanced to the second position on lap two after starting fifth. The man on the move, however, was Jimmy Gustin. Gustin, who started ninth, was setting his car sideways at the flagstand and powering his machine next to the tires on the inside as he made his way to fourth in the first three laps. While Gustin tried to chase down the front runners, G.W. Egbert ran down Scott Olson and made the pass for the lead just before the caution flag waved.
Egbert would not get a good restart as he faded back to third. Olson regained the lead with Gustin advancing to second. Johnny Saathoff challenged Gustin on the inside as Gustin changed his line to the top shelf. At the halfway point Olson, Gustin, and Saathoff had separated from the pack. Olson would bobble exiting turn two which allowed Gustin to assume command up front. Saathoff would also squeeze by Olson on the inside to snare the runner up position away, but Olson would not give up as he regained the spot a few short laps later. Jimmy Gustin would go on to take the impressive win ahead of Scott Olson and Johnny Saathoff. Other qualifiers include Will Brack, Eric Dailey, G.W. Egbert, Jordan Grabouski, and Nick Deal. Justin Sackett appeared to have a qualifying spot secured as he was comfortably running seventh with three laps to go, but he would pull to the infield and end his hopes of making the Saturday show.
Thursday night provided a lot of great racing and exciting finishes. In my opinion, it was the best night of the week as far as side-by-side racing goes. It was definitely a much cleaner night as not as many cars got torn up.
I think changing the sportmods and stock cars around on different days has helped the program out. The racing action came to a close around the 12:30 timeframe, much earlier then expected. Wednesday night was right around there was well, so right now Monday is the only "late" night of the week. Kudos to IMCA for the schedule change!
Normally I wouldn't include this, but after three nights of sitting in the stands I feel I can express my opinion. Blake Anderson and Ryan Clark have done an outstanding job of announcing this year's Supernationals events. That is, WHEN they are on the microphone. Don't get me wrong, the platoon of announcers is a good idea so they don't lose their voices. However, the other two announcers who have been on the microphone could use a few lessons from Blake and Ryan in pronunciation and research. Blake and Ryan can be seen throughout the course of the night walking through the pit area talking to drivers and getting a little background info. When time permits, it's fun hearing little tidbits about the drivers. The other two announcers (Johnny Tharp and Scott Norem) fill that time with personal jokes and whatnot. I realize that we'll never get back the tradition of Toby Kruse and Denny Grabenbauer spending the entire night behind the microphone and entertaining the crowd. But perhaps they can allow the "most established" announcers to work the majority of the event.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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