Pollacheck went into the Four-Wide at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., at the No. 4 spot in the points standings after advancing to his first semifinals at the March NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle season opener in Gainesville, Fla. He would leave the event with a perfect .000 light in the finals and a fraction of an inch from taking second place.

 

Although it was Star Racing's and their drivers' first time at the Four-Wide event, the Sovereign-Star Racing team earned their best qualifying spot yet with Pollacheck at the No. 2 position going into Sunday's race.

 

"I feel like the whole team made a lot of progress. Two or three times, we were low of the round, and we don't normally do that," Pollacheck said. "I think if you're comfortable staging under normal circumstances then you'll be fine with Four-Wide, but if you're uncomfortable normally then you'll struggle with it. If you focus on the lights and the tree - and not the fact that there are four people out there - you'll be fine."

 

Teammate Michael Ray, the No. 6 qualifier, also went into eliminations at a better qualifying position than his previous race with the team.

 

"We are achieving goals. You have to have little goals to achieve before the big goals and we are achieving our little goals," Ray said.

 

Pollacheck improved upon his career best and the team's best ET with a 6.834 during qualifying but later posted an even better 6.818/194 mph during round 1 of eliminations to set the low ET of the event and a new record for himself and Star Racing.

 

"Scotty had the right idea and the right attitude all week in preparing for the Four-Wide, and at the race and it was obvious that it paid off for him," Star Racing owner George Bryce said. "The low ET was a new, small victory for us. We deal with our mistakes and we embrace our little victories. I hope he gets many more career firsts this year."

 

After being the first to leave the line in round one, Pollacheck led the rest of the way to not only take the win against LE Tonglet and Mike Berry but to also post the low ET of the weekend.

 

"I think we had good conditions as far as the air pressure and weather, but one thing that wasn't good was that we did that into a headwind. I think everything was right for that run; it just all really came together on that one pass. It was pretty cool having low ET of the meet for the first time ever," Pollacheck said.

 

Pollacheck moved into the final round after Shawn Gann redlit and Matt Smith had to shut down during round two.

 

The third and final round of Four-Wide Pro Stock Motorcycle included No. 1 qualifier Hector Arana Jr., No. 2 Pollacheck, No. 7 Jim Underdahl and No. 16 Eddie Krawiec. As with the Four-Wide rules, drivers placed first through fourth for the event based on the order in which they crossed the finish line.

 

Pollacheck had a perfect .000 light off the line, but Arana Jr. pulled around to take the win with a 6.896. Pollacheck and Krawiec both crossed the finish line .024 seconds after Arana Jr. and within less than an inch from each other. Second place was awarded to Krawiec based on his fraction of a second lead over Pollacheck, who took third for the weekend.

 

"That was kind of tough to take. I just felt like we had such a good weekend the whole time we were there, and it seemed like ..." Continue reading