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Following his recent win at Englishtown, Michael Ray set the low ET and high mile per hour at the Epping event as he drove to the No. 1 qualifier position and advanced to the semifinal round of eliminations.
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AMERICUS, Ga. - Following their win at Englishtown, the Sovereign-Star Racing team continued to dominate the competition this past weekend at the inaugural Auto Plus NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway and Motorsports Park in Epping, N.H.
Michael Ray, the team's racer who claimed their Englishtown Wally, was the No. 1 qualifier of the Epping event with his career best 6.832 ET pass at 197 mph that set the low ET and high mile per hour of the entire weekend for the Pro Stock Motorcycle class. In addition, he claimed the best ET and mile per hour during Sunday eliminations.
"That was our first No. 1 qualifying position since we raced in 2008. I think the last time we did it was with Angelle (Sampey) on an S&S powered Buell in Vegas in 2008," Star Racing owner George Bryce said.
"It was a pretty big accomplishment to qualify on the pole," Ray said. "But as much as I enjoyed crossing that off the list, I didn't like it because it puts the bull's-eye on your back even more to keep up the performance - especially after coming off of a win. It was good to show that the high quality parts from S&S held up well and the hard work from the guys at the shop really paid off, though."
Ray's teammate, Scotty Pollacheck, also posted very competitive numbers over the weekend as the No. 4 qualifier with the quickest pass of the fourth qualifying round on Saturday and the third quickest run during round one eliminations Sunday.
"Coming off of a race where I didn't qualify for the first time and then qualifying at No. 4 this weekend was definitely a good sign and a move in the right direction for us," Pollacheck said. "We have two very fast motorcycles, so I think we're starting to get away from all the technical issues we had with my bike so that we will steadily improve now."
No. 1 qualifier Ray faced No. 16 Angie Smith during round one eliminations, where Ray's 6.882 ET/195 mph pass earned him the win against Smith's 6.997/190 run.
No. 4 qualifier Pollacheck was up against No. 13 Steve Johnson for round one. Johnson's quick reaction time gave him the holeshot win even though he posted a 6.946 ET against Pollacheck's 6.901-second time.
Ray advanced to the second round where he had an excellent .009-second reaction time to earn the ... Continue reading
