AMERICUS, Ga. - The two races of the western swing for the NHRA Mello Yello Series Pro Stock Motorcycle class provided little help for the Sovereign-Star Racing teammates as they tried to gain ground in the points standings before heading into the last race of the regular season at the end of August.

Sovereign-Star Racing drivers Michael Ray and Scotty Pollacheck have been in the top 6 in overall season points for the past five races, after Ray took home the team's first win at Englishtown, N.J. For the two races of the NHRA western swing, the teammates were expecting to ride their momentum after claiming two NHRA national event wins, three other final round appearances, two No. 1 qualifying positions, two low ETs for the event, and a new track speed record for the Sovereign-Star Racing team so far this season.

However, the Denver and Sonoma races of the western swing seemed to throw this experienced team off their game during the past two weeks on the road. With a full month ahead to prepare for the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Ind., the last race of the regular season, the Sovereign-Star Racing team is confident that they will regain their previous performance success before heading into the NHRA Countdown to the Championship in September.

"After two rough races in a row, third and sixth (place in the points) is still amazing to me with one race to go before the Countdown (to the Championship). We have new parts on the way already that should be here in time for Indy. We're going to focus on getting more power so that the engines are a little more forgiving in case the drivers aren't perfect. That way, if they make a couple of mistakes, we will still have enough power to win a few rounds at Indy," Star Racing owner George Bryce said.

At the NHRA Sonoma Nationals in Sonoma, Calif., this past weekend, Ray qualified at No. 3 with his 6.841-second ET, and Pollacheck made it into the show during the final qualifying session at the No. 15 spot. After struggling to post competitive numbers on Friday, Pollacheck's crew swapped out his engine for the Saturday sessions, getting him into the show during the fourth round of qualifying after a throttle position sensor malfunctioned during the third session.

"What was difficult for us during that fourth session was that it was only the second run on that motor and it didn't make it down the track the first run because of a sensor problem. So, we had very little tuning data to work with for that engine. We were hoping we had everything right to make it fast enough to get in the show for Sunday," Pollacheck said.