BARBER: Mid-Ohio final qualifying report

• Rick Roso <72230.271@CompuServe.COM>
• MNI - Motorsport News International
• Sat Aug 10 16:43:43 EDT 1996

BARBER DODGE PRO SERIES ROUND 8:
Saturday, Final Qualifying

LEXINGTON, Ohio (Aug. 10) - Times for Saturday final qualifying; 11:35
a.m. Eastern Time, warm and sunny; 2.25-mile, 13-turn road course,
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

As now has become his style, Fredrik Larsson waited til the last
moment--seven minutes left in final qualifying--to put up his fastest
lap and take the pole position for Sundays 30-minute Barber Dodge Pro
Series race at Mid-Ohio. It is his fifth consecutive pole for the Swede,
winner of four of the past five races.

In first qualifying, Geoff Boss broke Alex Padillas 1993 qualifying
record and sat on the overnight pole, but he didnt get a chance to
improve upon it; moments into this mornings final session, what he
and Brian McCarthy had was a failure to communicate. After McCarthys
throttle cable broke a few hundred yards before Turn 6, at the end of
the backstraight, he wound up slow and in the middle of the track. Boss
went to the outside, just as McCarthy was trying to pull off into the
grass. Both cars were done for the session.

Meanwhile, Jeff Bucknum, the defending race winner, is suffering from
a case of mega-bad luck; both yesterday and today, Bucknum suffered
motor problems that ended both sessions early for him. The Barber Dodge
technicians are looking for an oil line feed problem and are confident
theyll have the problem solved by tomorrow afternoons race. Despite
the problems, Bucknum was went quick enough on his third lap to qualify
eighth.

Big Scholarship driver Tony Renna will start alongside Larsson,
putting up a time also under the record, as did Rino Mastronardi, wholl
start third. Boss time from Friday stood well enough to maintain
fourth, Chris Menninga (finally looking the Menninga from last year)
fifth and Andres Felipe Gomez, second-fastest yesterday, sixth.

As for Larsson, he was asked what, if anything, he did differently today
versus yesterday: No soda on my shoes! Turns out he accidently stepped
in some spilled Coke just before he got into the car on Friday, and his
feet were hanging up on all three pedals. No sticky feet today, Larsson
is a step closer to taking the 1996 Barber Dodge championship.


1. Fredrik Larsson	Sweden			1:24.798/95.92mph (R)
2. Tony Renna		Deland, Fla.		1:24.901/95.62
3. Rino Mastronardi	Italy			1:24.021/95.53
4. Geoff Boss		Narragansett, R.I.	1:25.026/95.40
5. Chris Menninga	Pella, Iowa		1:25.085/95.39
6. Andres F. Gomez	Colombia		1:25.238/95.16
7. Tim Moser		Ventura, Calif.		1:25.274/95.13
8. Jeff Bucknum		Simi Valley, Calif.	1:25.299/95.13
9. Thomas Schie		Norway			1:25.345/95.10
10. Derek Hill		Snta Mnica, Calif.	1:25.583/94.96
11. Brian McCarthy	Dayton, Ohio		1:25.596/94.92
12. Steven Rikert	Rhinebeck, N.Y.		1:25.667/94.91
13. Jon Fogarty		Portola Vlly, Calif.	1:25.784/94.91
14. Jason Engel		Madison, Wis.		1:25.947/94.66
15. Rocky Moran, Jr.	Coto deCaza,Calif.	1:26.048/94.66
16. Seija Ara		Japan 			1:26.107/94.64
17. Memo Gidley		San Rafael, Calif.	1:26.138/94.54
18. John McCaig		Canada 			1:26.172/94.41
19. Carlos Bonetti	Brasil			1:26.201/94.10
20. Jarrett Boon	Chandler, Ariz.		1:26.520/94.07
21. Matt Robinson	Grove City, Ohio	1:26.601/94.07
22. Nick OSullivan	Boulder, Colo.		1:26.690/93.90
23. Divina Galica	England			1:27.010/93.73
24. John Spangler	York, Pa.		1:27.405/93.58
25. Patsy DiFilippo	Apollo, Pa.		1:27.826/91.69
26. Art Coia		Barrington, R.I.	1:28.508/91.49
27. Steve Bitzos	South Africa		1:29.521/91.22

-Rick Roso