CHIANIS ON PROVISIONAL US FORMULA FORD 2000 POLE AT MID-OHIO

    LEXINGTON, Ohio (August 11, 1995) United States Formula Ford 2000
Championship leader Jimmy Chianis of Escondido, California overcame
broiling heat and a broken exhaust header to put his MyLifeCard/Primus
Racing Van Diemen RF95 on the pole for the si xth race of the series at
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.  The 20-year-old open-wheel rookie set a new
Formula Ford 2000 course record at 94.583 miles per hour on the
2.25-mile road course as he outqualified the massive 62-car field.

    "With over 60 cars here it is going to be important to start up
front.  Because of all the traffic and since we have another qualifying
session tomorrow I was actually planning to be conservative this
afternoon.  We have to race on the tires we use f or qualifying so I
wanted to be careful not to use up the tires too much on laps that might
be slowed by traffic.  But when I had to pit to have the exhaust header
replaced, I knew then I needed to do whatever I could to get in a good
lap," said Chianis.

    With less than three minutes remaining in the session, Chianis
roared out of the pits and immediately set the fastest lap.  Chianis'
1:25.639 lap was almost a half-second faster than the second-best time
set by Memo Gidley.  The spread between positi ons two and fourteen is
less than one second.

    The grid will be finalized in the second qualifying session tomorrow
morning.

    "We'll have to see what happens in tomorrow morning's session," said
Chianis.  "If the track is much faster then I'll have to look for a good
lap like everyone else.  But if no one else is going faster I may wait
and conserve my tires for the race."

    Final qualifying for the sixth race of the USFF2000 championship is
scheduled for 8:15 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday, August 12 with the race
scheduled to start at 3:45 p.m. tomorrow.


 PROVISIONAL GRID (TOP TEN) - USFF 2000 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
  1. Jimmy Chianis, 1:25.639 (record)
  2. Memo Gidley, 1:26.096
  3. David Pook, 1:26.364
  4. Jeret Schroeder, 1:26.415
  5. Bruno Bianchi, 1:26.429
  6. Mike Andersen, 1:26.515
  7. Larry Connor, 1:26.562
  8. Zaqeue Morioka, 1:26.627
  9. Thane Sellers, 1:26.655
 10. Christian Vandal, 1:26.771
 (64 cars are entered, 59 had times today)

//Arley Dealey
//Excelerate Communications