Though Frank Kimmel has started 34 ARCA Racing Series races since his last visit to Victory Lane, he's gone even longer without winning the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell. This afternoon at Pocono Raceway, the nine-time series champion obliterated one of those droughts in classic fashion.
Kimmel completed his qualifying lap on the 2.5-mile Pocono triangle in just 54.108 seconds (166.334 mph) Friday afternoon to secure the first starting position for tomorrow's Weis Markets 125.
"It was an important pole for us. We hadn't had a pole in a couple years, but the car was running really well in practice and I felt like I had a good opportunity to do it so it was just a matter of me going out, getting up on the wheel, and getting the job done," said the nine-time series champion.
Nearly two years had passed since Kimmel's last pole award, won on August 17, 2008 at the dirt mile track located on the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield. Over four years had passed since Kimmel's last superspeedway pole, at Pocono on July 22, 2006.
Kimmel's run in the No. 44 Ansell/Menards Ford extended his lead among ARCA's all-time superspeedway pole winners, as it was his 20th such award. With his 42nd pole award overall, Kimmel moved within one of all-time pole leader Iggy Katona.
"It's just really important that in the past few weeks, our team has shown a steady improvement. Our car's getting better and we seem to be running better and getting better finishes, but in all reality, we haven't been fast enough," Kimmel said. "Qualifying's never been my strong suit, but to come out and qualify well shows that our cars are getting better and we'll keep running as hard as we can."
Kimmel currently stands third in points, which represents an improvement of exactly eight positions in the last eight races.
Mikey Kile set a blistering pace early and did not look back on his way to earning the second position. Kile, who drove the No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Toyota to the fastest time in practice in the morning, had won the pole for June's Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 at Pocono, finished second in that race, and opened the season's second weekend in Pennsylvania with the fastest time in practice. His lap of 54.221 seconds (165.987 mph) has him starting on the front row for the sixth time in 11 races this season.
"Our lap pretty much backed up what we had in practice. I wasn't sure if it was going to hold up with Frank still making a lap, but I'm on the front row and looking for a good race," Kile said.
Following his performance in dominating qualifying, leading 67 laps, and running away from the field at times before ultimately finishing as the runner-up in June, Kile is seen as a threat for tomorrow's event.
"Mikey was extremely fast here in the spring race. He had a lap that I don't think anybody came close to," Kimmel said.
Craig Goess won the June race on the triangular track and will be in a good position to strike again Saturday, as his lap of 54.301 seconds (165.743 mph) in the No. 81 Eddie Sharp Racing Greenville of N.C. Toyota Toyota placed him third on the grid. Goess's lap came just hours after the team changed its engine following the morning practice.
"We didn't really know what we were going to have because we changed the motor, transmission, and rear end. We elected to do that and lose the last half of our practice," said Goess, who is currently second in the ARCA Racing Series standings. "We left a little bit on the table (in qualifying), but it was still a good lap for us. What we did seemed to fix the problem we had the first part of practice."
Brandon McReynolds, the 19-year-old development driver making his third ARCA Racing Series start for Sharp, will join his teammate on the second row after qualifying fourth.
Donny Lia qualified the No. 55 Venturini Motorsports Toyota in the fifth position, and points leader Justin Marks (No. 32 Construct Corps Toyota) will start sixth. Joey Coulter and Sean Corr will start seventh and eighth, respectively, and Tom Hessert and Patrick Sheltra, who share fourth place in the series standings, will occupy the fifth row.
The Weis Markets 125, the 11th race of the 2010 ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards season, begins at 3 p.m. Eastern Saturday, with live television coverage provided by SPEED and live audio and live timing and scoring available on ARCARacing.com.
The ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards features 20 events at 17 tracks on its 2010 schedule. The series has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 racetracks in 28 states since its inception. The series tests the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, annually visiting tracks ranging from 0.4 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as left- and right-turn street and road courses.
Official Starting Grid
2010 ARCA Racing Series by RE/MAX and Menards, Event #11
Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, Pa. 7-31-10
Weis Markets 125
POS
NO
DRIVER/HOMETOWN
TIME
SPEED
1
44
Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN
54.108
166.334
2
25
Mikey Kile/Westlake LA
54.221
165.987
3
81
Craig Goess/Greenville NC
54.301
165.743
4
6
Brandon McReynolds/Mooresville NC
54.322
165.679
5
55
Donny Lia/Jericho NY
54.395
165.456
6
32
Justin Marks/Rocklin CA
54.604
164.823
7
16
Joey Coulter/Miami Springs FL
54.829
164.147
8
82
Sean Corr/Goshen NY
55.047
163.497
9
77
Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ
55.079
163.402
10
60
Patrick Sheltra/Indiantown FL
55.207
163.023
11
36
Robb Brent/Shelby Township MI
55.219
162.987
12
5
Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA
55.314
162.707
13
22
Dakoda Armstrong/New Castle IN
55.399
162.458
14
58
Chad Hackenbracht/New Philadelphia OH
55.705
161.565
15
59
Will Kimmel/Sellersburg IN
55.814
161.250
16
41
Dillon Moltz/Waterford CT
55.820
161.233
17
31
Tim George Jr./New York NY
56.015
160.671
18
1
Chad McCumbee/Supply NC
56.160
160.256
19
43
Kyle Martel/Lebanon PA
56.206
160.125
20
11
Bryan Silas/Stuart FL
56.673
158.806
21
23
Ron Cox/Soddy Daisy TN
56.941
158.058
22
17
Chase Mattioli/ong Pond PA
57.381
156.846
23
15
Tom Berte/New Berlin WI
57.403
156.786
24
28
Steve Fox/Hazelton PA
58.208
154.618
25
33
Curt Tori/Wilmington DE
58.422
154.052
26
68
Brent Cross/Cortland NY
59.159
152.132
27
14
Nick Igdalsky/Long Pond PA
59.558
151.113
28
34
Darrell Basham/Henryville IN
60.198
149.507
29
94
Jason Basham/Henryville IN
60.600
148.515
30
76
Jerick Johnson/Faribault MN
60.649
148.395
31
18
Mike Holt/Snow Camp NC
62.075
144.986
32
06
Mike Harmon/Birmingport AL
62.891
143.105
33
26
Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI
Provisional
34
48
Ricky Byers/Leeds AL
Provisional
35
10
Ed Pompa/Ballston Spa NY
Provisional
36
7
Brian Kaltreider/Reading PA
Provisional
37
75
Benny Chastain/Tallahassee FL
Provisional
38
8
Rob Jones/Bowie MD
Provisional
39
9
Larry Meadors/Louisville KY
Provisional
0
Wayne Peterson/Pulaski TN 