Poole Wins UARA Opener!
Monday, March 14th, 2011Story and photos by: Drew Hierwarter
Brennan Poole started off the 2011 UARA-STARS late model season in much the same manner he ran in 2010, by winning! Poole won a record six races last year and showed that, in spite of starting out 2011 with a new team, he has lost nothing over the winter.
Poole held off a stellar field of late model veterans, rookies, and a record four female drivers and led the most laps around the historic old Hickory Motor Speedway, a track billed as; “The Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars”!
The 30 car starting field was headed by second generation racer Kyle Grissom who was the only driver to clock in a sub-15 second qualifying time. His 14.997 lap set a new track record. You had to go all the way back to David Roberts in 22nd starting spot to find the first car slower than 15.2 seconds in the very tight, highly competitive field. Roberts ran well enough in the race, however, to finish 6th and win the Holley Performer of the Race award for his great run.
Australian rookie George Miedecke, driving a car owned by NASCAR star Marcos Ambrose, started from the 11th position and drove to 2nd earning Rookie of the Race award for his effort. Ambrose was also on hand for the pre-race autograph session.
For the first time in history four female drivers were entered in a UARA race. Becca Kasten, Candace Muzny, Jessica Murphy, and second year UARA driver Julia Dawson were all in the starting field. Murphy and Muzny finished 20th and 21st respectively, Dawson was 25th, and Kasten rounded out the distaff group in 27th.
The UARA’s 2011 season is now off to a great start with a history making and record setting event. The next race on the schedule will be Saturday, March 26th at Concord Speedway in Concord, NC.
Before you think Kurt Busch’s effort in his Pro Stock debut at the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fl was a flop, consider this; Busch made the 16 car starting field, qualifying in the twelfth spot. There were five other teams who do this every week that didn’t make the field.
Busch’s first round loss to veteran Erica Enders was mostly because of a two tenths quicker reaction time by the more experienced Enders. Busch’s 6.541 was only three thousands slower than Erica’s 6.538 elapsed time.
Not too bad for a first time. It would be interesting to see how good he would get if only his NASCAR career enabled him to do more drag racing.