Saturday, June 09, 2007 WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – In the qualifying sessions for the stand-alone races at Watkins Glen of the Masters Division of the BFGoodrich/Skip Barber Masters National Presented by Mazda – races that are also ‘‘open’’ events for Skip Barber Regional drivers – the two groups took their ‘‘turns’’ in taking the pole positions. In qualifying for race one, Masters Division driver Peter Ludwig put up a stunning 2:10.142 (on his second hot lap) to take pole by .440 of a second over A.J. Riley, a regular in the ‘‘regular’’ National. Third-quick was Quentin Wahl. In Q2, Regional regular Tim George, Jr., also wasted no time, putting a flyer up (2:11.168) on his second lap. Wahl was 2/10s behind to join George on the front row, with Riley third and Ludwig fourth. Masters Division points leaders Jeff Kaiser (128) and Dick Lippert (126) will start fifth and sixth, respectively in race one, behind Regional racer Brent Milner, but they weren’t quite as good in Q2: Lippert mustered but seventh-quick and Kaiser, 10th.
Starting grid, race one, Watkins Glen Masters National / Regional Open: (* = Regional competitor) 1. Peter Ludwig, 2:10.142 2. *A.J. Riley, 2:10.582 3. Quentin Wahl, 2:10.650 4. *Brent Milner, 2:10.817 5. Dick Lippert, 2:11.389 6. Jeff Kaiser, 2:11.445 7. Dom Bastien, 2:11.735 8. *Tim George, Jr., 2:11.984 9. *Ivo Dimov, 2:12.003 10. Tom Capizzi, 2:12.491 11. Steve Mayer, 2:13.399 12. Leland Englebardt, 2:13.678 13. Doug Harrison, 2:14.239 14. Chris Brassard, 2:14.302 15. Harsha Sen, 2:14.408 16. Michele Marden, 2:14.507 17. Steve Nelson, 2:15.793 18. Chris Oliver, 2:16.206 19. Mark Bartholomew, 2:17.643 20. Erik Brumme, 2:17.765 21. *Marc Bastien, 2:17.879 22. Scott James, 2:21.320 23. Russell Gee, 2:22.722
Starting grid, race two, Watkins Glen Masters National / Regional Open: 1. *Tim George, Jr., 2:11.168 2. Quentin Wahl, 2:11.390 3. *A.J. Riley, 2:11.580 4. Peter Ludwig, 2:11.743 5. Tom Capizzi, 2:12.419 6. *Ivo Dimov, 2:12.439 7. Dick Lippert, 2:12.585 8. Dom Bastien, 212.780 9. Harsha Sen, 2:13.678 10. Jeff Kaiser, 2:14.140 11. Leland Englebardt, 2:14.775 12. Chris Brassard, 2:15.003 13. Michele Marden, 2:15.223 14. Doug Harrison, 2:15.257 15. Steve Nelson, 2:15.870 16. Steve Mayer, 2:16.105 17. Chris Oliver, 2:16.949 18. *Marc Bastien, 2:16.988 19. Mark Bartholomew, 2:17.261 20. Erik Brumme, 2:17.447 21. Scott James, 2:18.015 22. Russell Gee, 2:25.950
Peter Ludwig made sure a Masters Division driver took at least one of the pole positions, putting in a 2:10.142 for race one. Ludwig is fourth in Masters National points, coming off a win at VIR in April.
Regional stand-out Tim George, Jr., edged Masters Division driver Quentin Wahl, also a race winner at VIR, for pole for race two.
A.J. Riley, last year's Eastern Region champion, put in two stellar efforts in qualifying. He'll start on the front row in Saturday's race one and third in Sunday's race two.
Ivo Dimov, once known as Ivo Guerguev, won an "Invitational" race here at the Glen two years ago. He's ninth on the grid for race one and sixth for race two.
Michele Marden (16th and 13th) is leading the charge with the Skip Barber troops in the "Driving for Donors" effort surrounding her nephew Pat, a never-give-up cancer victim. Every Skip Barber F2000 has Pat's happy visage on the nose.
Rick Roso
