Five days after scoring his third win of the 2011 season in Sonoma, Calif. Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson continued to pace the Pro Stock field on Friday, capturing the provisional No. 1 qualifying position at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent, Wash.
After opening with the fourth-quickest pass in the early session, the defending Seattle winner came back in the evening run to trip the finish-line timers in 6.541-seconds, matching Mike Edwards, with Anderson winning the tie-breaker based on his superior top speed of 211.16 mph to Edwards 210.97.
“It was a great first day for the Summit Racing team,” said Anderson. “Everyone on the crew is working really well together, with all three of our cars in the top five on Friday night (teammate Jason Line is fourth at 6.547-seconds, while Ronnie Humphrey in the Genuine Hotrod Hardware car is fifth at 6.553-seconds), giving us a great chance for the rest of the weekend.
“Having said that, it was not a perfect run; it wasn’t off by a lot, but we werejust a little bit too soft, even though it got the job done. We’ll get more aggressive tomorrow to see if it will run a little faster – looking at the graph, it seems like it will, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Of course, a lot will depend on the weather – if the clouds remain, it should be very fast.
“With only fifteen cars here, there’s a little extra incentive for being No.1, as you’d have a bye in the first round. That’s a luxury we’d like to have, because it would allow us to try a few things we could do otherwise. For one night, I’ve got a leg up on doing that, but we’ll have to see what happens in the morning. We run early enough in the morning that it is far from over, and we’ll do what we can to hold on to that top spot.”
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