Veteran Bodine turns fastest qualifying lap for Inaugural Free State 500

Phakisa Freeway, Welkom, Saturday, January 30 – A large and appreciative crowd enjoyed the sunshine and the excitement of official qualifying for the inaugural ASA Transcontinental Series Free State 500 at Phakisa Freeway near Welkom this afternoon.

It was the veteran Geoff Bodine, a former Daytona 500 champion, who turned the fastest lap of the four 15-minute qualifying sessions, which saw the 24-car field go out in groups of six to qualify their American V8 stock cars on the starting grid for tomorrow’s 207-lap 500-km race.

The 60-year-old legend from New York State, driving a Rick McCray Chev Impala, recorded a fastest lap of 36,015 sec at an average speed of 239,9 km/h around the 2,5-km Phakisa Freeway super oval.  He will be joined on the front row of the grid for Sunday’s 13h00 rolling start by 19-year-old countryman Marc Davis from Mitchelville, Maryland whose best lap in the WHUR 96.3/The World Network/Marc Davis Motorsports Chev Lumina was 36,182 sec.

Row two will be filled by Chris Wimmer of Wausau, Wisconsin in a Philly’s Subs Chev Impala (36,506 sec) and lone Briton John Mickel, from Cambridge in England, in an RS Capp Chev Monte Carlo(36,643 sec).

Russ Blakeley from Whitewater, Wisconsin (Five Star Race Car Bodies/B&B Race Engines Ford Fusion, 36,934 sec) and fastest woman driver Toni McCray from Highland, California (Lucas Oil Chev Monte Carlo, 37,049 sec) are on row three.

Row four will be filled by Steve Carlson from West Salem, Wisconsin (Five Star Race Car Bodies/B&B Race Engines Ford Fusion, 37,058 sec) and Tiffany Daniels from Smithfield, Virginia (Snowtheracehorse/Marc Davis Motorsports Toyota Camry, 37,086 sec)

Highest-placed South African is 29-year-old WesBank V8 racer Jaco Correia of Klerksdorp in North West Province (Liqui Moly Chev Monte Carlo) in ninth with a time of 37,475 sec.  Starting alongside him on the fifth row of the grid will be Drivetech Racing School’s chief instructor Mark Ebert from Tucson, Arizona (Phezulu Plant/JCB Ford Fusion, 37,790 sec).with a 10th-best time of 37,745 sec.

Former national V8 sprint car short oval champion Johan Cronje of Welkom will start in 11th place; Danie Correia of Welkom, younger brother of Jaco, will be 14th in a Liqui Moly Chev Monte Carlo; reigning class A5 national rally champion Gugu Zulu (Phakisa Freeway Chev Monte Carlo) will line-up in 19th place on the grid;  Cape Town’s Johan Spies, the reigning national super salon short oval champion, is 21st in his Speedspot Motorsport Cape Town Chev Monte Carlo) after suffering a blown engine in qualifying; and 19-year-old Johan Coetzer from Welkom will start 23rd after continuing to struggle with a reduced rev limit on his Phezulu Plant/JCB/Speed Pro Racing/Signs4U Ford Fusion.

In the United States, the broadcast will be shown LIVE on Sirius XM Satellite Radio starting at 6:00 a.m. EST/5:00 a.m. Central/4:00 a.m. Mountain/3:00 a.m. on Sirius 90/XM 244.  The race will be re-broadcast later that day.

Post-qualifying quotes:

Geoff Bodine: “We’ve fallen in love with this country.  We love the people, the climate, the wild animals.  This race will go down in the history books.  Being the fastest qualifier is just a bonus. ”The top three qualifying times are close, but in the race things change.  Racing is a lot different from qualifying.”

Marc Davis: “We’ve had a lot of fun here, not just on the track.  This event is huge and I’m very glad to be a part of it.  We’re running a virtually brand new car and it was a short-notice deal to come to South Africa.  But we’re happy with the progress we’ve made.  We’re sure it’ll be a great race.”

Jaco Correia:  “We’ve waited a long time for this kind of racing to come to South Africa and I’m really enjoying being a part of it.  We’re very happy with our performance so far and are looking forward to improving some more in tomorrow’s race.”

Gugu Zulu: “I’m thrilled to be here.  We’re making history and I’m glad to be part of it.  But we’d like to have had a more competitive car.  I am going to have to rely on my fitness to survive and get the best result we can.  We’ll be relying on some of those in front of us to run into problems.  It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

SuperSport will broadcast a 13-minute preview of the race weekend at 18h30 this evening on SS6 and SS6 Africa.  There will be a 26-minute report on today’s qualifying at 18h45 on Sunday on SS6 and SS6 Africa.  Sunday’s race will feature in a 52-minute highlights programme at 17h20 on February 4 on SS2 and SS2 Africa.

Pos    No.    Name    Class    Best Tm   
1    8    Geoff Bodine    ASATS    36.015   
2    96    Marc Davis    ASATS    36.182   
3    52    Chris Wimmer    ASATS    36.506   
4    09    John Mickel    ASATS    36.643   
5    F22    Russ Blakeley    ASATS    36.934   
6    90    Toni McCray    ASATS    37.049   
7    F66    Steve Carlson    ASATS    37.058   
8    19    Tiffany Daniels    ASATS    37.086   
9    11    Jaco Correia    ASATS    37.475   
10    97    Mark Ebert    ASATS    37.790   
11    22    Johan Cronje    ASATS    37.868   
12    98    Shaun Richardson    ASATS    37.972   
13    73    Gary Lewis    ASATS    38.148   
14    68    Danie Correia    ASATS    38.252   
15    55    Greg Barnhart    ASATS    38.788   
16    80    Mark Shaffer    ASATS    39.747   
17    41    Ron Norman    ASATS    39.831   
18    85    Lance Fenton    ASATS    40.081  
19    20    Gugu Zulu    ASATS    40.295   
20    61    Tim Olson    ASATS    40.977   
21    900    Johan Spies    ASATS    41.332   
22    31    Dustin/Don Dudley/UHlir    ASATS    42.119   
23    00    Johan Coetzer    ASATS    42.571   
24    08    Rick McCray    ASATS        0            0
25    88    Ron Barfield    ASATS        0            0