NHRA Friday: Angelle is 3rd at the Denver qualifying midpoint

Angelle is 3rd at the Denver qualifying midpoint 

Event: 23rd Annual Mopar Parts Mile High Nationals
Location: Bandimere Speedway, Morrison, Colorado
Date: July 19, 2002

Angelle Savoie opened her pursuit of a third consecutive Mopar Parts Mile 
High Nationals win with two solid runs during the first day of qualifying at 
Bandimere Speedway.  After opening with a 7.667-second, 173.81 mph effort, 
Angelle and Star Racing team came back in their evening attempt with a 
7.604-second, 176.21 pass to place the CVEC Suzuki third heading into 
Saturday's twin sessions.  

"Right now we're third, and even though our goal at Star Racing is always to 
be number one, we're not overly concerned.  We have won from other positions 
other than number one in the past, from the No. 3 all the way to No.8.  As my 
crew chief Ken Johnson likes to say, as long as we have a place to launch our 
battle we'll take care of the rest on Sunday.

"We have a couple of areas to improve upon for tomorrow, most of them related 
to the unique conditions here at Bandimere.  The altitude here is 
unbelievable - it was close to 10,000 feet today, so there was virtually no 
oxygen.  Because of that, I have to shift the bike completely differently 
here, and today I over-revved it a little bit on our first run, and then 
tonight I hit the rev limiter in first gear and short-shifted the rest of the 
gears.  I just have to get my shifting straightened out, and we have a few 
things to straighten out on the motorcycle.

"We know we'll do better tomorrow.  Not only will we have time to improve, 
but we'll also have another day to get used to the conditions."