The hits keep coming for Hernandez as he earns third pole of '07 (NHRA/JEGS)

The hits keep coming for Hernandez as he earns third  pole of '07

BRISTOL, Tenn. (May 17) -- Reigning JEGS  ProMod Challenge champion Josh 
Hernandez collected his third Ohio Crankshaft Low  Qualifier Award of the season 
Saturday at Bristol Dragway. Hernandez is in the  best position possible to 
score back-to-back wins at the O'Reilly Thunder Valley  NHRA Nationals with 
elimination set to begin at 7 p.m. Saturday  evening.

"I never thought we'd see five-second Pro Mod runs on the  mountain," said 
Hernandez, who ran a 5.950 at 241.11 mph Friday night, the only  five-second run 
of the weekend thus far. "It's exciting. I can't wait to see  what everyone 
will be running tonight in Round 1 of eliminations because it's  going to be 
awesome again. We might just shoot for that national record  (5.916).

"I'd like to thank Stan Ray and everyone at Ohio Crankshaft for  putting up 
this award. It gives us all something extra to shoot for and it means  a lot to 
the crew guys."

Considerably warmer temperatures kept most of  the Pro Mod stars in check 
Saturday with little changes from the Friday night  provisional field. One big 
mover was former champ Jay Payne, who managed to  steal away the final 
qualifying position from Brad Personett. Payne will line  his Valvoline Camaro up 
against Hernandez's InterLinc Mortgage Camaro in Round  1.

A native of Texas, Hernandez now has 11 low qualifying efforts in 37  starts, 
which is three more than Fred Hahn and seven more than any other active  
racer. He'll receive $1,000 from Ohio Crankshaft for the effort.

Payne's  wife Shelly will open against points leader Tony Pontieri, who has 
made just one  decent pass down the track so far. Shelly's 6.009 in her 
Valvoline mount awards  her lane choice over Pontieri's Quality Plus Compressors Bel  
Air.

--30--

Information regarding JEGS ProMod Challenge  can be found at 
_www.jegspromod.com_ (http://www.jegspromod.com) .  

Media Contact:
Scott "Woody" Woodruff
JEGS, Director of Media  & Motorsports
Office: 800.345.4545 (3.412)
Mobile:  614.595.1820
Fax: 740.362.4385
Email: jegspr@aol.com -or-  scott.woodruff@jegs.com



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