Mick Snyder
His new career-best – coming again at Maple Grove – gave him the No. 1 qualifying position in Pro Extreme.
With ideal conditions during the final qualifying session of the Northeast Drags II presented by Penske at Maple Grove Raceway on Saturday, Snyder went 3.644 at 207.53 miles per hour, unseating Frankie Taylor and his 3.65 from the top position heading into eliminations.
It was a cool moment for Snyder, the 2010 ADRL Rookie of the Year.
“We changed a lot of stuff over the winter and we’re just now catching up with it,” Snyder said. “We’re kind of easing into all of it. But this is pretty sweet. It’s a cool deal to be the No. 1 qualifier.”
Snyder, who has one career ADRL win, advanced to the semifinals last year at Maple Grove before the race was called.
He hopes to finish the job on Saturday and he is matched up with Neal Wantye in the first round.
“Tonight the track is going to get real good,” Snyder said. “We’ll see what we can do, but we don’t want to get too crazy.”
Quain Stott made a jump to No. 5 with a 3.695 at 204.05 and he will face Alex Hossler in a first round filled with outstanding matchups. Others include Bubba Stanton meeting Dan Millen and Todd Tutterow facing off with Terry Leggett.
In Pro Nitrous, Jim Laurita made a big move, going all the way to No. 2 with an awesome 3.872 at 193.93 mph. His first-round matchup won’t be easy, that’s for sure, as he meets Rickie Jones, who has struggled this weekend and has yet to make a full pass.
But Jones has yet to lose this year in eliminations, so that will certainly be a must-see race.
Burton Auxier stayed at No. 1 and after his bye run in the opening round, he will face the Jim Halsey-Ed Burnley winner.
(Photo by ADRL/Richards)
