Bosch Engineering 250 Qualifying:
Mark puts the Pacific Mobile No. 61 Ford Riley on the front row!

Alton, Va (2010.04.23) "We came off the truck fast and it all just worked"... that from Mark Wilkins after he put the Pacific Mobile No 61 Ford Riley on the front row for the Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway qualifying second with a time of 1:42.121 @ 115.275 mph. This is the first front row start for the No. 61 since taking the pole at New Jersey in September 2008. The team had four second-row starts in 2009.

With a threat of rain, the plan was to get the tires up to temperature quickly and go all out in the fifteen-minute session. Mark went to P1 on his second lap (first hot lap) but on lap four fell back to second place by nine-tenths – a significant gap.

"The car was just great though", Mark said after the session. "We could just put the power down and like Burt said earlier, take that uphill left with incredible speed. It got a bit dicey as I had the car on the limit but knew we could throw down a quicker lap."

Mark answered on the next lap (5) recording the 1:42.121 to close the gap to the leader to just .325 seconds. There were maybe two laps left in qualifying but Mark could not close the gap any more.

"That was a really hairy lap", Mark exclaimed. "We were all out and it was starting to rain up in the Oak Tree turn but I knew we had the speed, the brakes and the handling to stay on the front row even if we could not get the pole."

He continued, "I think we finally found what we needed out of the car. Ian (Willis) and Jim (Malicki) had the car working great right off the truck and I think we feel pretty good about moving forward from here the rest of the season."

Burt Frisselle commented, "Mark did an awesome job and I do agree that we have a fantastic car right now, not only for this race but for the season. There is so much we learned in the first two races and it has all come together here. I can't wait for the race tomorrow."

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