Stoffer soars for GEICO Powersports team, Lucas hanging tough

DENVER (July 24) – Karen Stoffer raced to her second best qualifying performance of the season on the GEICO Powersports Suzuki Saturday at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.

Stoffer, who qualified No. 1 in Gainesville, Fla., will start Sunday’s eliminations third on the ladder. Her teammate, Morgan Lucas, the driver of the GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster, starts 12th in his class.

"It's amazing what coming up to this high altitude does to your brain," Stoffer said. "We needed a big shake-up and coming here where you have to change everything you're doing might have been just what we needed. It's a beautiful facility but none of the data you have works up here so you really have to go back to basics."

Stoffer had four strong qualifying passes in the high altitude with her best pass a 7.268 at 183.64 mph. Her first-round opponent, Angie Smith, had a best lap of 7.612 at 174.75 mph.

"We have a bike that's going straight, going fast, and at this point we're hoping it's not just an isolated incident," Stoffer said. "We hope this is the kick-start we've needed. I'm riding with some confidence now and it feels great."

Lucas had his best lap in the final qualifying session Saturday when he posted a 4.158-second pass at 270.75 mph.

"It’s the mountain, anyone can win," Lucas said. "That’s the bottom line. You never know when you are going to get in a pedaling contest or something weird is going to happen. You have to do the best you can and work as a team."

Lucas is paired against No. 5 qualifier Larry Dixon, who had a best lap of 3.974 at 295.66 mph

"We lingered around that 12 spot every round," Lucas said. "It seems like the car is running well to about 250 feet, then we keep dropping cylinders there. It doesn’t help you when NHRA changes the (traction) compound for that last run and doesn’t tell anyone.

"It seems like things aren’t going our way, but eventually our luck is going to change. If we keep this thing on all eight, we’ll have a good racecar."

Eliminations for the Mopar Mile High Nationals begin at 11 a.m. MDT from Bandimere Speedway and will be shown in primetime on ESPN2.