GEICO Powersports racers secure positions in Brainerd fields

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 14) -- GEICO Powersports racers Karen Stoffer and Morgan Lucas will both race for title of the 29th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals after successfully qualifying for the final event of the regular season, Stoffer in Pro Stock Motorcycle and Lucas in Top Fuel.

Stoffer used the third and final round of qualifying to post her best pass of the event, a 7.035 at 189.55 mph, good enough for ninth place on the grid. The run pits her against reigning series champion Hector Arana, who used a 7.005 at 189.76 mph from Friday to take the No. 8 slot.

"The whole thought process this weekend was to validate what we did in Denver," Stoffer said of her runner-up finish at the Mile-High Nationals. "For us to improve each round I think qualifies as a successful event so far. 

"We need to go out there tomorrow, line up against the champ in Round 1, and continue to improve on this GEICO Powersports Suzuki. We have a bike that can go rounds. Now it's all about winning some races."

By qualifying for this event, Stoffer has secured her spot in the Countdown to the Championship, the NHRA's version of the playoffs, which begin at the next race in Indy.

"It's definitely nice to get past that hurdle," Stoffer said. "We don't know what spot we're going to end up in, I guess that depends on tomorrow, but we know we're running for the championship this year and that's exciting."

The defending champion of the event, Lucas was disappointed with his ninth-place qualifying effort in his GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster. His best pass so far came in Friday's lone qualifying session where he went 3.927 at 305.01 mph. Saturday's two runs were cut short by engine issues.

"I don't think anybody on the team can be proud of what we did today," Lucas said. "We didn't accomplish anything we wanted to. There was plenty of racetrack and the conditions were great, but we didn't do anything to take advantage of that. 

"There's some added pressure with my dad and our sponsors from GEICO and Toyota being here. It's a perfect time to shine but we're not. There's a lot of families that rely on this car to run well and maybe everyone needs to look at that aspect."

Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. CDT and will be shown in primetime on ESPN2.