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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Green Clips Little For Pole

Compiled From Wire Services

David Green, last season’s top qualifier in the Busch Grand National series, earned his first pole of the 1995 season with a fast lap of 150.642 mph in the opening round of time trials for today’s Goodwrench 200.

Green’s fast lap on North Carolina Motor Speedway’s 1.017-mile oval just beat the 150.475 by Chad Little, the Spokane native, who gained his first career win in last weekend’s seasonopening Goody’s 300 at Daytona Beach, Fla.

“I was so mad when David beat us out,” Little said. “It would have been nice to have backed up that first win with a pole here. At least, that might have helped to prove that first win was no fluke.”

Green’s quick lap was only .027-seconds faster than Little’s, putting a Chevrolet on the pole and a Ford on the outside of the front row for the 200-mile race.

Derrike Cope, a Winston Cup regular, who will run in Sunday’s featured Goodwrench 500, was third in the Grand National qualifying at 150.234, followed by David Bonnett at 150.203 and Winston Cup stars Mark Martin and Morgan Shepherd at 150.166 and 149.626.

Jeff Gordon set a track record in winning the pole for the Goodwrench 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway.

The precocious 23-year-old, driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, earned the third pole of his budding career with a lap of 157.620 mph. That broke the record of 157.099 set in October by Ricky Rudd.

None of the other 45 qualifying candidates was able to beat Rudd’s record, with Rudd, in a Ford Thunderbird, coming the closest at 157.052 to take the outside pole for Sunday’s 500-mile race.