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Speedfest Fast Time Goes to House, Heim on Pole

A redraw after time trials set the starting lineup for the Super Late Model major

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Michael House recorded the fastest time in qualifying for the Speedfest 150 Super Late Model race at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Georgia but defending race winner Corey Heim will lead the field to green.

That’s because the top-eight drivers were subject to a Coca-Cola can redraw:

1. Corey Heim (4)
2. Daniel Dye (5)
3. Bubba Pollard (2)
4. Chandler Smith (7)
5. Michael House (1)
6. Stephen Nasse (8)
7. Carson Hocevar (3)
8. Jake Garcia (6)

Heim will now start the 2022 race where he finished the 2020 edition. At the time, it was the biggest victory of his career -- following should have been Late Model Stock victories at Martinsville and South Boston.

Now he hopes to do it again.

"Starting from the front is a pretty big advantage," Heim told Racing America after the redraw. "Saving tires is pretty big here and having track position at the start is pretty crucial in setting the pace, cruise for the first half.

"Last time, we started somewhere in the top-five, and it's a similar deal here, that if you qualify within the redraw, you have a good shot."

House made a statement in time trials by posting a 15.648 second lap around the tight Georgia bullring but will have little to show for it after redrawing in fifth. On the positive, that places the pole sitter on the inside row, which is considerably more preferable to the outside at Cordele.

Regardless, House showed remarkable speed from a new car.

"We have a really good race car," House said. "I’ll be honest in that I’m really surprised that we unloaded like this. Some of this hard work is starting to pay off. Last year was terrible after hitting the wall at Pensacola and tearing a car up.

Cody Glick and HAMKE Race Cars put this new car together and we couldn’t get it ready in time for the Snowball Derby and were going to use this as a test session, but it was extremely fast and just feels really good to come out here and qualify so well. We definitely have part of the battle won after today."

Meanwhile, Bubba Pollard continues to look resurgent in his Port City Race Cars No. 26. The 2016 Speedfest winner paced multiple test and practice sessions and even recovered from one tiny hiccup earlier in the day.

"Yeah, we bolted on tires during practice and didn’t pick up as much as we wanted and the car got tight, which caught us by surprise," Pollard said. "All in all, it has been good all week. As long as we keep doing what we’re doing tomorrow, make the right calls with our tires, we’ll be there at the end."

The end of course, is where this race historically gets crazy, with Speedfest usually coming down to drama and controversy every year.

"Yeah, I’m sure it will be the same ole race," Pollard said. "It always seems to play out that way. It’ll be fun and we’ll do what we can."

Qualifying Results

1. Michael House - 15.648
2. Bubba Pollard - 15.674
3. Carson Hocevar - 15.676
4. Corey Heim - 15.681
5. Daniel Dye - 15.720
6. Jake Garcia - 15.747
7. Chandler Smith - 15.752
8. Stephen Nasse - 15.769
9. Kyle Plott - 15.793
10. Josh Berry - 15.812
11. Michael Hinde - 15.818
12. Albert Francis - 15.879
13. Michael Atwell - 15.880
14. William Sawalich - 15.887
15. Cody Coughlin - 15.971
16. Tyler Church - 16.084
17. Ryan Moore - 16.100
18. Rich Clouser - 16.119
19. Joe Ross - 16.185
20. Kyle McCallum - 16.189
21. John Coffman - 17.48