A sun-splashed Saturday in Northern Ohio kept the times and speeds in check during the final day of professional qualifying for the inaugural Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. All four of Friday night's professional class leaders remained in control of their respective categories, including Funny Car top gun Robert Hight, the son-in-law of 14-time world champion John Force, who posted a best of 4.713 at 313.73 mph.
 
Top Fuel's "Hot Rod" Fuller (4.533), Pro Stock's Greg Anderson (6.654), and Pro Stock Motorcycle's Matt Smith (6.965) joined Hight on the low qualifier's podium at Summit Motorsports Park. With track temperatures more than five degrees warmer than Friday, it was just too hot for anyone to improve. The only movement came at the bottom of the ladders where a few lucky racers managed to push their way into the fray.

Robert Hight

Considering he's been driving a racecar all season that he says has a propensity to hurt itself every run, Funny Car leader Hight continues to impress in his Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang, ringing up his fourth Skoal Low Qualifier award of the year with a 4.713 at 313.73 mph. Hight scores $4,000 for the effort.

"With the exception of one run in Gainesville, we haven't made a full pass all year on all eight cylinders," Hight said. "It's been dropping one every pass and now it's trying to drop two. Jimmy [Prock] decided to make some giant moves today to fix that and we're really encouraged by what it showed us.

"It's so cool that Jimmy has the guts to make changes. We feel like we're going to be in the eight-car championship deal by Indy so we're going to work as hard as we can to make this thing better, more consistent, and quicker. If we can do that, we have a real chance at the POWERade championship.

"I want to say happy birthday to my father Richard. He's 60 today and I know he reads NHRA.com every night to see how we did. 'Happy Birthday Dad; this one's for you.' "

Hight's sister-in-law, Ashley Force, a huge favorite among the capacity Norwalk crowd, is a strong second in her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang after a best of 4.734 at 320.13 mph. Tony Pedregon follows with a third-best 4.757 in his Q Horsepower Chevrolet Impala SS.

Points leader Ron Capps is seventh in the Brut Test Drive Dodge Charger. He'll face legend Kenny Bernstein and his Monster Energy Drink Charger in Round 1.

Del Worsham barely bumped into the field in the third round in his Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Chevrolet Impala SS, running a 16th-best 4.873. The drama came when he reached the top end when his car exploded into several pieces, which relegated him to the sidelines for the final session. Nevertheless, his time held and he'll race Hight in the morning.

Gary Scelzi's class-leading streak of 30 straight successful qualifying attempts ended when he wasn't able to get his Mopar/Oakley machine into the field. CSK's Jeff Arend is the only Funny Car driver to qualify for all 11 fields this season.

Rod Fuller

Fuller scored his third Technicoat pole of the season with his 4.533 at 323.50 mph pass from Round 2. He remains one of only three racers to have qualified fourth or higher at every race this season. This was Fuller's fifth career low qualifying effort.

“Five is my lucky number,” Fuller said. “I’m number five, five was my number in both football and soccer and I’m 5-foot-5. I’m just really impressed by this facility and the fans. The place just has a feeling of home to it, like I’m at a bracket race. I just feel really comfortable here.

"It’s pretty awesome what our team has been doing and we just keep it going every race. I have a lot of confidence with my car and team. All we need is a big-time sponsor and we'll be ready for anything."

Clay Millican's second-place seeding is the best of the year for the driver of the RATT -- Back for More dragster. Bud's Brandon Bernstein (4.554) and SkyTel's Larry Dixon (4.561) rounded out the top four.

Melanie Troxel, who hasn't won a round since her victory in St. Louis, anchors this field with a best of 4.666 at 321.35 mph in her Vietnam Veterans/POW-MIA dragster. Her teammate Morgan Lucas missed the field for the sixth time this year.

Greg Anderson

Even when he struggles, Pro Stock points leader Anderson is still better than anyone else in the class. Anderson's opening pass of 6.654 at 207.59 mph earned his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO team the No. 1 qualifying position for the eighth time in 11 races this year. They've converted five of those top starts into wins. Anderson failed to make it down the track in Rounds 2, 3, and 4.
 
 "Spirits were high after Round 1 but it's been all downhill since then," Anderson said. "We pride ourselves on consistency and we don't have it here. It's not a real confidence builder. I think we just need to forget about today. It was just a bad day at the office. We've got to move on because this is our sponsor's race and we need to do well tomorrow.
 
"We've been No. 1 qualifier six races in a row now and that shows what kind of team we have and what kind of equipment we have. There's no excuse for our performance here but I'm confident we can fix it for tomorrow. I'll get up on the wheel and race my hardest. We need to get our heads back together quick because I'm sure the other drivers in this class would love to see us stumble again in Round 1."

 Mopar Racing teammates Richie Stevens and Allen Johnson are second and third here. Stevens' Dodge posted a 6.659, while Johnson was a thousandth back at 6.660. There are three Ohioans in the field. Dave Connolly of Elyria, Ohio, is fourth with a 6.663. Jeg Coughlin of Delaware, Ohio, is ninth with a 6.673, while Larry Morgan of Newark, Ohio, the lone driver to break into the field Saturday, is 15th with a 6.692.
 
After spending the last three races on the DNQ list, Mach 1 Air Services racer Erica Enders made the field on the bump with a 6.705 at 205.35 mph.

Matt Smith

Smith's third low qualifying effort of the season and seventh of his career makes the Torco Buell V-Twin rider the early favorite for Sunday's race. Only one rider, Paul Gast, bumped into the field Saturday, changing Smith's first-round foe to fellow Buell pilot Matt Guidera of the Mohegan Sun team. Guidera's more than a tenth of a second back of Smith's 6.965 at 189.60 mph with a best of 7.084 at 185.13 mph.

"As soon as we got here I figured no one would run quicker than us so I just started trying other things out," said Smith, who tunes both his bike and that of teammate Chris Rivas. "I tried some things with the timing in the early session and scuffed in a new tire in the afternoon. I just wanted to make sure we were totally prepared for tomorrow.

"This is our third race with Chris on the team and it's really helping. It's a lot more work for me because I do the engines and tuning on both bikes and I don't want to share my secrets so I don't ask for much help, but the data we're collecting is worth the effort. Chris' bike is Evan's [Knoll, sponsor] baby and it's fun to make it run quick. The only scary part is he just has one motor right now so if it gets hurt, he's out."

Andrew Hines, who has raced to two finals in a row, has the quickest Harley in the field with a third-best 6.995. Angelle Sampey is the cream of the Suzuki crop in fourth place with a 6.997 at 190.16 mph on her U.S. Army mount.

The other two female riders in the field, Geico's Karen Stoffer and Klement Racing's Peggy Llewellyn, are seventh and eighth, respectively.

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