L.E. Tonglet made his first U.S. Nationals appearance one to remember Sunday when he secured the
seventh starting position for Monday's race at O'Reilly Raceway Park and Angie McBride was 14th
riding another Matt Smith Racing Buell.
Tonglet's 7.015-second quarter-mile run Saturday aboard the Frameworkmg.com Pro Stock Buell
was his qualifying best. He added a lap at 7.02 seconds in Sunday's lone run after early morning
rain limited qualifying to that one attempt.
"It's a great feeling to qualify in the top 10 in my first race at an NRHA national event," said
Tonglet, 19. "We changed motors Saturday night and the 7.02 was a good start on a fresh motor. I
can't wait for eliminations. I'm looking forward to it."
McBride made the most of her run, getting the Nitro Fish Buell down-track in 7.063 seconds at
186.54 mph and into the 14th slot for eliminations.
"We are racing on Monday . . . that's all that matters," McBride said. "It was an ugly run. The
bike moved to the right when the tire spun at 330 feet. I corrected it and the most important thing
was we got in the top 16.
"We have a good bike and we are going to be ready to race."
First-round pairings send Tonglet against Karen Stoffer (10th, 7.023 at 186.30 mph) and McBride
meets Hector Arana (2nd, 6.936 at 191.89).
Smith, meanwhile, wound up atop the qualifying ladder with a 6.918-second, 192.38-mph run Sunday
morning. He races Junior Pippin.
