SALISBURY, N.C. – Tyler Seavey and Kyle Larson led their respective flights of qualifying during Tuesday night’s preliminaries for the fifth annual QRC Open presented by HMS Motorsport at Millbridge Speedway.
Seavey was the fastest qualifier overall and in Flight A, turning a lap of 10.096 seconds (59.429 mph) around the sixth-mile dirt oval.
His No. 91 Truck Shop Motors/QRC mount will line up fourth on the grid for Wednesday’s first heat race. All six of the heats scheduled for the Open program have a four invert.
“It’s funny … I was talking to Jesse (Colwell) before I went out and told him I was going to take it easy on the first lap, and go for broke on my second lap,” Seavey said. “I’m not sure what lap was faster, but I have quick time overall.”
Appropriately, it was in fact Seavey’s second lap which was the faster of the two.
“I knew I was pushing hard,” noted Seavey. “You have to around this place. It’s not an easy joint to get a grasp on, for sure. We’re happy with this effort, though. Hopefully we can turn it into even more on Wednesday night.”
Colwell lapped second-fastest in Flight A with a time of 10.224 seconds (58.685 mph), followed by Colby Copeland, Karsyn Elledge and Ryan Israel, who rallied from a flip in practice for the Outlaw division to repair his kart and head out in time for Open time trials.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson turned the fastest time in Flight B and was second-quick overall, with a lap of 10.163 seconds (59.038 mph) in his No. 1K Stock Car Steel/SRI Performance/ProMoly Factory QRC entry.
Larson is seeking his second QRC Open win in the last three years.
“It didn’t feel very good at all, so I was actually surprised when they said I was quick time for my set,” said Larson. “If I could just get my kart driving a little better, then I’ll be really fast. We’re just going to work on some things to make it even better.
“This place is really fun when you can run the wall like that,” Larson added. “When you can be aggressive and not get too single-file around here, that’s when it’s good here and we know we’ve got a great chance to put on a show.”
Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports regular Holly Shelton was second behind Larson in Flight B, with a lap of 10.196 seconds (58.847 mph) in her No. 20H kart.
Logan Seavey, Tom Hubert and Daniel Whitley completed the top five in Flight B time trials.
A total of 45 Open division karts appeared on the grounds at Millbridge Speedway on Tuesday for practice and qualifying.
Wednesday’s program will feature six heat races and a full slate of C and B Main action leading into the 51-lap, $5,151-to-win Open division A-Feature, as well as a 20-lap Intermediate division A-Feature.
