Pair of Dodges Sit on Front Row Today

Two Dodge Daytonas, driven by Kal Showket of Trussville, Ala., and Joe Varde of Tampa, Fla., won front-row positions for today’s Champion Spark Plug Challenge with a pair of record laps Saturday at Riverside International Raceway.

Showket won the pole with a speed of 94.381 m.p.h. for the 100- kilometer race, which precedes the Times/Nissan 600-kilometer main event. Varde also broke his year-old track record of 92.761 with a lap at 93.935.

Showket also won the pole two weeks ago at Road Atlanta in the first of the Champion series, but Varde won the race.

Parker Johnstone of Oakland won the pole for today’s Renault Alliance Cup race at 77.050 m.p.h. The 60-kilometer Renault Cup starts today’s program at 10:30 a.m.