Track conditions play role in quals

Timing is everything during qualifications for Little 500, and it has nothing to do with a stop watch. \nThe time that each rider is vying for is more than a race time. The time of day that each team competes is important because it could have an influence upon their speed and track times. \n"I think the track was fast, and we got a good time of day to go into quals," senior Teter rider Patrick Gilbert said after his team qualified fifth. "The wind wasn't blowing, the weather was good and the track was pretty fast, and I think that helped us out a lot."\nConditions, like in any sport, are very important to a team's performance. When the track is tight and wet it makes it easier for each team to make exchanges and take corners fast. When the track becomes dry it results in a bigger margin of error. \nQualifications began at 8 a.m. Saturday and ended near 6 p.m. Almost nine hours of racing didn't leave the track in good condition for many riders that qualified toward the end of the day or began their third attempt to qualify after the last team finished.\n"I don't think that the track condition changes the results too much," IU Student Foundation assistant director and Little 500 coordinator Alex Ihnen said. "The best teams are always going to qualify near the top, it's not going to affect people (in the) 20 or 30 spots. The track gets more torn up and the more exchanges that are done it gets worse. Every team has their own theory on what the best time to race is."\nOther teams try not to pay attention to the condition of the track, racing is the only thing that they have on their minds. Senior Riders Council Chair, Michael Nierengarten, whose Phi Gamma Delta team qualified second in one attempt said the exchanges were the most important aspect of their race and after winning the pole position last year they knew what they needed to do to get a top position.\n"The track is the track," Nierengarten said. "Some people could argue that the wind picked up later in the day. I don't think the conditions affect everything.You shouldn't blame timing and conditions on race times. The wind was consistent all day long and everyone had to put up with it. Quals are quals, it just gets you in the race. We had clean exchanges and we knew from last year what was expected of us"