Schmitt and Lewis start from Pole for the Supercuts 200 at Watkins Glen

John Schmitt emulated what co-driver Shane Lewis did in practice, setting the fastest time in qualifying for the Street Tuner (ST) session in the No. 22 HART Red Line Oil/Honda of America Honda Accord with a time of 2:12.507.

“That’s my first pole position in quite a while,” Schmitt said. “Shane Lewis gave me a lot of help reviewing videotape, and it helped. I figured it out. We’ve worked on this car since Mid-Ohio, where I took a pretty good hit two weeks ago. We’ve got the car all straightened out. This track is pretty good for our car. It’s a pretty good feeling to be back on the pole. If we keep from getting hit tomorrow, hopefully, I’ll save as much in the car as I can for Shane and let him do the work at the end.”

Starting alongside Schmitt will be Aaron Povoledo in the No. 75 Kensai Racing Compass360.com/Skunk2/Hawk Brakes Acura TSX. Povoledo, who lapped the track at 2:12.859, will start the car and turn it over to Beau Buisson in the race.

“I guess it’s a good day when you’re angry at yourself after finishing second in qualifying,” said Povoledo, who also put the car on the front row at Mid-Ohio. “I knew we had a car for the pole. I didn’t have a clean lap. In fact, on the lap that put me second I spent four corners behind a real slow car and had to pass him on the inside. I can’t tell you how great it feels for Kensai Racing to bring me back here. Two weeks ago, they brought me back to run in the KONI Challenge at Mid-Ohio, and that’s my favorite series. It’s a pleasure to be back. I didn’t expect to be back until two days ago. I was late for practice yesterday and was quickest by three-tenths of a second. That’s a testimony to how great Kensai Racing/Compass360 sets up a race car.”

Rounding out the top five were series points co-leader Adam Burrows in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW 330i (2:12.879; co-driving fellow points co-leader Trevor Hopwood), Leo Maia in the No. 86 Classic BMW – Plano BMW Z4 (2:13.011; co-driving with Toby Grahovec) and Juan Leroux in the No. 174 LRT Racing Mobil 1/Durex Condoms Acura TSX (2:13.121; co-driving with brother Jorge Leroux). Karl Thomson, who is tied for third in the points with Billy Johnson, will start sixth in Saturday’s race in the No. 76 Kensai Racing Compass360.com/Skunk2/Hawk Brakes Acura TSX. The pair owns a series-high three victories in 2007.

The Supercuts 200 at The Glen will take the green flag at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and mark only the second time this season the GS and ST classes will compete in the same race.