Robby Gordon leads SST Long Beach qualifying

Robby Gordon‘s qualifying run at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach continued for another year as he led Friday’s practice/qualifying ahead of the Stadium Super Trucks season opener.

Gordon set the fastest time of the twelve qualifiers at 1:43.846, barely beating out reigning champion Gavin Harlien by less than a tenth of a second. Max Gordon and Robert Stout were the only other drivers within a second of the leader.

“I followed the monster @madmaxgordon the whole time and the Massive Draft tow at 2 minutes to go was enough to grab the pole,” Gordon recalled. It is his third straight Fastest Qualifier at Long Beach and fifth overall including 2016 and 2018.

Matt Brabham had a tumultuous run after a mechanical issue forced him to abandon his original truck just minutes into the session; after rejoining without the truck’s hood, he elected to switch to a backup for the rest of the day. Despite the change, the three-time series champion salvaged a fifth-place qualifying effort.

Myles Cheek qualified sixth ahead of his first SST start since 2017. Fellow short course regular Ryan Beat was one spot behind him.

“Got a little bit of homework to do,” Cheek stated. “But not bad for being out of the truck for seven years.”

Of the four series newcomers, Bruce Binnquist led the way in eighth ahead of Trey Hernquist (ninth), Joshua Thomas (tenth), and David Bernstein (twelfth). On the opposite extreme, series veteran Bill Hynes is sandwiched between the group to begin his tenth year of SST competition.

Due to a field inversion, Gordon will start at the rear while Bernstein is at the front.

Race #1 will take place on Saturday at 4:30 PM Pacific Time, while Race #2 is on Sunday at 3:30 PM. The two Gordons are the defending race winners.

Qualifying results