Boom Boom Boris serves up an ace at Infineon.

It certainly wasn't tennis but the big hitter on Friday at the 1.99-mile Infineon Raceway was definitely the imposing figure of Boris Said who backed up his practice effort with quickest time in Bud Pole qualifying and secure pole position for Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350.

The defending Trans-Am Champion is racing in all three events on the schedule at the eleven-turn road course in California this weekend, the headline Winston Cup event and the supporting Southwest Featherlite and Trans-Am races and although he is one of the dreaded 'road warriors,' his 76.522secs single flying lap was generally well received, not least by his #01 U.S. Army/MB2 Motorsports crew.

As has been the norm in recent Bud Pole qualifying sessions, Said was the last in a relatively long line of provisional pole sitters, his lap pushing Robby Gordon onto the outside of the front row less than ten minutes after Gordon had himself deposed of another road course specialist, Ron Fellows.

Gordon, who has had the look of a man on a mission all weekend in the #31 Richard Childress Racing Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, could not defend against Said's record-breaking lap with his 76.816secs effort but still held off all other competition to secure the outside of the front row for what promises to be a typically gruelling affair in the Sonoma Hills on Sunday.

Fellows, who travelled straight from the Le Mans 24 Hour race to America to help coach Dale Earnhardt Jr around road courses before taking the controls of the #1 Pennzoil Chevy for the Infineon Raceway weekend, took the pole from Matt Kenseth right in the middle of qualifying with a lap of 76.972secs but will have to settle for a place on the inside of row two on Sunday.

Kenseth will start fourth, ahead of but equal on time to the thousandth to his Roush Racing teammate Kurt Busch, both drivers qualifying with a lap at 77.133secs. Busch's #97 Rubbermaid team were especially happy with their effort after repairing the damaged primary car after Busch's practice accident.

California native Kevin Harvick kept up his competitive start to the weekend with sixth fastest time in the #29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet while Rusty Wallace, who sat on the pole during the early going, will start seventh. Jeff Gordon qualified eighth with defending Infineon Raceway champion Ricky Rudd ninth and Tony Stewart tenth.

Dale Earnhardt Jr felt happy after qualifying eleventh, a rarity for the driver of the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet on a road course while Bill Elliott continued to drive through the pain barrier ad set 12th fastest time.

With Said and Fellows starting first and third on Sunday, the Winston Cup regulars will be grateful that the expected challenge of some of the other 'guest' drivers didn't materialise although with some extra track time in Saturday practice it is quite easy to envisage Pruett moving up quickly from 18th on the grid in the #09 Target Dodge.

Current Trans-Am points leader Johnny Miller looks like being a bigger factor in race trim than his qualifying performance suggests although Miller at least managed to haul the #4 Kodak Pontiac into the race on speed, scraping into the field on merit in 36th position.

As expected the rookie class spent the day almost collectively exploring the circuit boundaries although all six Raybestos Rookie of the Year contenders sensibly kept things together when the pressure was on, and consequently all qualified for Sunday's race. Chip Ganassi Racing's Jamie McMurray led the way in 26th position with Jack Sprague 28th although Casey Mears was disappointed to only be 33rd fastest.

Another driver with a proud road racing background who failed to translate his experience into a good qualifying run was Christian Fittipaldi who was only 37th fastest in the #43 Petty Enterprises Dodge and thus had to use his teams one and only provisional to make the field.

Provisional-land was occupied by a number of drivers who had a rather more exciting qualifying lap than planned. Jimmie Johnson, who will start 37th with the first provisional, made the biggest mistake, spinning off completely in turn two before returning to the track undamaged and completing his lap while Jimmy Spencer (39th), Steve Park (40th) and Ken Schrader (42nd) all tried to use all the racing surface and a little more on their qualifying laps with detrimental effects to their times.

Also out of luck was Ricky Craven, who suffered an engine failure on the #32 Tide Pontiac on his very first lap out of the pits in morning practice. Using the new quick-fire single-car qualifying format, Craven had completed less than half a lap as he came down towards the final hairpin to begin his qualifying lap when the replacement motor in the PPI Motorsports machine also let go, leaving the New Englander a very frustrated 38th on the grid and still wondering what turn seven looks like!

Taking the 43rd and final starting position will be Japanese road racing veteran Hideo Fukuyama in Travis Carter's #66 Kikkoman Ford, largely thanks to the team's provisional status, and AJ Foyt's lack of provisional status.

Not even the mercurial skills of PJ Jones, which worked wonders for Foyt's troubled team at Watkins Glen last year could help get the reluctant #14 Harrah's Dodge into the starting field. The team's decision to miss Martinsville and thus forfeit the provisional start handed out to those teams out of provisionals after Michigan but with a 100 per cent attendance record so far this year. The situation will be reversed in two weeks however when the returning Larry Foyt will have a provisional to fall back on for the Pepsi 400 while Fittipaldi and Schrader won't.

Paul Menard also failed to make the cut despite a valiant effort in the back-up #33 Andy Petree Racing Chevrolet and a lack of practice miles while Winston West regulars Brandon Ash and Jim Inglebright were also left to pack up early.