When LE Tonglet became a teammate to reigning NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion Jerry Savoie he immediately had lofty expectations for 2017.

And, he hasn’t been disappointed.

Tonglet, who is riding a Vance & Hines-powered Suzuki, was smiling again Saturday when he captured the No. 1 qualifying spot with his Friday lap of 6.880-seconds at 195.62 at the Summernationals in Englishtown, N.J.

Tonglet, the 2010 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion, now has four career No. 1 qualifying spots. This is Tonglet’s first No. 1 qualifying spot of 2017.

“This feels great,” Tonglet said. “It has been six years since we’ve been a No. 1 qualifier and we couldn’t do it without (crew chief) Tim (Kulungian) and Jerry because they provide the bike and then of course there's our primary sponsor Kenny Koretsky. Kenny’s at home recovering from a car wreck and we wish he was here to experience this. He was here six years ago when we were No. 1 in Atlanta and I wish he could’ve been here this weekend to enjoy it. It (six years) is super long, way longer than you want it to be. We joked in the pits that the green hat (for being No. 1 qualifier) is cool, but the yellow hat (for winning the race) is even cooler. The yellow (hat) is very hard to get and really so is the green one.”  

Tonglet arrived at Englishtown second in the season points after winning two of three NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle races this season at Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta. Tonglet will take on Kelly Clontz in the first round Sunday. Savoie qualified No. 4 and matches up with Cory Reed in round one.

“It’s pretty unbelievable having both bikes in the top five,” Tonglet said. “To have a new team to start out this year and he was No. 1 qualifier in Gainesville and Charlotte and we missed in Atlanta, but we are back at No. 1 here, it is unbelievable the amount of data Tim gets after each run. He looks at it all and he’s trying to set a national record on every run and it shows because both bikes are hauling butt. Hopefully (Sunday), I will have four green lights and four yellow win lights on the wall, that’s all we’re hoping for.”