Louisiana driver Alex Ardoin won the pole for Round Three of the 2008 Star Mazda Championship at Watkins Glen this weekend. His lap of 1:46.223 in the No. 51 car was 0.152 seconds clear of the 2nd-place car of British driver Charles Hall, who led every practice session. Hall finished 2nd in both Round One and Round Two, and is currently 2nd in the championship.Qualifying featured both several red flags and an exciting duel between Ardoin and Hall, who traded the top spot several times in the closing minutes. The top-qualifying Expert Series driver (for drivers 30 to 44 years old) is Chris Cumming and Master Series driver (drivers 45 and older) is Chuck Hulse. Ardoin's last pole position was at Trois-Rivières, Quebec during the 2007 Star Mazda Championship season, and he won the season-engine race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to finish 6th in the championship.Qualifying results, Watkins Glen:PosNameBest TmDiff1Alex Ardoin1:46.223-2Charles Hall1:46.375+0.1523Joel Miller1:46.596+0.3734Peter Dempsey1:46.691+0.4685John Edwards1:46.830+0.6076Billy Goshen1:47.239+1.0167Caio Lara1:47.555+1.3328Ernesto Otero1:47.818+1.5959Jonny Baker1:47.882+1.65910Scott Rettich1:48.040+1.81711Natalia Kowalska1:48.589+2.36612Rick Rosin1:48.729+2.50613J.C. Kester1:48.734+2.51114Eric Freiberg1:48.935+2.71215Chris Cumming1:48.955+2.73216Taylor Hacquard1:48.959+2.73617Mike Hill1:49.044+2.82118J.W. Roberts1:49.624+3.40119Michele Bumgarner1:49.766+3.54320Chuck Hulse1:50.034+3.81121Gerry Kraut1:50.324+4.10122Richard Zober1:52.775+6.55223Kristy Kester-.----
Star Mazda: Alex Ardoin on pole in Watkins Glen