Early Bird Brings Sixth Place for Michael Pope

Michael Pope’s season got started off on the right foot with the season-opening Georgia Asphalt Series event at Birmingham International Raceway. The young driver started in the fourth position and never really strayed much from there - staying up front with the leaders for the entire race and finishing in the sixth position.

”The lead cars kind of jumped out and took off right there at the beginning,” said Pope. “Mr. Dewitt (Pope’s Spotter) just kept telling me to ride and ride to save my tires. I did that and they started to come to me, so we ended up with a pretty good finish.”

It was Pope’s first time at the short track, but he drove around it like he’d been racing there for years.

“The top was the fastest line, but to be the best out there you had to run the bottom. Just trying to run the top to save the tires was a big enough feat, but if you tried to pass someone, it would burn up the tires. Towards the end of the race we burnt up the right rear tire pretty good, but it was still a good race. I am just glad to have a top-10 finish.”

The GAS portion of the Early Bird event started during the day and ended in the evening. The result was a tighter track than expected, which didn’t prove useful to Pope or the set-up on his machine.

”I think when the sun started going down the track tightened up more. That didn't help matters any with the tires. We toughed it out though, and I am just glad we got a good finish.”

Now that the season has started, and Pope has the Early Bird under his belt, he doesn’t really have a break in sight. Next week he will head to South Alabama Speedway where he will compete in the Pro Late Model portion of The Rattler. His past two trips to the Opp, AL track have netted him a pair of top-four finishes and he hopes that this weekend he will be able to better that by a few more positions.

”I am really looking forward to going back to Opp,” added Pope. “I am really excited about the new asphalt. I ran really good on the old asphalt. I am really interested to see how much the times are going to pick up.

”Getting back in the car and running the first race (at Birmingham) really got me back in the groove and got me seat time. The Rattler is a big-money race and I think we will be good, hopefully good enough for the win.”

The Pro Late Model Portion of The Rattler will be held on Saturday March 3, 2007 with a 125-lap feature event with racing getting underway at 8:00pm.

For more information on the charities that Michael supports, the Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Miracle Network, or to make a donation please visit their site at www.medcenfoundation.org

For more information on The Wild Child, Michael Pope, please contact Amy Hayes at 704-455-2051 and be sure to check out Michael Pope’s new website at www.michaelpopeonline.com.