Michael Pope Continues Strong Start to GAS Season

Last year, Michael Pope found himself being schooled. Not only was the 17-year-old working towards his high school degree, but he was also being schooled on the racetrack. Running on many new tracks and with a new series, Pope found himself learning each and every week out.

Now, with a year of Georgia Asphalt Series (GAS) experience under his belt, Pope is showing that he used that schooling to his advantage. Now, after the first three GAS races of the year, Pope finds himself in the top-five in points and with three-straight top-10 finishes. He added to his total by finishing sixth in this past Saturday’s 100-lapper at Watermelon Capital Speedway (GA). Pope has two sixths and a seventh-place finish is three GAS races this year.

“We’ve had a pretty good season so far,” said Pope. “Of course, I’d always want more. We want to go to the track to win races, but we are being pretty consistent now. And we are being consistent and running in the top-10, which is what we need for the points deal.”

After starting off the season at two rather unfamiliar tracks

(Birmingham and Pensacola), Pope headed to Watermelon Capital with high hopes. He raced at the track three times in 2006 with a best finish of seventh. In fact, every time Pope has visited the track, he’s gotten faster and finished better.

“This track has a lot more grip on it than say Birmingham or Pensacola, so it doesn’t wear your tires down as much, which actually makes for better racing.

“The car started off a little bit on the loose side, but it gradually came to me as the race went on,” added Pope. “It was ok, but then another car started laying down oil on the track and it was slinging up on the car and on my windshield. I couldn’t really see after that. I couldn’t judge where I was coming off the corners. The car tightened up and got really tight at the end of the run.

“I think we did pretty good. Again, as a racecar driver, you always want to do better, but we’ll take what we can get. It’s better than we’ve run here in the past, so hopefully the next time we come here, things will be even better. Maybe next time we’ll get that first win.”

Now, Pope will be heading to a track he’s already visited once this year, South Alabama Speedway in Opp, AL, for the next GAS race of the year. That event is scheduled to go off on April 7th.

Pope ran in the Pro Late Model portion of the Rattler weekend at South Alabama just last month and nearly came home with a win before getting involved in a mid-race accident which knocked him out of contention.

“I like the place,” said Pope. “It’s a neat track and the new asphalt makes it a lot of fun. It reminds me a lot of Cordele (Watermelon Capital). That bodes well for our chances at the next race.”

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