Michael Pope Still on the Rise, Matches Career-Best GAS Finish

There were flashes of brilliance in 2006 for Michael Pope in the Georgia Asphalt Series. The 17-year-old found himself running in the top-10 and the top-five late in the season, putting up a couple of fourth-place finishes. But some issues at the start of last season kept him from running for the championship.

This season though, Pope hasn’t yet had an off night. In fact, Pope hasn’t yet found out what it’s like to run outside of the top-10 in GAS competition. In fact, a seventh-place run earlier in the year has been his only “off night,” if you can call it that.

This past weekend, Pope matched his career-best GAS finish in the 100-lap race at South Alabama Speedway, coming home fourth. The finish unofficially moved Pope up to second in the GAS point standings (official standings won’t be released until later in the week).

“It was a lot of fun out there tonight,” said Pope. “The car was real good during the whole race. I wish we could have been up there, maybe in the top two and competed for the win, but we did really well. It was a good points night for us. I just have to thank my whole crew for working on my cars and giving me such good stuff.”

Pope never really found himself outside of the top-10 all night long, but the fourth-place finish didn’t come to him as easy as it sounded.

“The car was a little bit tight during qualifying,” added Pope. “Right after practice, we changed the right front spring on the car to help it roll over better and turn coming up off the corner because it was a little bit tight coming off. That helped the car a whole lot. It made the car better throughout the whole entire race.

“You had to hold the bottom because everybody was trying to pass down there. Most guys I was trying to pass didn’t want you to pass them clean, so you had to get into them a little bit. You never like doing that, but you just have to. It can get frustrating when you’re racing that hard with somebody. You just have to keep a cool head on your shoulders and just deal with it.”

Pope already competed at South Alabama Speedway earlier this year in a Pro Late Model, but it wasn’t during GAS competition. Rather, Pope raced in the Pro Late Model portion of the Rattler weekend. Pope was fast in that race as well, running in the top-five before getting caught up in an accident between a couple of lapped cars.

This time around though, Pope was the one who had the high-banked, half-mile South Alabama’s number.

“Good conditioning is what helps here. The thing I learned about this race is that good conditioning and working out helps you a lot to last at the end of the race. It was fun, and I feel good. I want to go run it again.”

Pope will now take a weekend off before returning to the track in GAS competition at Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, GA on April 21.

For more information on The Wild Child, Michael Pope, please contact Amy Hayes at (704) 788-2134, and be sure to check out Michael Pope’s new website at www.michaelpopeonline.com