Michael Pope has more than a full season on the Georgia Asphalt Series under his belt.  He has been a consistent top-10 finisher throughout his still-young GAS career and has a bunch of top-five runs to his credit as well.

Michael Pope Scores Career-Best GAS Finish at Senoia

Young Driver Comes Up Just a Few Laps Short of First-Ever Victory

Pope has thousands of laps behind the wheel of his number-44 Pro Late Model at tracks throughout the Southeast, and every one of those laps, plus the experience of his solid finishes in races past, were put to good use Saturday night at Senoia Raceway (GA).  Pope contended for the win before eventually scoring a career-best, third-place finish at Senoia, much to the delight of the young racer.

“This was really exciting; I think we started the car too good setup wise,” said Pope, “because late in the race it just got too loose coming up off the corners.  But we hung in there with a good finish, and I couldn’t be any happier.”

The young driver qualified fifth and started from the outside of the front row after the post-qualifying redraw.  Pope settled in

for a patient ride throughout the early stages of the feature, riding early on in the third position.  He moved to second just after the 30-lap mark and starting putting the pressure on leader David Elliott shortly thereafter.  Pope stuck the nose of his #44 beneath Elliott a number of times, but rather than push the issue, the young racer realized patience was going to be the key at Senoia.

“I think if we ever made a clean pass on Elliott for the lead we would have been all right, but coming off two as loose as we were I think we burned off the rear tires.   On the real long runs we were good, but after the caution the tires got cold and that just made the car looser.

“Overall we had a really good run here tonight.  I really like the track.  We’ve done well at Senoia before with our old car, a Port City chassis.  Now that we’ve come here with this Grand American car, it seems like a totally different track.  It’s different, but with this car it’s a lot better, that’s for sure.

Pope hopes to improve on his strong run at Senoia when the Georgia Asphalt Series returns to action on May 12th at Peachstate Speedway in Jefferson, GA.  He scored three top-10 finishes at Peachstate last season and the young racer expects another strong run once again.

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