Michael Pope News

Like many racecar drivers, Michael Pope started off the 2008 season hoping for the best in the first few races of the season. From there, if everything goes according to plans, a big push for a series championship could be in the works come mid-season.

trying to hunt down Beau (Slocumb, race winner) and Jay (Middleton, second-place finisher). But, all in all, we had a good run tonight.”C

Pope’s recent hot streak continued in qualifying Sunday afternoon when he put the Builder’s Concrete Products #44 on the outside pole. Luck was even on his side on the re-draw, when he pulled the same spot and started from second, as well. From there, Pope battled hard throughout the 100-lap event, never leaving the top-five and racing some of the Southeast’s top talent tough, yet clean, in front of television cameras that will broadcast the event nation-wide next month.

So far in the fist two races of the RC Cola / MoonPie ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour, the 18-year-old Pope is atop the

list of title contenders in the series’ first season with an impressive runner-up finish in the first race of the year last month at Mobile International Speedway (AL), followed up

with a head-turning, third-place run on April 6th at

Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, GA.

“I feel really good about the car and the team right now,”

said Pope following the Watermelon 100 at WCS. “I really appreciate all the hard work that they put in this week.

“During the race, the car started off pretty good, but at the end it started getting tight. We had been running side-by-side with the #40 car (Taylor Satterfield) and it just started shoving the nose coming off the corner. That didn’t help any when I was

“I was surprised at how everybody used their heads this time at Cordele. Sometimes here, this place is known for all the cautions. I’ve really got to hand it to the drivers up front for racing hard and racing clean.

“It feels real good to come out of here with another good finish. I owe it all to my mom and dad and our sponsor, Builder’s Concrete Products. Hopefully people here watched us up front and they’ll watch this race on TV and go to my website and donate to the Children’s Miracle Network’s Children’s Hospital. That would mean a lot.”

With two-straight podium finishes to start off the 2008 RC / MoonPie ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour, Pope is

an early favorite for the series’ first-ever championship. In order to do that, things will have to continue going Pope’s way if he’s going to be a contender in the series’ next event at USA International Speedway in

Lakeland, FL, on May 3rd.

“We’re trying to get the money up to go to Lakeland,” added Pope. “If we get enough money up, we’re going to go down there and hopefully put on a good show. I’m not sure if we’ve got the points lead or not, but I think we do. We’ll just try to go down there and keep it up.”

Before Pope can head to Lakeland, he’ll hit the first Blizzard Series Super Late Model event at Pensacola, Florida’s Five Flags Speedway on April 11th.

Be sure to catch Pope’s third-place run in the Watermelon 100 ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour event on

SportSouth and several other major networks across the country beginning at 8pm on Wednesday, May 7th.

For more information on Michael Pope, please contact Amy Hayes at (770) 855-1461 and be sure to visit Michael’s website for all the latest racing news at www.michaelpopeonline.com.