AASCO Motorsports Grabs SGS Pole Position for Food City 250

AVONDALE, Az., April 9, 2004 � Craig Stanton took the SGS class pole position for tomorrow's Grand American Rolex Series' Food City 250 today at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). The Long Beach, California-resident turned a lap of one minute, 3.555 seconds in the No. 16 AASCO Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry in late afternoon qualifying for tomorrow's evening into night race. Stanton will start the Dennis Aase-owned Porsche before handing over driving duties to teammate David Murry of Cumming, Ga. The two will be looking to defend their victory at the most recent Rolex Series' event at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS). Demonstrating the team's strong car setup and driver skill, AASCO has been quick throughout the weekend and set the fastest time in Thursday's night practice as well as qualifying in the heat of the day today. The 1.51-mile road course through the heart of the famous PIR oval will play host to the two-hour, 45-minute endurance event starting at 6 pm (PT). The race can be seen live on the SPEED Channel at 9 pm (ET) on Saturday night. AASCO Motorsports will carry three in-car cameras to highlight all of the action.Craig Stanton (about qualifying): “The team's pulling together really well this weekend. We feel like we need to vindicate ourselves a little bit here. We had a really good test at Willow Springs last week where we approached it like a race weekend. We got a very good handle on the 16 Porsche. We figure we saved a day here at Phoenix with that test. It really paid off. We were first out to qualify. It took about a half a lap to get the tire temps up. So, I wanted to get a good run for the team. That was a good lap. I'm pretty pleased with that lap. David and I are working so well together right now, the whole team is. It is really, really a pleasure to get to drive with someone like David because we truly work as a team.”David Murry (about the race): "I'm looking forward to tomorrow's race as Craig and I will have changed roles. He will start and I'll finish. It's going to be a very tough race. There's a half dozen cars within a half second depending on who's running new tires at the time. I'm hopeful that Thomas Blam [AASCO pit strategist] can get us some good pit strategy because that's what it's going to take to win in this competitive class. It's a night race so hopefully the heat won't be a factor. The cars, particularly the tires, like it better at night. It's more difficult in traffic because of the inability to see whose behind you so we'll be using spotters to help us with that at night.”For more on AASCO Motorsports and its 2004 Grand-Am Rolex Series effort please visit www.aascomotorsports.com. ###