AASCO Motorsports Takes Second In SGS Desert Battle

AASCO Motorsports Takes Second In SGS Desert Battle

  

 

AVONDALE, Ariz., April 10, 2004 - The No. 16 AASCO Motorsports Porsche
911 GT3 Cup entry of David Murry, Cumming, Ga., and Craig Stanton, Long
Beach, Calif. fought through adversity to take second-place in SGS class
at tonight's Grand American Rolex Series Food City 250. Stanton
qualified on the pole position for the endurance sports car event here
at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) and drove the race's first stint.
He kept the lead early but dropped from the top spot after being issued
a penalty for 'jumping' the start while avoiding debris and slower cars
going into turn-one. Stanton fought back into the top-five handing the
Dennis Aase-owned Porsche over to Murry an hour and 15-minutes into the
two hour and 45-minute race. Murry battled back into the top-three
adding to the ground Stanton had taken and continued cutting the
distance to the leading Porsche of Randy Pobst. In the race's final
half-hour the team made the dramatic decision to put new Hoosier tires
onto the Porsche. The daring gambit paid off as Murry took second place
and briefly took the top spot in the closing laps. He closed from over
21 seconds out of first position to just .356 seconds at the checkered
flag.

 

David Murry: "That's what racing's all about! If we had won it would
have been even sweeter but it was great racing for the fans. The call to
change to new tires at the end was definitely the right one. We didn't
have anything to lose. At the end I was able to catch Randy (Pobst) in
some traffic and got around him but he got right back around me. I tried
as hard as I could but we just weren't able to do it tonight. I've got
to thank the AASCO crew. They did an awesome job."

 

Craig Stanton: "That was a tough race! There's so many stories within in
the story. This finish goes to Harry Haggard who rallied the team this
past week and then was the one to make the call to put on tires at the
end. We got really close to winning tonight. We had some awesome pit
stops. I challenge anyone on pit lane to do stops as quick as our guys.
David drove his heart out and I was driving hard my whole stint. This
was definitely good theatre. The AASCO Porsche ran awesome. We're
definitely looking forward to the next one."