Jimmy Kite Qualifies Tenth for Copper World Classic

AVONDALE, Ariz., January 29, 2005 - In what he hopes is a strong omen
for the new year, Jimmy Kite, Stockbridge, Ga., qualified tenth for the
United States Auto Club (USAC) Weld Racing Silver Crown Copper World
Classic. Today's qualifying effort of 26.380 seconds around the one-mile
paved Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) oval is Kite's highest start
in four attempts at the Copper World. Kite, the 1997 winner of this
event in his rookie season, will start on the outside of the fifth row
in the No. 5 Westcon Racing/ Westcon elevator Bloomer Engines- Beast in
tomorrow's 100-lap, 100-mile feature event. This season's "Copper
World", just moved back to its traditional stand-alone date, marks the
Silver Crown Series' 28th appearance as the winter racing classic's
headline event. 

 

Kite, the '97 USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year, and the Westcon
crew, headed by Kevin Bloomstran, will have one more practice session
tomorrow morning. The final session will give the team its best
indication of its readiness for the race as it will be a full fuel load
practice, best mimicking the way the car will feel for the first segment
of tomorrow's race. 

 

Jimmy Kite: "I'm really excited about qualifying tenth here. I've never
qualified this high at Phoenix for the Copper World. I've got to go home
and figure out a new race strategy. Every other year I've been here it
has just been drive as hard as I can to pass as many cars as I can as
fast as I can because we've only had a hundred laps to get from the back
to the front. We had a little steering problem in the morning session.
The Westcon Racing guys got that fixed and I promised them there was
more in it. We gained over a second between that session and qualifying.
That was a fun lap. It was a blast to have that kind of car here again.
We have the last practice in the morning with full tanks so we'll know
what we have for the race then. Right now, this is the best handling car
I've had here since '03 when the Westcon guys and I ran up in the
top-five before the car overheated. So we're really happy right now."