Skerlong to Build on New Jersey Victory at Miller

Mukilteo, Washington September 18, 2008 – Carl Skerlong became the sixth different race winner in the fiercely competitive 2008 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda last Sunday at New Jersey Motorsports Park and a return to the top step of the podium in this weekend’s penultimate round, hosted at Utah’s Miller Motorsports Park on Sunday 21st September, would be more than welcomed by the Seattle racer.

Skerlong delivered the ultimate performance last weekend, dominating his Atlantic rivals to claim all 34 points available from the event, with his Pacific Coast Motorsports entered #14 King Taco Swift Mazda-Cosworth topping the timesheets and lap charts throughout practice, qualifying and Sunday’s 50-minute race.

The 19-year-old sophomore pilot jumped to fifth overall in the Driver Standings as a result of his stunning form in New Jersey, Carl’s victory netting him his fourth podium in nine starts this season while his previous day’s pole position was the second of his Atlantic career, his first coming earlier this year in Round 5 at Edmonton.

Back-to-back race weekends mean Skerlong now has the opportunity to carry some of his race-winning momentum straight from New Jersey to the sweeping 4.5-mile permanent road course at Miller Motorsports Park, located close to Salt Lake City. With the track hosting its first-ever Atlantic Championship event, Skerlong finds himself as one of the few drivers racing this weekend with previous circuit experience having competed there two seasons ago on his way to the Formula TR Pro Series 2000 Championship.

A scheduled test session today will allow the Atlantic field to sample the Utah circuit ahead of Round 10’s on-track activities.

“Obviously things came together really well last weekend,” reflected Skerlong on his first career Atlantic victory. “We seemed to have things covered and Miller’s a fairly similar track so I’m hoping for similar results. The hardest thing here is being consistent. We don’t have a ton of track time and the laps are so long at Miller that if you mess up, it really eats into your session.

“We’ve had a car capable of wins all season long so it was nice to finally get one last weekend. Knowing how competitive we’ve been it would have been disappointing to finish the season without a victory. I see no reason why we can’t be challenging for wins in the final two races of the year both here at Miller Motorsports Park and at the season finale at Road Atlanta in October.”