ASCAR: 2002 champion to get NASCAR test

In addition to an unprecedented package of Channel 4 and satellite television coverage and the customary prize fund, the winner of the 2002 ASCAR Championship will receive the unique opportunity to test in America for one of the leading teams in the NASCAR Winston Cup, America's biggest racing series.

"It's a unique opportunity. A lot of European drivers have aspired to racing in the States, but few have ever been able to achieve it" said Bob Berridge of Oval Racing Management, who runs the ASCAR series. "With the incredibly high quality of drivers in ASCAR, we know the series can be a benchmark for the best UK oval racing drivers to graduate to the ovals in the United States and we have the contacts across the Atlantic to help drivers on their way."

If proof were needed, Michael Vergers, runner-up in the ASCAR series last year, recently completed a successful test in an ARCA car, just two steps below the NASCAR Winston Cup series. At the super-fast Talladega Superspeedway, Vergers was lapping quicker than last season's race winner Bobby Gerhart and at Daytona, he qualified seventh on the grid for his first race!

"What we are doing is giving our 2002 Champion the chance to work with the very top people in the sport in America" said Berridge. "Experience gained on the ovals at Rockingham in England and EuroSpeedway in Germany will give them the ideal chance to make the most of that opportunity. I know that there are drivers here in ASCAR at the moment who could get to the very top in the USA."

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