Denver: Qualifying summary

Said collects pole for Round 9 Of Trans-Am Series at Denver following penalty to Hayner.

DENVER (August 31, 2002) -- Trans-Am Series points leader Boris Said received an unexpected pole position Saturday when provisional pole-sitter Stuart Hayner was penalized following qualifying for Sunday's Shell Grand Prix of Denver Trans-Am 100.

Said (#33 Applied Computer Solutions Panoz Esperante), who had qualified provisionally on the outside pole with a lap of 80.487 miles per hour (1 minute, 13.612 seconds), ascended to the top starting spot after Trans-Am Series officials penalized Hayner one second on the official qualifying results as a result of a violation of post-qualifying impound procedures.

Hayner will thus start sixth on the grid in Sunday's Shell Grand Prix of Denver Trans-Am 100, after being dropped from his provisional pole-winning lap of 1 minute, 13.612 seconds to a time of 1:14.612.

Trans-Am officials penalized the Revolution Motorsports team for violating SCCA Pro Racing Rule 1.5.4.5, which states: "Admittance to any area in which technical inspections are being conducted is controlled by the technical administrator."

"Following the qualifying session, the #02 Revolution Motorsports car was approached by an unauthorized person," explained Trans-Am Series Chief Steward Terry Dale. "The entry by the person in question compromised the integrity of the impound process. As a result, a one-second penalty will be applied to the #02 car and its starting position for the race will be reflected as sixth."

The pole position becomes the seventh of Said's Trans-Am Series career and his second of the season, following a pole-winning effort at Trois-Rivieres.

"We've been fast all weekend," Said observed, "and I think we'll have a good car for the race. I think the people in Denver have done a great job of putting together this circuit, which is actually two different tracks in one.

"Part of it is bumpy and narrow; part of it is wide and smooth," Said continued. "Tomorrow is going to be a lot of fun."

Said enters Sunday's ninth of 12 rounds with a 232-201 points lead over three-time and defending Trans-Am Series champion Paul Gentilozzi (#3 Johnson Controls/Microchip/Matrix One/Futaba Jaguar XKR), in the championship chase. Gentilozzi qualified fifth provisionally at 80.487 mph (1:14.336), but ascended to fourth on the grid following the penalty to Hayner.

"All of our experience didn't help very much today," Gentilozzi said. "We struggled with the car until the very end of the session, so we decided to make a car we couldn't hurt for the race.

"We did our set-up based on the track getting better," Gentilozzi continued, "It didn't get better, so we got worse."

Rookie Paul Menard (#99 Menards/Conseco/Pittsburgh Paints Ford Mustang), who logged a career-best third-place qualifying effort for his third career Trans-Am Series start, moved up a spot to join Said on the outside of the front row following a lap of 80.027 mph (1:14.090).

"I was slipping all over the place," he said, "and I never got one lap I was happy with until right at the end of the session. I knew I had to put a good lap together and on that lap, the car stuck. The BFG[oodrich] tires kept getting better and better, and I didn't overdrive the car, so it resulted in a good lap for us."

AmeriSuites Rookie of the Year Butch Leitzinger (#88 Tommy Bahama/Tom Gloy Chevrolet Corvette) will start third after qualifying at 79.897 mph (1:14.211). He'll be followed by Gentilozzi and Michael Lewis (AmeriSuites Jaguar XKR), who will start fifth after a lap of 79.508 mph (1:14.574).

-scca pro racing-