Sears Point: Qualifying notes

Boris Said Earns Seventh-Career Motorock Trans-Am Pole at Infineon Raceway

SONOMA, Calif. (June 26, 2004) -- Boris Said won the pole for the Trans-Am 100, Saturday at Infineon Raceway. Said (No. 33 Applied Computer Systems/GE Access Ford Mustang) turned in a 1:14.736-minute lap (94.798 miles per hour) to earn the top qualifying position, his seventh in his Trans-Am career.

"We're really fast," said Said, who competed in the Southwest Tour race today prior to qualifying and will race in the NASCAR Nextel Cup event tomorrow. "This is a busy weekend. Hopefully, we can win the Trans-Am race after the Cup race tomorrow."

Said will start ahead of Tommy Kendall (No. 11 Jaguar R Performance XKR) and Tomy Drissi (No. 5 AVP--Only in Theaters Jaguar XKR). 1978 Trans-Am Champion Greg Pickett (No. 6 Cytomax Jaguar XKR) and Randy Ruhlman (No. 49 Preformed Line Products Chevrolet Corvette) complete the top-five.

Kendall said this is just one more step in the development of Jaguar's new AJ-V8 engine. The AJ-V8, which utilizes a stock block and heads, as well as fuel injection, made its racing debut in the 2003 season finale.

"I'm very happy with the second starting position," said Kendall. "I thought we had the potential coming into today for the pole. In Portland, we were the car to beat, but we weren't the fastest car in qualifying."

"I think in the back of my head I was still in Portland where I put to many laps on my race tires, so I was I little more conservative," said Drissi. "I wanted to go back out and be on the front row, but Kendall came out and bumped me to third. However, to be starting up front with Boris and Tommy is a great thing and tomorrow's race should be fun to watch."

The Trans-Am 100, Round 3 of the 2004 Motorock Trans-Am Series championship, is scheduled to start at 4:15 p.m. Sunday, immediately following the NASCAR Nextel Cup race.

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