Phoenix: Jimmy Kite qualifying report

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."

To learn more about Kite, please visit www.jimmykite.com. For the Jimmy Kite Fan Club, log-on to www.jimmykitefans.com. For more on Westcon Racing and the team's 2005 USAC Silver Crown campaign, please visit www.westconracing.com .

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