Press Snoop: Goeters on both Mexican poles.

The latest news from around the world courtesy of Press Snoop Lynne Huntting...

Mexico City native, JORGE GOETERS, is on pole for the Telcel MOTOROLA Mexico 200 presented by Banamex NASCAR Busch Series race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

He lapped at 87.696secs (103.366mph) to take spot in his first-ever Busch Series start. He is racing with BREWCO Motorsports for this weekend in a one-off event, for owner CLARENCE BREWER.

Second fastest was ROBBY GORDON, who has been off-road racing in Mexico and Baja for the past twenty years. Third was last year's Busch Series champion, MARTIN TRUEX Jr, while fourth and fifth were veteran NASCAR road racing ringers BORIS SAID and RON FELLOWS.

The partisan Mexican crowd certainly loves its drivers. When Goeters ran his Busch lap, the crowd cheered the entire time - and he got a heroes welcome and standing ovation when he pitted, followed by a huge throng of mostly Mexican media. And well they should. Goeters also has the pole for the weekend's only other event, the Desafio Corona Cup Challenge, out of 38 entrants. He started on the front row with his brother, PATRICK, for that 37-lap race, and finished second behind Patrick in the crash-fest.

Afterwards, in a quick interview on the fly, Goeters said "I owe the Brewco team. I'm excited. I've never been like this. It's perfect for here in Mexico. It's amazing. I don't know if I can thank the Brewco family, for NASCAR being in Mexico, and of course, to Canal's and Scotia Bank. The Brewco family opened the door to me to make me part of the team. Thank you is the only word that I have."

In the Corona Cup Series, Goeters holds the record for the most pole positions, with four and he now has had eight top five finishes.

Goeters is teaming this weekend with 1994 Busch Series champion, DAVID GREEN. Goeters' Crew Chief is NEWT MOORE. Goeters led the Friday morning Busch practice session for a while.

Goeter's resume includes Truck Series Champion in 2002, Indy Lights in 1998, Mustang Series Champion in 1997, and champion of both the Sports Prototypes and Tractor Truck Series in 1996.

Forty-five of the 50 entrants actually turned a lap. Four drivers crashed and/or spun during the session and DNQ - and one driver, RAFAEL MARTINEZ, couldn't qualify because he had crashed hard on Friday and didn't have a backup car. That is interesting because he has a guaranteed starting position.

The actual finishing order of the qualifying session isn't the starting line-up due to the complex system of guaranteed starting positions granted to those drivers whose owners qualify for provisional status. Of the top five qualifiers, two had to make the race strictly on time - Gordon and Fellows.

There are ten Mexican drivers entered this weekend in the Busch race. MICHEL JOURDAIN Jr is running the entire Busch Series this season, and is 20th in the Busch standings, after two races.

Of the ten Mexican drivers who are racing Mexico City, five are guaranteed starting positions based on their team owners provisional status. The other five had to qualify on time. Six of the ten have competed in NASCAR's Grand National Division, West Series two have raced in the Busch Series, and one has raced for two years in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

CARLOS CONTRERAS qualified, and will start, eighth. He has raced three races in the Busch Series and ran for two years in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He is a two time champion in the Mustang Series - 1998 and 1999 with a total of nine wins and four poles.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ crashed and DNQ. He will start 40th with owner Rick Hendrick's provisional. Fernandez, arguably the most popular and well-known driver in Mexico today, owns and used to drive for his own open-wheel race team, which now runs Indy Racing League, after moving from Champ Car World Series. Fernandez has a nine-year history in the two open wheel series with eight Champ Car victories, three IRL wins, and he finished second overall in the 2000 CART Series. He was 1992 Indy Lights Rookie of the Year and the 1991 Mexican Formula 3 champion.

RUBEN GARCIA NOVOA qualified 40th and will start 37th with his team owner's provisional. He was the 2000 Mustang champion with four wins, and three time champion of the Tractor Trucks Series-1993, 1995 and 1997. He failed to qualify for the 2004 Irwindale NASCAR West Series Phoenix race.

JORGE GOETERS qualified and will start on pole. He was the 2002 Truck Series champion, 1997 Mustang champion with five victories and four poles, 1996 Sports Prototypes champion, Tractor Trucks champion in 1996 and ran in the 1996 Indy Lights Series. He failed to qualify for the 2004 Irwindale West Series Phoenix race.

MICHEL JOURDAIN qualified and will start eighteenth. This is his first full year in the Busch Series, and the first Latin driver to compete full-time in the series. Jourdain comes from the Champ Car World Series, with two victories in 2003. He raced in the 1996 Indy 500 and was runner-up in the 1995 Mexican F2 series. Jourdain comes from a well-known Mexican race family. His father, also MICHEL JOURDAIN, raced in America and now is involved with promoting races and series. Uncle BERNARDO raced CART in America.

RAFAEL MARTINEZ did not attempt a qualifying run as his car was not repaired from Friday's crash. He has a provisional but no back-up car. He is listed as starting 42nd. He has been the Mustang champion for the past three years, with five wins and 2 poles in 2004, and was runner-up in the 1992 Mexican F2 series, runner-up in the 1991 Mexican Superformula 2 series, and was an off-road champion in 1990.

JIMMY MORALES qualified 37th, but had no provisional and so failed to make the race. He ran Grand-Am Rolex Series last year with the Ganassi team, teamed with LUIS DIAZ. Morales has six Mexican Championships to his name including the 1997 Mexican Formula 3000 series, and the 1995 Mexican F2 Championship

JOSE LUIS RAMIREZ qualified and will start 33rd. He ran the full 2004 West Series season, finishing tenth overall in the driver standings, and he will run the full season again this season. Ramirez ran the Phoenix race. He was the 2000 Vintage champion.

MARA REYES qualified 43rd, but will start 39th with her owner's provisional. She is a two-time Tractor Trucks champion - 2000-2001 - and is considered the best female driver in Mexico. Reyes ran the Irwindale NASCAR West Series Phoenix race last fall.

FREDDY TAME Jr crashed and DNQ in Busch qualifying and had no provisional. He was the 2001 Mustang champion with three victories and two poles, the 1994 Tractor Trucks champion, the 1992 24 Hours of Mexico champion, and the 1989 Formula Junior champion. He has run three NASCAR West Series Phoenix races, both in 2003 and October 2004, finishing all three.

Sunday's Busch race starts at 3pm local time. It will be shown on Fox Sports Net in the United States and Televisio in Mexico. The announced crowd count was 38,319.