David vs. Goliath

The race lived up to the hype. Preparation had begun weeks before with the anticipation of Goliath in the form of a factory built Audi DTM driven by Doug Gore coming to take David’s crown as King of Dover Raceway. The team was now in high gear Saturday morning for the big show, the car was at the track early and all the supplies and team arrived shortly after. The crew was pleased to see that lap times were good from the start and consistently dropping.  Some of the day was used to further optimize the setup on the car.  By the afternoon on new tires, David was running at near track record times, lap after lap.

Sunday was the first test and again the team was not disappointed.  Practice went well with few changes needing to be made, which gave the team time to relax and wait for the first qualifying session.  Once on track, all it took was enough laps to heat the tires and David was able to set a blistering time of 1:18.7 to take pole position for the Thunder Sport class.  With that pace, he was just under two full seconds ahead of his next fastest competitor and main rival Doug Gore in the ATL sponsored Audi DTM car.

The second qualifying session was a few hours later and with no major work or changes needed.   David was once again able to set the fastest time. The Team decision was made to use the same tires as the first qualifying, and they were not let down with another high 1:18 second run to take pole position in the Modified Production 4(MP4) class over the Audi once more.

Race day, this is what everyone in the Team had been working for.  All the weeks of preparation and careful planning were now on the front row for the record setting, sold out crowd to see.

Race one for the MP4 class started in predicable fashion with competitors attempting to get the jump on David at the start. The second rolling start, David led the field to the line and it began cleanly with David in the lead and never looking back.  David won with a small lead and was met with a cheering crowd and proud team.

Race two was started cleanly with the Audi alongside David at the start.  While braking into the first corner it looked as though the Audi would challenge for the lead.  Alas, it was not meant to be, Gore driving the Audi, perhaps excited by his prospects of the good start spun on the outside and looped into the infield.  Fortunately for the rest of the field, the race continued uninterrupted and David appeared to have an easy win as the two Mazda’s of Peter Rae and Allen Chen battled for second place.

Race three of the day was for the Thunder Sport class honors.  David had qualified on pole once again, ahead of the Audi. However, this race was different. Besides the fact that it was almost twice as long as the previous race, the rains had come just before and soaked the track. With the rain seeming to be over and the tire choice potentially being the difference between winning and losing, the team leaders turned their attention to the track and to the upcoming race condition to determine which tire would be the best choice.  At the last minute, just before gridding David’s Mitsubishi Evolution on the line, slick tires, as used in previous races, were mounted to the car and some minor suspension adjustments were made. Even though the team was confident, everyone knew it would only take a shift of the unpredictable Jamaican winds to wet the track again and make for a slippery situation.   The Audi on the other hand gambled the other way and went with a rain tire, perhaps counting on those unpredictable conditions, for the twelve lap race.  With conditions still wet, David was instructed to put as much heat into the tires as he could, prior to the start of the race.  Once under way it was obvious to everyone Gore had the advantage with the rain tire on the still wet track.  By the second corner the Audi was still pulling away with David unable to unleash the power of the Mitsubishi. The next two laps David carefully maneuvered his Evo to keep within striking distance. By lap four the slicks seemed to be coming in with the quickly drying track and David was soon on the Audi’s tail. The pass was made to take the lead and for another lap it seemed it would stick, that is, until Gore re-passed David’s Evo once again.  Nose to tail precision driving went on for the next few laps and drove the record crowd into frenzy.   With two laps to go, and Gore’s over worked tires on the Audi giving up, on the now dry track, David leaped past to take the lead.  He won uncontested in the style of a true champion.

Absolute pandemonium ensued as he drove into the pits. David was hoisted into the air on the team member’s shoulders and cheered by the delight of the record crowd in attendance.  Goliath had been slain.