Team Summerbell Racing (TSR) – Quietly confident and optimistic.

Red Bull gives you championships! Congratulations Sebastian Vettel, F1 World Champion 2011!

The anticipated showdown between David Summerbell Jr. and Doug Hollywood Gore at the first race of the 2011 circuit racing season drew a mammoth crowd to the rural hills at Dover Raceway, St Ann. At the end of the day’s events, Summerbell fans were vociferously celebrating their hero’s dominance, a conquest which implanted doubt into the minds of hapless fans who boarded the Audi DTM TT-R bandwagon.

Some of the passengers who took the Knutsford Express trip to Mobay to witness the changing face of Jamaican motorsports must have been dumbstruck, their voices of denial reduced to silent stuttering! Montegonians watched as their hearts departed after being mercilessly dragged from stubborn chests. David Summerbell Jr., the tyrannical despot, belittled Doug’s unprepared, puerile effort with the red and white boost-encrusted diamond – TA1!

Doug Gore is no novice, so his high powered technical team wiped the sweat of shame from their burdened brows and dipped their fingers in the grease of hard work as they planned the demise of the Mitsubishi-generated monster.

CMRC

The second race-meet on the schedule – the CMRC (Caribbean Motor Racing Championship) Round 1 – saw our Caribbean motorsports rivals stopping by, to receive ample servings of defeat. Jamaicans were all rallying around the effort to secure Caribbean supremacy so the rivalry declined prominence. Summerbell won all 3 CMRC races and his fan base grew exponentially. Doug Hollywood Gore got more laps under his belt, his performance was considerably better than in April, so his spirits, I am certain, got more than a little boost. But, somewhere in his mind, I know he was counting the days to the real test, the August race meet.

August could not come sooner for Doug Gore. The Audi machinery sought help and got it. Doug went back to driving school, he learnt a few rear wheel drive tricks and when he had enough, he rested. New shoes were purchased for the machine, to secure much better footing, then they waited. August is a pivotal month in the history of negroes and Jamaicans. It is the month in which slavery was abolished and Jamaica gained independence, so the stage was set for something spectacular to unfold.

TA1

There were some who thought that TA1 could not be beaten. In their book, it just was not possible. But, reflecting on Peter Moodie Jr’s. assertion months ago, when he suggested that the day would come, I did not rule it out. In motor racing, if everything is ‘above board’, how it was achieved, is never important -  a win is a win. Those who are fond of quotes will tell you – an ugly win is better than a pretty loss!

David’s aggression and Doug Gore’s refusal to yield, led to a coming together of the two machines in the first race. Starting from the back of the pack, gave David a lot to do in the second race, which he did but Doug beat him by a fender! In race three, Doug outclassed a wounded TA1, broke the lap record and took the Audi to a convincing P1.

Miracles still happen. David Summerbell was beaten – twice! Kings are never usually found lacking in the determination, drive or courage department. And David Summerbell Jr, arguably the best driver the Caribbean has ever produced, based upon pronouncements, is in a vengeful mood. What should we expect on October 16th and 17th ?

Doug drove by TA1 in August, in Race1, courtesy of a gear-box glitch and that did not sit well with the team. According to TSR crew chief, Stephen Gunter, that ‘miss-shift’ will not resurface again. He confirmed that the team has acquired and is in the process of installing a six speed sequential gear box!

TSR at work

Brake problems screeched Summerbell’s victory assault to an embarrassing stop in Race 3, in August. Stephen indicated that those problems were addressed for the CMRC Round 2 in Barbados and based on the performance of the machine, the remedy is working quite well.

I spoke to Stephen Gunter several hours before I sat to type this blog. I will share his response to two questions with you :

Gleanerblogs: Do you think you (David) can rewrite the lap record

Stephen Gunter: “Crossing my fingers – Yes.”

Gleanerblogs: How are you feeling, as you prepare for the Heroes Day race- meet

Stephen Gunter: “Quietly confident and optimistic.”

TA1 is currently at Stewart’s Auto Sales being prepared for the Audi hunt. Will Doug Gore be able to withstand TA1’s forceful response?

Heroes of Speed – Oct 16th-17th, Dover Raceway, St. Ann

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer