Circuit Racing: Dover’s future is in good hands!

If the JRDC had planned it, the Australian V8-type races witnessed on Monday, would not have materialised. The 2012 circuit racing season had more than enough improvised explosive devices (IEDs) scattered along its 1.6 miles surface. One of those devices claimed one of Dover’s superstars, Doug ‘Hollywood’ Gore.

We have a tendency of looking in the direction of the ‘big guns’ at each race meet and truth be told, their ride or die approach to each race, their cut-throat, take no prisoners stance and the win or nothing mentality, are all welcomed because two interests are served: 1. the JRDCs bankbook and 2. their (the ‘big guns’) maniacal fans will be thoroughly entertained!

Their (the big guns) on track shenanigans drive incomprehensible fury in the hearts of their diehard, blinded to logic fans, who listen no argument supporting the theory that their driver can be beaten. It is simply not possible and as such anyone who suggests that there is even a shred of evidence to indicate that their driver’s impregnable armour can be pierced, will be met with an explosion only seen when dynamite embraces a lit match!

The Doug Gore vs David Summerbell tussle was the main attraction and it was promoted as such. So when Doug Gore’s apparent miscalculation resulted in the machine taking flight, Germany bound, for attention from the surgeon, the panic which set in was tangible. Questions surfaced re fan attendance and the ‘wagonists’ threw their hands up in disgust and took a leave of absence from the track.

I have nothing but love for my ‘wagonist’ friends and I await their return when  the German machine reacquaints itself with Dover’s asphalt. But, life goes on for the committed and the curious. What has surfaced, in non-debatable terms, is the fact that while the former Mobay Racing King was sidelined, the competitors in the other classes have stepped up. They have grabbed the moment and while standing under the difficult to please microscope of perfectionist fans, they have displayed in full view, without a shred of fear or discomfort, that they were not merely making up numbers on the grid. Instead, they were ‘foot to the floor’ dedicated to their craft and as they ripped through the gears and scoffed at Pinky’s Bluff, they claimed new fans all over the grounds at Dover Raceway.

The Heroes of Speed race-meet on Monday saw a continuation of that recently emerging trend.I cannot recall another year when the battles fought in each class was this fierce and simply thrilling to watch. I spent a lot of time listening to what the fans were saying, I watched their reactions and if what i observed was accurate, the future of motor racing at Dover is in safe hands if the current crop of drivers including Kyle Gregg, Alan Chen, Natasha Chang, Dion Gardner, Sheldon Morgan, Andre Anderson, Heath Causwell and the veteran Peter’ Zoom Zoom’ Rae, remain on the grid. These names hit you like a loose lug nut as they were thrown about the excited fans commenting on races.

Andre Anderson’s machine.

Heath Causwell and machine.

The drivers and others not mentioned above ‘brought the house down’ on Monday! I will comment further on the races, but for now, know this and weep, if you were not at the races on Monday you are now officially a member of the group of persons who failed to witness what was arguably the best meet of 2012!

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer