CIRCUIT RACING: SUMMERBELL – BULLIED AND BEATEN! PART 3

RACE-DAY

Mid-day was nearby. As I climbed the hill on the unpaved section of the roadway leading to Dover Raceway, my fears were rapidly approaching reality. There were no parked cars visible until I arrived at the straight section leading to the main gate. Attendance as I expected was in the doldrums. But, real machines were present. I saw them on Saturday and I was hoping that they would ignite the bonfire I was expecting.

The pit-bay was not the catastrophe I forsaw. Present, but I did not see on the track on Saturday, included – Team Brown’s Town with several machines, Nicholas Barnes (Fletty’s son), Peter Jaggon, Sebastian Rae, Heath Causwell, Fraser McConnell, Gary Barrett, Andre Anderson,Owen Campbell, Ricardo Scott, Brian Shor, Ian Wright and suprise, surprise, an Autosource machine was in the building, being driven by Sheldon Morgan. The day suddenly appeared promising.

In a conversation I had with a friend earlier, I informed him that the big machines were ‘good to go’ and as such my expectations were high. I will admit my main interest was wrapped in the Thundersport races.

THUNDERSPORT RACE 1

Doug Gore, for an unfortunate blend of reasons,  missed his qualifying session so he had to start from the back of the very small group of machines – 5! Kyle Gregg, David Summerbell, Andre Anderson, Peter Thompson and Doug Gore – a miniature field of machines delivered a big show!

Summerbell floored Kyle Gregg as soon as the green flag tasted air. TA 1 went ballistic with pace and poise, leading into corner 1. The fat lady sung early and no one had an answer for TA 1. Race 1 dropped a few revelations though. Andre Anderson was on fire in the early stages. It was inevitable to us as we watched, that Kyle Gregg was a sitting duck – lunch for Andre’s Evo!

But somehow, the fierce challenge subsided and Kyle survived. The most riveting moment of Race 1 was missed by almost everyone and was only known by most possibly after race day. Climbing the hill to begin the start-finish straight, Doug Gore had a bout of unplanned, gargantuan oversteer! The inside wall beckoned, but ‘Hollywood’ is still a star and he shone brilliantly when he initiated DTM recovery mode!

TA 1 IN CONCERT!

We we must all concede that Race 1 was entirely about a reliable and solid TA 1 doing the d… thing!

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer