No Gore at Carnival of Speed

When Starter Lloyd Brooks drops the green flag this morning at 9:00 a.m., Dover Raceway will reach a crescendo with over 50 cars spitting out thousands of horsepower in an ear-splitting roar. The excitement promises to be fever pitch, with all the well-prepped cars and narrow-eyed drivers gunning for the line. The grids will be big, and everybody will be dipping into their bag of tricks to outsmart and outdrive all others.

Most likely missing from the line-up will be Doug 'Hollywood' Gore and his brand-spanking-new Kia Rio. The purpose-built car had been burning up the track for two days as the old sea dog struggled to get in much-needed seat time in a beast of an all-wheel drive car reputedly punching out more than 500 horsepower. The power seemed too much as the slick-looking unit blasted lap after lap in practice. Gore spun out nearing corner 10, ending up in the grass, which was high enough to bruise his pride, chafe the paint, and do serious cosmetic damage from an ensuing fire under the car. All that is the least of Gore's worries as he damaged at least two rims and the snorting engine went dead due to a shorn timing belt.

QUALIFYING SECOND

Left to have the run of Dover will be arch-rivals Kyle Gregg in his Radical RXC and David Summerbell in a much lighter open cockpit Radical RS. Gregg means business as he ripped up the track in one minute and 16.501 secs. This was just outside the track record of 1:16.10, but when a dog barks that loud, others quiver. Hounding Gregg, qualifying second on the grid is Summerbell, with a time of 1:16.579 minutes. This suggests that it will be wheel-to-wheel action when Thundersport 2 roars off.

The street cars will be led by Denniston Graham and his mighty midget Daihatsu Mira. Many were left stunned when the little car that could blazed around the Dover track in a decent 1:44.401 minutes in a car that is so small that the engine looks like a lawn mower. It should be non-stop action at Dover today.

neville.graham@gleanerjm.com