 | George MacDonald trumped Doug Wind on Sunday to set a new
TT-1 class track lap record. � NARRA |
The excitement in the Whelen US TimeTrial Championship is reaching fever pitch. This was no more evident than over the weekend, as drivers in each of the three classes turned up the heat on what was already a scorching track at Texas World Speedway.
The main focus this weekend was on the battle in the TT-1 class, in which three drivers are still very much in the hunt for the championship.
With Jim Booth sitting out the event due to family commitments, it was up to the other two men at the top of the points table, George MacDonald and Doug Wind, to fight it out for top honors at Texas.
All weekend long both men took turns finishing on top of the timesheets.
On Saturday MacDonald, in his Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, was the first to strike with a time of 1:58.641, compared to Wind's 2:00.181.
However, it was Doug Wind in his Modern Performance SRT-4, know as the 'Alpha Skittle', who was standing on top of the podium at the end of the day with a 1:55.880, three tenths faster than MacDonald's best of 1:56.159.
Third fastest in Saturday's TT-1 competition was first time Whelen USTTC competitor Adrian Gonzalez in a Dodge Viper ACR with time of 2 minutes flat.
On Saturday night the tension between the two men was clear, and MacDonald made his intentions clear;
"We're very close. Doug [Wind] had it today and I'm going to try and take it from him tomorrow."
However, on Sunday morning it was Wind who struck the first blow, albeit by the smallest of margins. Only a few one-hundreds separated them with Wind recording a 1:53.009 to MacDonald's 1:53.043.
Amazingly, with the high level of competition, both men had somehow found an additional three seconds overnight.
In a repeat of Saturday though, the man on top in the morning was toppled by the day's end. But only just.
On the final lap of the final session of the day, MacDonald found the extra pace he needed and set a new class lap record for Texas World Speedway in the process;
"It was a good win, a big win. Doug [Wind] and I are head to head out there. He's a hell of a competitor.
The excitement of actually being able to get the time, and what it took out on the track with that big car, turning through turn two [was amazing]. It was barely under control, but I managed to get through and finish the lap, and get the time I needed.
I managed to pull it off; last lap, last day and won it. It's wonderful."
Again Adrian Gonzalez took the third step of the podium, impressively dropping over five seconds to finish the weekend with a 1:54.681.
The win each for MacDonald and Wind tightens up the points in the TT-1 Championship even further, and on corrected points it now appears Wind (1888 points*) and Booth (1858 points*) are basically tied at the top heading into the finals at Daytona, while MacDonald now only trails by the smallest of margins (1794 points*). *All points provisional.
As to be expected, the fastest times of the weekend came in TT-Unlimited- the no-holds-barred class allowing the fastest cars in the country to compete.
First time Whelen USTTC competitor Paul Costas stole the show on Saturday, setting a blisteringly quick lap of 1:49.590 in the day's first session to take the win in his tube-framed Camaro.
The six other competitors in the TT-U class spent the rest of the day chasing his time, and in the end it was Tim Palmer who came closest with a 1:50.567 in a Dodge Viper. John Page in a Grand-Am spec Chevrolet Corvette rounded out Saturday's TT-U top three with a 1:51.410.
Prior commitments kept Costas from running on Sunday, however it was fellow competitor John Page who used the second day of competiton to show he was yet another force in the TT-U field.
Page lowered his times all day, eventually ending up with a 1:48.836. This was nearly a full second faster than Costas time from the previous day and set a new class lap record.
Tim Palmer matched his Saturday pace with a 1:50.701 to take home second place, while Michael Greenberg (Dodge Viper Competition Coupe) impressively moved up the timesheets on Sunday to take home the third place trophy with a time of 1:52.682.
The TT-2 field was also hotly contested over the two days, with a variety of marques including Corvette, Miata, Mustang and Viper making up the grid.
Both days the Chevrolet Corvette of Tim Ray rocketed to the top of the time sheets to take the two TT-2 wins.
On Saturday Ray set a time of 1:56.369. Greg Watson (Dodge Viper) finished second with a 1:59.516, and William Gonzalez (Dodge Viper GTS) was third with a 2:00.353.
Sunday saw Ray drop to 1:54.043 to set a new TT-2 class track record.
With a time of 1:59.417, John Zepeda stepped up to take 2nd in his turbo-charged Mazda Miata, while William Gonzalez took another 3rd place with a 2:00.888.
The excitement from the Whelen US TimeTrial Championship at Texas World Speedway was captured using GoPro cameras by the Internal Combustion Group, and will be broadcast later this year on GoRacingTV.com, hosted by motorsport television personality Tom Hnatiw.
Event images, commentary and results can be found at facebook.com/NARRAonline .
###
Press contact the NARRA press office via email or
call 404 825 2641.
Image galleries of images that can be obtained hi-resolution can be found at http://dev.narraonline.com/narra-gallery.html .
For event registration visit NARRAonline.com or call 817 829 4893. | 
