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Flying Dutchman Off-Road Race Team |
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Chula Vista, ca
Friday The Flying Dutchman team’s third consecutive weekend of racing brought them to Chula Vista’s second and final visit of the season. The weekend would feature two pro championship points races, as well as the Jason Baldwin Memorial Cup qualifier. Dan came out strong in qualifying, posting the third fastest time. The Pro-2 division looked to be the most competitive and toughest CORR had to offer. Saturday Jason Baldwin Cup Qualifier A random inversion of the qualifying times put Dan on the outside of the front row for the rolling start. When the green came out, the trucks raced passed the crowd, heading for turn one. Coming off one of the front stretch jumps, Dan landed with his foot on the gas in order to get an edge on the pole sitter. The resulting shock from the impact to the truck’s driveline tore the u-joints off of the driveshaft, broke the transmission case, and sent parts flying through a cooling line. Dan’s race came to a quick stop. With a very tight schedule, the Pro-2 trucks would be on the track
again in only three hours. The crew rushed to change the transmission
and make repairs to damaged cooling lines. All work was done in
time and the truck was ready for the next round. Pro-2 The start would be the same as the first race of the day, Dan sat outside of pole. This time he got a good jump, and was slightly ahead going into the first corner. Dan was in the perfect spot to run his high line in turns one and two. He quickly took the lead and held it through lap one. On the second lap, there was a battle behind Dan and a new second place driver was moving up. Dan held his lead the first half of the race with pressure coming from second. When the mandatory caution came out, the trucks all bunched up behind Dan. With only six laps left, it would be a tough battle for the rest of the race. On the restart, Dan was immediately pressured from second. Racing past the crowd, they were side by side going for turn one. Dan stayed on the outside, keeping his momentum up and holding off the challenger. The next lap, contact was made as they came over the front jumps, but Dan still held the lead. The battle was relentless, but Dan stayed smooth and never left his fast outside lines as the challenger tried the inside. Again, they were door to door past the grandstands with two laps to go. This time, Dan lost the lead in turn one as his line was taken away. To the crowd’s amazement, Dan came charging into turn two and made an unbelievable pass to take back the top spot. That put a stamp on the race, Dan went unchallenged the next lap and a half to grab his first CORR win of 2007.
Sunday Pro-2 Dan wouldn't get the luxury of a good starting spot. He was back in ninth with a few rookies in front of him. This race would take patience. On the green flag, Dan was careful not to get too close to the truck in front of him. When the usual first corner carnage started, Dan had enough room to react and get away from the trouble. He passed two trucks in the first corner alone and one more by lap two, getting him into sixth. The next lap, one of the leaders pulled off and Dan made a pass on another driver. The crowd took notice as the Dutchman moved into fourth after only two laps and started catching the top three trucks. When the third place driver had Dan on his rear bumper, he knew he was in trouble. He started brake checking over jumps to slow down Dan and buy some time. He was still able to hold off Dan when the caution flag came out. Now all the drivers were bunched up again and Dan knew if he got into third, he had a chance at the top two. The green came out and Dan headed to the outside for turn one. He quickly moved into third coming out of the corner and was looking to get second as well. Now he had the inside for turn two. It looked like the move would have worked, but the second place driver changed his line in the middle of the corner and the two collided. As the other truck spun, Dan rolled over one and a half times, landing on his door. He got out of the truck and the track crew put it back on it’s wheels. As Dan re-fired the truck and got strapped in, the race was restarted and any chance of a comeback was lost. Dan continued for the last few laps with a bent trailing arm and was scored twelfth.
Flying Dutchman Off Road had an extra challenge for the weekend. Larry Webster of Car and Driver magazine joined the team to get a real off road experience. Larry has raced everything from road racing to Baja, and was looking to do a behind the wheel article, so Dan let him have the Pro-Lite. Going from seeing CORR on NBC, to actually entering and racing in a pro division was definitely a big learning curve. After two shaky practice sessions, Larry competed in Saturday’s Pro-Light race and was ecstatic about the experience and the opportunity. More information about the article will be available as soon as Larry can figure out how to put his experience into words! Chula Vista was definitely a weekend of ups and downs, but the
win was a good boost in confidence for the team as CORR heads to
the Texas Motor Speedway for the next event.
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