Phoenix: Spirit of Daytona qualifying report

Spirit of Daytona's First Race of the Weekend

The No. 09 Daytona Prototype qualified 15th overall for Saturday's GAINSCO Grand Prix. Doug Goad powered the Oh-Boy Oberto sponsored Pontiac Crawford for the evening qualifying session. The 30-minute qualifying session was seen as a mini race, and the entire team was pushing hard.

Everything felt great for Goad at the beginning of the race. With his fresh tires and a clear track Goad took the DP for a drive. The first few laps of the session had Goad picking off his competitors. With one yellow flag halfway in the session Goad caught up to the pack and gained more spots. With the restart after the caution flag Goad passed a handful of DPs but before a completion of the first green flag lap, a full course yellow came out again. There was a six-car crash in the carrousel leaving carbon fiber scattered across the track.

When the track went green Goad and the rest of the DPs only had 2 laps left for the session. "We have a good car here, the best is has been all day," said Goad. "I just missed the big wreck and was able to stay clear of the damage. What I think happened was that there was some blocking on corner seven and someone just spun out. When the cars as so close like that it's really hard to avoid a collision."

Larry Oberto will be staring out in the No. 09 Daytona Prototype Saturday evening. " I am excited to be starting the race in our best qualifying position all season long. Doug did a great job staying out of trouble on track and I look to do the same Saturday evening," said Oberto.

-sod