Phoenix: Spirit of Daytona race report

Spirit of Daytona's Last Desert Race for 2006

The new green and red colors of the Oh-Boy Oberto No. 09 Daytona Prototype finished 17th overall in the Saturday night GAINSCO Grand Prix. Co-drivers Doug Goad and Larry Oberto were happy to have completed their race without any body damage to the car.

Much like the earlier Grand Am Cup GS race, the evening Rolex Race had few caution flags. The majority of the race was a green flag event. Oberto stayed in his 15th place position the majority of the time out on track and turned safe and consistent laps. Oberto's race line looked good while out on track.

With over an hour and twenty minutes of seat time in the Pontiac-Crawford, Oberto handed the 09 DP off to Goad on lap 75. Oberto climbed out of the car tired and worn out, but he pushed the DP hard and it showed on track. "The car was really good," said Oberto. " I was having a bit of a problem braking into the hair pin and I think it cost us some time. The tires were wearing out after the first quarter of the race and I tried to set a pace that would be able to preserve them longer. But overall it was a good setup. I think I am going to have to train in a sauna so I can handle this heat better, and I thought I was in good shape," said Oberto.

While Goad was in the car, he was maintaining a constant pace and was turning great laps. He was then clipped by a DP and spun off course going into turn two. Goad recovered but was knocked down a position. Then with the restart after the third yellow, Goad had to drive through the pits due to a restart violation. Even with the drive though Goad maintained his spot and kept the DP clean for the rest of the race.

"The car was really good tonight. The team also did great with the pit stops. The driver change was fast and we didn't make any mistakes during the fuel and tire change. The thing with this track is that it's so short. There is no room for mistakes and if you do mess up it creeps up on you real fast. Overall we did pretty good this weekend," said Goad.

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