REESE RETAINS NUMBER-ONE START IN RVW QUALIFYING

by Ian Tocher; Photo by Roger Richards    Mon, 2020-10-12 11:53

 

With a unique screw-blown small-block powerplant beneath the hood of "El Diablo," his Reese Brother's Race Cars 2019 Camaro, David Reese stepped up with a 3.531-seconds pass at 211.33 mph in Saturday's fifth round of qualifying to take over the top spot in Radials vs. the World qualifying for Duck X Productions' Sweet 16 Ver. 3.0 at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

Then he sat back through three additional qualifying sessions on Sunday while 22 rivals took shot after shot trying to unseat the Temple, GA-based chassis builder from his lofty perch.

"We decided to sit the day out and try to conserve parts. The engine program is still new and we don't have a lot of spare parts so we were just trying to conserve, trying to make sure we can make it through the race," Reese said.

Reese teammate J.R. Gray stepped up in the eighth-and-final session to advance from fourth to second with a 3.567 at 206.45 in his nitrous-fed 2020 Camaro, bumping "Stevie Fast Jackson and his screw-blown '15 Camaro down to third, just two-thousandths of a second back.

Marcus Birt, in a nitrous-breathing C7 Corvette tuned by Jackson slotted in at fourth with a 3.575 at 205.16 mph, while a 3.597 at 208.42 by Melanie Salemi and her screw-blown 2015 Camaro completed the 3.50s passes in qualifying.

"I always expect that the guys who step up generally do, so I was a little surprised it stood up all through the day. But then the air wasn't real well, so I knew it wouldn't happen 'til later in the night," Reese said. "But I ain't gonna' lie, I was a little worried at the end. So it feels good to hold on."

Reese will face the supercharged late-model Corvette of 16th-place starter Alex Laughlin in the opening round of eliminations, scheduled to begin at 6:30 Monday evening.

"I think tomorrow the biggest thing is going to be track focus. You've got to really pay attention to what the track does. But I think Donald (Long, promoter) always makes sure that we have a good surface to race on," Reese said. "I think it's going to be pretty spectacular."

 

 

 

 

 
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