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Hot News & Press from Doran Racing

Bell Motorsports Wins Most Prestigious
Endurance Sports Car Race in North America

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Feb. 1 - Some people may think the old racing axiom of
"It's not over until the checkered flag waves" is a little trite, but the Bell
Motorsports team and drivers Terry Borcheller, Forest Barber, Andy Pilgrim and
Christian Fittipaldi proved it's still very true Sunday at Daytona
International Speedway when they persevered to win an extremely wet Rolex 24 Hours at
Daytona.

The team had some overheating issues and electrical problems with their
Kodak-sponsored DORAN JE4 Pontiac #54 at the end which put Pilgrim in the
challenging position of having to play defense and offense simultaneously. Still, the
championship-winning team of 2003 took advantage of an opportunity which opened
up when the Howard-Boss Crawford Chevy team of Andy Wallace, Tony Stewart and
Dale Earnhardt Jr. developed some even bigger problems in the last 20 minutes
of the 24-hour enduro which allowed Barber to take the checkered and put a
Daytona Prototype into victory lane in this prestigious race for the first time
ever.

Although the eventual winner topped the hourly results sheets for the first
three hours and was always in contention, it was the Howard-Boss Crawford Chevy
#2 which dominated most of the event. Near the end a spring broke on the
right-rear corner of that car, however, and then its left-rear Goodyear came off
its rim and turned sideways, causing Stewart to spin out of control and out of
any possibility of winning.

Two Porsches finished second and third while another car built by Doran
Designs, the Doran-Lista DORAN JE4 Lexus, finished second in class and fourth
overall.  Wallace, Stewart and Earnhardt ended up third in the Daytona Prototype
class and fifth overall.

Most of the race was run under a driving rain which at one point caused a
three-hour caution period and another three-hour red-flag period, making this
Rolex 24 the slowest on record. 

Barber, of Fort Worth, Texas, who owns the car as well as being one of its
drivers, was a champion boat racer before switching to auto racing.  He said
Sunday's victory was a dream come true and ranked right alongside his many
boat-racing championships.

"You can't give up in any endeavor," added Barber, a successful businessman
as well as a successful racer.  "Things can change in the last five minutes. 
You have to work as hard as you can. We're thankful for the opportunity that
came our way today and proud of the people who made it happen, but we never take
joy in anyone's misfortune. Our team worked so hard to get us to this point
though, and it's a real honor."

Borcheller, the 2003 Daytona Prototype driver champion, echoed the fact that
the Bell Motorsports team never gave up.  "It was looking tough for us because
the car was hurt and we were having to nurse it at the end," he said.  "I
knew we couldn't track someone down if we had to.  [The #2] had a few laps on us
and the #10 car was coming pretty hard behind us.  I figured we'd be doing
real good to finish third and the one-hour mark, and then everything just started
turning around.  You just never know, especially with this race."

Pilgrim had to baby the car when it was overheating near the end while still
trying to hold off all rivals.

"It was basically a question of keeping the temperature around the 220 degree
mark," he said.  "That last hour I was hearing and listening to every little
stupid thing.  It was ridiculous.  Everything was going wrong."

"Races are often won or lost in the way," summarized Fittipadi
philosophically.  "Today it came our way and I'll take it."

All four drivers on the winning team received Rolex Oyster Perpetual
Cosmograph Daytona watches.  The team also picked up $100,000 in prize money, the
largest amount ever offered by the series to the winner.


 
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