Spec MX-5 Challenge Presented by Toyo Tires

Weekend #5
Post Event Recap
August 5th-7th
Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach  FL

 

Hello, everyone in the Berg Brigade,
This weekend was one I’ll never forget. I was able to come home as the winner of both races this weekend at the world-famous Daytona International Speedway. Racing on the 31-degree high banks has always been a dream of mine, and to come to Daytona and win is a dream come true. The numerous battles were not easy, but they were battles that I learned from and definitely enjoyed.

On Saturday, we qualified. It was our only session of the day, and due to the nature of the Daytona International Speedway, a drafting partner was necessary. Unfortunately, our session was very messy, and we ended up qualifying in P8 for race #1, 8/10ths of a second from the pole without a draft.
Luckily, the Denton Carden Racing crew and I were able to pick up the pieces come race time on Sunday. Race #1 was full of action and excitement all the way to the end. From start to finish, it was a completely caution-free race. I was able to fight my way through the field and take the lead with 4 laps remaining, and I was able to maintain my lead to the line by only 0.011 of a second. It was a photo finish with fellow competitor Nathan Saxon. We both came across the line at nearly the exact same time. I thought I had just lost the lead of the race, but I ended up winning by a hair.
In Race #1, most of the drivers set faster lap times than in the qualifying session we had on Saturday. I went quite a bit quicker and was able to improve my starting spot to start P3 in Race #2.

Race #2 was an interesting one. We had only completed a handful of corners through the first lap when a full course caution came out, and the clean-up lasted most of the race. Unfortunately, when we got back going, only 4 laps of the race remained.

I was able to grab the lead briefly before I was sent back to 3rd with only two laps remaining. I was able to work with the driver in 2nd place to bump draft and pass the leader. None of the drivers knew that we were on the last lap until the checkered flag came out for the out-of-class cars ahead of us. By this point, the Spec MX-5 Cars were barreling through the Daytona high banks at around 135MPH. We were a half mile away from the finish line, I was in 2nd, closely drafting the leader, when my team owner and spotter, Casey Carden, told me the moment to pull out and make the pass for the win. The top 5 crossed the line all within a half second.

Before this weekend, I had lots of time using my MySim.CA Pro simulator to practice racing this track. The Daytona International Speedway Road course is the track I have driven the most on the sim, so when I drove there for the first time in real life, I felt as if I had already been to Daytona! It is incredible how accurate the simulations can be in real life!

This weekend was really special, and I would like to thank everyone involved in making this possible. All of my partners, Penn Elcom, MySim.CA, DAE Systems, Foxxr Digital Marketing, Roofing Resources of Georgia, Stilo USA, and Stokes Communication. My Team, Denton Carden Racing, Team owner/spotter Casey Carden, plus Steve and Paul Denton, and Crew Chief Nick Moore. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to go racing with.  This was the final round of the Southern Championship, and although there are no more races this year for points in the South Championship, the points battle is not officially over. I am the current points leader, but we will just have to wait for the other Spec MX-5 Regions to complete their seasons before our Championship is official. I’ll be sure to update everyone once the results are in.

My next race will be announced in the coming days!

Cheers!
Alex Berg

You can follow me live Via the Race Monitor App or through my Social Media channels (listed below). I would like to thank my partners for supporting me throughout my career, you can find them listed below. Without them, my racing would not be possible.

Make sure to follow my 2022 racing exploits on the MySim.CA chassis and on the real race track at the following:

Website: WWW.AlexBergRacing.com
Instagram: @alex8erg
Facebook: @alexbergracing
Linkedin: Alexander Berg
Twitter: @alex_8erg
E-Mail: ABJR@AllenBergRacingSchools.com

Doran-Kroll Competition: https://www.doranmotorsports.com/
Penn Elcom: https://www.pennelcomonline.com/
Jevitty Life Science: https://jevitty.com/
MySim.CA: https://www.mysim.ca
RRG Roofing: https://rrofga.com/
Stilo USA: https://www.stilohelmets.com/
Foxxr Digital Marketing: https://foxxr.com/
DAE Systems: https://dynamic-air.co.uk/
F1 Geeks Official: https://www.f1geeks.com/

Please feel free to contact me in any of the ways listed above to learn more about me or my partners who make racing possible!!