MINI Charleston Race Team - Robbie Davis at Virginia International Raceway

Danville, Va. – The MINI of Charleston Racing team had a couple of firsts, even though they didn’t win either of the two National Races held last weekend at the 3.27 mile Virginia International Raceway. With Robbie Davis currently in second place in the South East Division national series points, it was important for him to not loose ground to class leading Mike Scornavacchi of Manheim, Pa. The double national gave Robbie the opportunity to cut into Mike’s slim lead with a points race both Saturday and Sunday. The Davis’ 2005 MINI of Charleston MINI Cooper S enjoyed the cool weather of the weekend to qualify ahead of Scornavacchi and the other Showroom Stock B competitors, excluding Chad Gilsinger from Marysville, Ohio in his 2007 Honda Civic SI. Gilsinger, a Honda factory engineer, used the 200 horsepower of the Civic to build enough of a lead in the straight-away to keep Davis from passing him in the corners, even though the MINI Cooper S had the superior handling and braking. “It was a little frustrating to use the Carbotech brakes to out-break the Honda every turn, use the MINI JCW suspension package and MINI Mania Strut support to out-corner him and then to watch a car with 27 more horsepower pull away from me in the straights,” said Robbie Davis, “but it was still a great race with only 1-2 seconds between us after 45 miles.” MINI of Charleston Executive General Manager Brad Davis commented, “Rob ran a perfect race with out putting a wheel out of place. Two second place finishes and a track record are a good weekend no matter how you look at it.”

Both Davis and Gilsinger ran lap times that were over 2 seconds below the existing track record. Robbie’s fastest lap in Sunday’s race was the quickest of the weekend and established a new SSB track record of 2:18.997 for an average speed of 84.692 mph. The MINI of Charleston 2005 MINI Cooper S now holds both the SSB and the SSC track records at VIR. Team manager, co-driver and Rob’s father, Brad Davis set the VIR SSC track record in the same car two years ago when the MCS was in SSC with an intake restrictor and carrying 250 pounds of penalty weight.

For additional information contact Brad Davis at 843 402-6551