 In
October 2004 Duncan was approached by John Mickle of Team Torquespeed,
with regards to a drive with them in the October meeting. Duncan
was delighted with opportunity and took up the offer of a drive
for this is one of the top teams in the Days of Thunder series.
Qualifying didn't quite go to plan as Duncan's helmet intercom
wasn't working correctly and by the time the team were able to fix
it there was only 5 minutes of qualifying remaining. As Duncan entered
the track it began to rain which meant he could only drive around
the oval for the 2 compulsory laps required at very low speed. Days
of Thunder race cars only run on slick (bald) tyres, leaving him
and the Team with no option but to start at the back of the grid.
 Race
1 - October 2004
Duncan stared the race at the back along side the then current
Days of Thunder Champion Mr Ben Collins who had
also suffered problem's in qualifying. As the race got under way
both Ben Collins and Duncan made blistering starts. Duncan in
2 laps had already past 4 cars, by half distance he had worked
his way past a further 11 cars and was now coming in to the pits
for the compulsory tyre change where the Torquespeed pit crew
did a fantastic job.They changed his tyres and got him underway
without losing a single track position. Duncan reported back to
the pits via his radio "The car feels great" and was
now starting to challenge for 9th position but as he past the
start finish gantry he noticed a Black flag being shown but carried
on. It was in fact being shown to Duncan who received a message
from his spotter via the radio "Duncan you have been given
a drive through penalty". He asked "Why what for?"
and was told "it is for a pit lane violation". "one
of your wheels, while being changed, had rolled out of your pit
box". A lap later Duncan served his drive through penalty
which put him back down the order to 15th position. With only
10 laps remaining Duncan managed to take back 2 positions putting
back up to 13th just before the chequered flag.
The Team were delighted with his performance because under
the circumstances, and without the drive through penalty, he would
have been in with a chance of finishing in the top 6.
 Race
2 - October 2004
Starting from 13th on the grid the race got underway and by
lap 5 Duncan began to make moves on the cars ahead of him and
gained 3 places after only 8 laps, reporting back to pits "The
Car's feeling great". By half distance when Duncan was in
the top 8, and with the pit tyre change looming, came the call
"Duncan pit in on this lap". All the cars came into
the pits together and Duncan pulled in to his pit box and stopped.
Over the pit wall came the 3 team members to change tyres when
another problem reared its ugly head, the air tool that removed
the wheel nuts had jammed!
Duncan lost a lot of time and track position and by the time
he rejoined he was back to 19th place. He fought his way past
to 6 cars before the chequered flag putting back up to 13th position
at the finish. His efforts hadn't gone unnoticed and as Duncan
returned back to the pits he was greeted by the applause and people
wishing to congratulating him, which for Duncan was a nice consolation.
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