|
Douglas Wins Wire-to-Wire
Super Team member podiums twice in Texas
The AMSOIL/Kumho Tires Super Team traveled to Texas Motor Speedway. Pro 4 driver Scott Douglas was looking for the win that has eluded his team throughout the 2007 Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) season. Before the weekend, Douglas was second in the PRO-4 points championship, with his sights set on the top spot and moving into a guaranteed starting spot in the Jason Baldwin Memorial Cup race.
The stop in Texas had CORR competitors racing on the shortest track of the year. The .8 mile track was built on and in the half-mile high bank clay oval at Texas Motor Speedway. Along with the jumps and bumps of the track, getting a handle on the clay surface seemed to be the greatest challenge for the competitors. The clay held the moisture very well, keeping the dust and mud to a minimum, but it made for a very slick race track.
Friday – CORR Round 9
After qualifying sixth on Friday, the rolling, inverted start saw Douglas take the lead, with the rest of the field battling for position. Several racers tangled halfway through the first lap bringing out a restart. Undaunted, Douglas brought the field back to the green flag, and once again took the lead. He powered his way to a flag to flag victory. It was his first CORR PRO-4 victory of the year.
"You had to be so smooth tonight," said Douglas. "You wanted to mash the throttle so hard; the corners were so slick you couldn't. No matter who was close, you had to roll it on, be easy, up shift, and then when you felt the bite, get on the throttle. You had to keep feeling for the bite and it's the hardest thing when you got guys breathing down your neck."
Saturday – PRO-4 Baldwin Qualifier
Saturday's qualifying saw the #7 AMSOIL/Kumho Tire Ford F-150 cross the scoring beam fifth fastest. The 22-lap event saw Douglas gradually work his way up to second place. The final five laps saw a battle between Douglas and Carl Renezeder. On the last lap, Renezeder squeezed by to the runner-up spot, with Douglas right behind in third.
"This was an important race for us," said Douglas. "The podium finish automatically puts us in the field for the Baldwin Cup." I knew Carl was back there, but I knew we had one more race tonight, and I didn't want to tear up the truck. If there wasn't another race today, I would have battled harder for the position."
Saturday – CORR Round 10
The final race of the weekend ended early for Douglas. The first lap saw a large amount of bumping and banging. The #7 AMSOIL Kumho Tire Ford F-150 was a victim of that contact. About halfway through the first lap, Curt LeDuc made hard contact with the left rear corner of the AMSOIL Ford. This resulted in a broken suspension member ending the weekend for Douglas Motorsports.
An extremely frustrated Scott Douglas couldn't believe what happened. "This isn't the first time with LeDuc. He didn't even get a black flag," said Douglas. "This probably ended our chances at the PRO-4 title."
After 10 rounds of racing in the CORR PRO-4 Championship, Douglas is tied for second place, 34 points behind the leader.
The final standings in the Jason Baldwin Cup Qualifier Series, Douglas finished in sixth position. This puts Douglas Motorsports in the field for the $66,000 winner take all event.
The final two rounds of Championship racing as well as the Jason Baldwin Memorial Cup will be held at Las Vegas International Off-Road Raceway in Primm, Nevada on November 2-3.
For complete results of the AMSOIL/Kumho Super Team, as well as other AMSOIL sponsored drivers competing in CORR, go to: Overall Results
NBC Sports will broadcast the Texas Baldwin Cup Qualifying Rounds on October 28, from 2:30pm to 4pm – Eastern Time. CORR TV Schedule
Teague's Two Podiums Secure Championship
Off-shore team strong in Ozarks
Team AMSOIL traveled to Missouri to compete in the POPRA and OSS National Championships held at Lake of the Ozarks. An estimated 40,000 spectators on land and another 2,000 boats lining the perimeter of the race course had a ringside seat for the fierce offshore competition.
During the Saturday POPRA Championship race, Team AMSOIL drew the outside lane and had to fight its way through the fleet after being held wide on the first turn. While in the process of attempting an inside pass on Team All Jacked Up to take over first place, Bob Teague (throttleman) and Paul Whittier (driver) were forced into an extremely tight line at turn one. With three laps to go, the Team AMSOIL boat was carving the turn when it lost its grip on the water and spun into a 100 yard side slide, ripping the skegs off of both drives. Teague and Whittier were able to keep the boat from flipping and once the engines were restarted, they drove Team AMSOIL back into second place. 
Team AMSOIL battled the third place Cat Lite boat, Reliable Carries, for the next few laps, maintaining its second place position when the checkered flag fell. The podium helped Team AMSOIL secure its Pacific Offshore Series titles as both the 2007 Cat Lite Western Champion and 2007 High Points Champion.
After working all night to repair the broken drivers, Team AMSOIL entered Sunday's OSS Super Cat Lite race against eight of the series top teams. Team AMSOIL was running close in fourth place when the All Jacked Up boat flipped right in front of them, at the same place Team AMSOIL had its mishap the day before. Whittier and Teague were required to take evasive actions which left the door open for the fifth place boat, Popeye's, to get by on the inside. Team AMSOIL battled back and passed Popeye's a few laps later. At this point, Team AMSOIL was reeling in the second place Reliable Carriers. Feeling the pressure, Reliable hooked in turn two and ran over the turn buoy, resulting in a one minute penalty. Ultimately, Motley Crew finished first, Team AMSOIL second and Popeye's third.
Teague a Record Setter
Off-shore team sets pace on Chattanooga Mile
The AMSOIL Offshore Race Team traveled to Chattanooga, Tenn. to compete in the U.S. Championship. The three-day event included speed record runs on the Chattanooga Mile on Friday, a 5-mile closed course record competition on Saturday, and a 55-mile offshore race on Sunday. A total of 38 offshore boats registered for the event held on the Chickamauga Lake.
 On Friday, the Team AMSOIL Cat Lite Offshore race boat was prepared for the speed run on the measured one-mile straight-a-way course. The boat was set up with the highest legal gear ratio and the largest prop in its arsenal. The event consisted of a timed pass in each direction on the course. Whittier and Teague piloted Team AMSOIL, setting a new Cat Lite Speed Record with an average speed of 128.004 MPH.
On Saturday, the boat was prepared for the timed 5-mile course competition. The boomerang shaped course consisted of six turns. Whittier and Teague put the Team AMSOIL through the paces twice on the course and set a new 5-mile course speed record with an average speed of 105.677 MPH.
On Sunday, Team AMSOIL was part of the main event. No other Cat Lite Class boats made the start so Team AMSOIL was pitted against the higher horsepower Super Cat 750 Class boats. Team AMSOIL took an inside line at the start and held off the "Wicked" Super Cat into the first turn. From that point, the AMSOIL #77 continued to stretch out the lead on the higher powered Super Cat. The Reliable Carriers #20 Super Cat led Team AMSOIL by about a dozen seconds for awhile until they started having intermittent mechanical problems. At that point, Team AMSOIL passed the Reliable Carriers Super Cat and later lapped them. Ultimately, Team AMSOIL #77 finished second overall, not too far behind the Super Cat 850Class D&M Motorsports boat.
During the award presentation, Team AMSOIL was awarded two speed records with proclamations from the City of Chattanooga as well as the U.S. Cat Lite Championship Title.
Next Stop for Team AMSOIL is the OSS World Championships in Destin, Fla. on October 28 -November 4.
Retired LaRocco Wins in Vegas
Team AMSOIL wins in exhibition and in U.S Open finale
Team AMSOIL supercross superstar Mike LaRocco returned to the scene of his biggest victory this past weekend, the U.S. Open in Las Vegas.
LaRocco won the prestigious event and its $100,000 payday in 2002. After retiring mid-way through the 2006 Supercross season, LaRocco has kept in shape and returned to the U.S. Open of Supercross on Friday and Saturday night for a special race of champions. The Rock pitted his AMSOIL Honda CR 250 against past motocross champions Jeff Emig and Damon Bradshaw.
It was vintage LaRocco on both nights. Sitting on top of his 2-stroke Honda, LaRocco battled with Emig in both exhibition races. The Rock stood on top of the podium both nights, to the delight of the capacity crowd at the MGM Grand Arena.
A little of the old was topped off by a whole bunch of the new for the SoBe/Samsung/AMSOIL team. Jake Weimer was joined by his new teammate, Australian Dan Reardon, for a crack at the top prize. After finishing tenth on Friday night, Weimer stole Saturday's show. Taking advantage of some first turn carnage, which included front runners Chad Reed and Grant Langston, Weimer pulled the holeshot and took the win, easily the biggest of his career. Reardon, meanwhile, ran strong in his U.S. debut, finishing seventh on Friday and fourth on Sunday.
Lovell Victorious in Pomona
Substitute helps nab UROC win
Just a week after winning the XRRA National Championship, the Lovell Rock Racing Team picked up another victory as Brad Lovell beat all odds at the UROC Rockcross in Pomona, Calif.
Since Roger Lovell had previous obligations, Brad teamed with co-driver Mike Foster for this race. No matter how fast the new duo went, however, they could not outrun terrible luck on the first day of racing as mechanical gremlins jumped up during practice and qualifying.
"We felt like we couldn't keep the truck together," said Lovell, "We qualified in second but were losing confidence."
In the first heat race, the bad luck continued after a tangle with another vehicle destroyed the steering ram. Brad could only watch from the sidelines as longtime rival Dean Bulloch won the race. Discouraged, the Lovell brothers returned to the pit to make repairs for the last-chance race Sunday morning.
Sunday was indeed a new day for the team. The first last-chance race was against the 600 hp Toyota of RJ Brown. Surprisingly, the Fabtech Ranger was only a nose behind off the line and first over the rocks. The lead would never change and Lovell won. Next was a race against Rockcross race one winner, Jimmy Maybe. Both trucks were quick off the line but Lovell took the lead and advanced to the finals.
Bulloch had not yet lost a race and would need to be beaten twice in order for Lovell to win. When the green flag dropped, Bulloch got in front and had a big lead. The AMSOIL Ford Ranger rounded the sweeping bend and found the lead truck slowing to climb a rock face. Lovell took advantage and went on to win the race and have another chance at the overall win.
In the second final, the trucks raced side by side over the rock and into the dust. When the track narrowed they came together suddenly and Bulloch's wheel pushed under the Ranger, inciting a roll.
"I felt it lift and instantly knew that nothing else mattered except keeping it on the wheels," said Lovell. "When I came back in the groove, I noticed a good line through the rocks and was just able to cut in front of Dean."
With Team Lovell in front, both trucks were fast through the next four laps but the pair held off every charge and took home the victory. The team's next stop is the Off-Road Proving Grounds at the gigantic SEMA show in Las Vegas, Nev. October 30 – November 2.
Autumn Woods Tops Among Monsters
New series, same results for Team AMSOIL
Autumn Woods Racing took their Special Events championship to Sparta, Ky. on October 13 to take part in the fast growing Major League of Monster Trucks (MLMT) Series. The MLMT is a West Coast based monster truck racing series that hosts a short course off-road truck program known as "Thunder Trucks".
AWR driver Jeff Dedick had to pull out the back-up truck after mechanical issues flared up during qualifying. Driving the AMSOIL S-10 through three qualifying heats, Dedick was able to advance to the finals despite breaking an A-arm. The AWR team made the repairs in time and Dedick was able to pilot his truck around the course for the win.
AWR has been invited to race in the next MLMT Thunder Truck event at the NASCAR sanctioned Nashville Super Speedway on October 27.
|
