Latest News from LubeSolution.com & AMSOIL
June 6, 2008
Super Team Returns to Pomona
Douglas, Oberg look for wins at CORR's third weekend of racing
AMSOIL Super Team drives Scott Douglas and Mike Oberg will be returning to the Fairplex
in Pomona, Calif. on June 7 and 8. The 2008 Championship Off Road Racing season
is heating up as serious battles are beginning to take shape in all classes. As
CORR reaches the third stop in its tour, Scott Douglas sits second overall in the
860 horsepower, four-wheel drive, Pro 4 class.
In the fiercely competitive Pro 2 class, AMSOIL drivers Oberg, Ricky Johnson
and
Jeremy McGrath will chase Rob MacCachren for the top spot. Team Red Bull/AMSOIL's
Johnson and Monster Energy/AMSOIL's McGrath, both former supercross champions, took
podiums recently in Las Vegas. In the Pro Lite class, Team AMSOIL driver Chad Hord,
the 2006 class champion, will battle reigning Pro Lite champion Robert Naughton.
"CORR has intense racing coming up this weekend; people will be disappointed if
they miss it. The Fairplex has proven itself to be a great venue with challenging
pavement areas combined with jumps, dirt and "the big dig" where we've actually
dug a huge hole in the ground to give the track challenging terrain," said Cissy
Baldwin, COO of CORR.
AMSOIL is the Exclusive Official Oil of
CORR. Gates open at 9 a.m. on both Saturday
and Sunday. Racing action begins at noon. Tickets are available online at www.corracing.com
and at the event. CORR is aired on NBC and SPEED Channel. Round 4 racing action
will air on NBC on Sunday, June 15.
Vanden Heuvel Opens with Pair of Podiums
Off-Road Racer battles mud, rain in Missouri
Dan Vanden Heuvel and his Flying Dutchman Off-Road Race team began their 30th year
of off-road racing with back to back podium finishes at the Show-Me State Showdown
in Wheatland, Mo.
The opening weekend of the World Series of Off-Road Racing featured a track
that
wound in, on and around the facility's oval dirt track. The weekend of racing saw
the .7 mile race track go through major changes during the weekend, thanks to the
heavy rains that fell Saturday night. In fact, almost the entire Saturday evening
race program had to be rescheduled for Sunday as thunderstorms passed through much
of the state.
Vanden Heuvel was able to get in some practice laps with his AMSOIL Chevrolet Silverado
Pro-2wd truck and found the track very technical, putting a large emphasis on chassis
setup.
Vanden Heuvel started in the third row for round one. When the green flag fell,
he headed down the main straightaway, staying clear of Kevin Probst's first turn
rollover. After the initial mayhem, the Flying Dutchman moved quickly into the top
three. Vanden Heuvel battled with Dave Waldvogel for the second position. In the
final corner of the race, the Maxxis tires hooked up and Vanden Heuvel landed in
second.
With only a couple of hours to prep the truck for Round Two, the crew wasted no
time preparing for the final race of the weekend. The #77 Pro-2wd had another solid
round of racing. At the finish Vanden Heuvel crossed the line in third place. This
put the Flying Dutchman in second place in the 2008 WSORR Pro-2wd championship standings.
The next race for the Flying Dutchman Off-Road Race team is the Forest County Potawotomi
Brush Run, June 21-22 in Crandon, Wis.
Lovell's Back on Top
Rock crawling brothers conquer Cedar City
After a setback in Albuquerque, N.M. the
Lovell Racing Team regrouped and headed
off to the rocks of Cedar City, Utah. Three Peaks Off-Road Park would be the location
of choice for the second event in the 2008 WE-Rock Western Series.
As the sun warmed the rocks a record number of Pro Modified teams slowly trickled
into the event site. An adventurous excitement filled the air that can be best described
as a realization that this was a return to old school rock crawling. The courses
were tight, technical and consisted of awe inspiring climbs and amazing drops.
Brad and Roger Lovell got off to a quick lead on the first course with a successful
run, but the first day of competition would still present challenge. After watching
fellow competitors struggle with the bonus line on the B1 course, the brothers decided
to take the risk and go for the hard line. Brad carefully lined up the Fabtech/AMSOIL/Ford
Ranger and Roger worked to place rocks in the perfect location. The Ranger bridged
the enormous gap and as the nose pointed skyward Brad settled into the driver's
seat and lost his view of the rocks below. With Brad driving by nothing but feel
and the direction of Roger, he slowly tip-toed the Ranger through the gates. The
gamble worked and Team Lovell took a commanding lead over fellow competitors. At
the end of the day, the brothers found themselves with a six point lead over veteran
rock star Jason Paulie.
"Brad did and incredible job. If he only knew how close he was to the edge" said
Roger.
Day two brought new challenges and the W.E. Rock courses proved to be brutal on
all competitors. Brad and Roger had another near flawless day. The course that was
set for the final round was the longest of the day and would push every team to
the limit. The course also had two bonus lines, but every team stuck to the regular
course, except for Paulie. Careful planning paid off, and Brad piloted the Ranger
through gate after gate until the final climb. The team knew they had to make the
last climb in one shot, and Roger stood back and directed Brad to the perfect line.
Like a pilot on a launch pad, Brad stomped on the gas and the BF Goodrich Krawlers
pushed the Fabtech Ford to the top of the rock. With a single turn to the right
the two carefully crossed the finish gates and captured their second victory in
the W.E. Rock Western Series. With back to back first place finishes in a four event
series Lovell Racing has a commanding lead.
June 14 will find the Lovell Brothers racing head to head in the Fabtech Ranger
and the Dirt Logic Ranger in XRRA round three in their hometown of Colorado Springs,
Colo.
Rath Podiums at GNCC
Sportsman driver makes history for Polaris
The 2008 ATV season is quickly becoming a memorable year as the new relationship
forged between Daryl Rath and Polaris is beginning to pay off. It was a historical
day at the seventh round of GNCC racing in Sparta, Ky.
It was an impressive first showing as Rath raced his way to a third place finish
in the Utility Open Class and a 56th overall finish out of more than 300 riders
in 16 different classes. Rath lined up alongside his teammate Frank Batista (No.
13) for the start. After a chaotic first woods section, he made his way around a
bottleneck and proceeded to run a flawless race. The track had some very tight sections,
and the skills of the veteran GNCC racers showed as they maneuvered through the
trees. Batista, running his first GNCC event, finished a respectable eighth place.
"I am extremely happy with our performance today," said Rath. "It was our first
showing on this machine in a class that has had seasoned contenders in it all year. We met our goal of finishing in the top three, and now with the first race unknowns
out of the way I am looking forward to making some changes and mild improvements
to continue to prove that the Sportsman is indeed a contender."
Rath will follow the GNCC to Yadkinville, N.C. for round 8 on June 21-22. The GNCC
airs on Versus television.
Laursen Wins AMSOIL LM Opener
Three time champion dominates first race of 2008
Three time AMSOIL Late Model
Series champion Steve Laursen dominated the action
in the series opener at the Superior Speedway Friday night.
The Cumberland, Wis. driver served notice on the competition that he wants to win
his fourth AMSOIL Late Model Series championship. The crafty veteran easily won
his 10 lap heat race and used his pole position starting slot to the best advantage
dominating the 35 lap feature.
While veteran Tom Nesbitt of Thunder Bay, Ontario got the first jump on Laursen,
a three car tangle in the first turn quickly brought action to a halt. The second
restart brought a four car pile-up in turns one and two. That gave Lausen the advantage
on the third restart, and he led from flag to flag.
Defending champion and AMSOIL driver
Darrell Nelson finished 14th. Other AMSOIL
Late Model sponsored drivers included A.J. Diemel (3rd), Pat Doar (10th), Joel Cryderman
(15th) and Bob Richardson (25th).
The AMSOIL Late Model Series heads to Hibbing Raceway (Minn.) on Tuesday, June 10
for the second race of the season. The AMSOIL Late Model Series is sponsored by
Fox 21, B105, The Fan 560, Tom Clusiau's Motors, The Shack
Liquor Store, Highway
210 Auto Parts, Scott Didrickson Construction, Ashland Ford Chrysler, Duluth Lawn
and Sport, Superior Beverage and Short Stop gas stations.
See overall results
Smith Gears up for 'Dream 100'
Late model driver dreaming of big win this weekend
Following a rare weekend off from dirt late model action, Team AMSOIL driver
Brady Smith and his team have turned their focus solely on this weekend's 'Dream
100' at the famed Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. The 14th annual 'Dream 100'
will kick off on Friday night, June 6 with a hot lap session and two rounds of qualifying.
Saturday's dirt-slinging action will then be highlighted by heat races, consolation
events and the 100-lap main event. The winner of the 'Dream 100' on Saturday evening
will receive a whopping $100,000.
Brady transferred into his first 'Dream 100' last year, as he brought his AMSOIL
/ Big Red Motorsports / Mid-States Equipment #2 Bloomquist / Vic Hill entry home in the seventh position.
AMA Outdoor Nationals Set for Opener
Supercross champion Canard ready for motocross season
With the supercross championship over and decided (congratulations to AMSOIL rider
Trey Canard
for his East Coast Lites championship) the GEICO Powersports/AMSOIL
team began its chase for top honors in the AMA/Toyota Motocross Nationals at Glen
Helen Raceway on Memorial Day Weekend.
With Kevin Windham
sitting out the majority of the Nationals, the team is concentrating
on the Lites class over the summer. However, they were without star rider
Josh Grant, who suffered a concussion in practice at the series-finale Las Vegas Supercross.
He'll be back soon, but Canard,
Jake Weimer and
Dan Reardon were all looking for
first round success in San
Bernardino, Calif.
Weimer was the team's top rider on Sunday. He went 7-7 in the day's two motos for
sixth overall.
"It was all right," Weimer said. "I was there, got two decent starts, and I didn't
make any major mistakes. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. I see a lot of areas
where I can make improvements that should make a pretty big difference this summer."
Canard was the fastest rider on the team in practice, but after a decent start in
the first moto, he was taken out and had to start the race from nearly dead last.
"I think I was ahead of two guys, so I don't think it was the worst start I could've
gotten," Canard said. "I was pretty upset because I had a decent start going, and
it was just kind of a bummer to get cleaned out the way I was. I just had to forget
about it and try and stay calm and make the best out of it. I put my head down and
went for it. I've had some really awesome races this season, and I've had a couple
of bad ones, so if they all went really well, I'd be wondering what was up."
Canard recovered from his extremely poor start to grab 14th in the first moto, which
won him the new Ricky Carmichael Hard Charger Award. The new award goes to the rider
who passes the most riders in any single moto on the day. According to the official
tally, Canard passed 22 riders in the first moto. For moto two, Canard ran
fifth for much of the race before finishing sixth. He wrapped up the first round eighth
overall.
For former Aussie Supercorss and MX champ Reardon, it was his first-ever AMA National
MX event, and he finished a strong 11th in the first moto, but had some bike-setup
issues in the second and struggled a bit on his way to 23rd.
The second round of racing was the Hangtown Motorcross Classic in Rancho Cordova,
Calif. Canard finished 6th overall after finishing 11th in the first moto and 6th
in the second. Weimer was 7th with a 7-10 finish and Reardon ended the day in 10th
after going 15-8.
The AMSOIL sponsored team heads to Freestone County Raceway in Wortham, Texas this
coming Sunday for round three of the AMA Outdoor Nationals. AMSOIL is the Exclusive
Official Oil of the AMA Outdoor Nationals, which air nationally on SPEED.
Sudden Impact Dominates in Great White North
Back-to-back sweeps for AMSOIL T-Maxx
Canada may well be known best for its red-uniformed Mounties, strong beer and even
stronger winters. Canada is also becoming well-known for its thrilling and action-packed
monster truck events as the Edge Motorsports tour has been turning out impressive
events and turning in equally impressive attendance figures. And at the heart of
it all is the Sudden Impact Racing/AMSOIL team, represented by drivers Jon Zimmer
and John Killinger.
Zimmer showed off his experience this past Friday at the Steelman Center in Guelph, Ontario, as the AMSOIL T-Maxx² machine ripped through the field, taking wins in
all four competitions: wheelie, donut, racing and freestyle.
The celebrations at the Steelman Center would be short-lived, however, as the duo
would have to drive overnight to Oshawa, Ontario for a Saturday-only showdown. The
long, overnight trip didn't faze Zimmer, who proved he had what it took to go the
distance, once again sweeping the evening's competitions. Zimmer would take down
the heavily-sponsored Bigfoot truck in the racing finals. Zimmer's only other significant
competition Saturday night would come from teammate Killinger and the Sudden Impact/AMSOIL
truck who challenged quite seriously for the donut contest win.
Upcoming Events
Championship Off Road Racing
June 7-8 Los Angeles, CA
AMA Motocross
June 8 Freestone County Raceway - Wortham, TX
June 15 High Point Raceway - Mt. Morris, PA
June 29 Thunder Valley - Lakewood, CO
Rinker Racing - Champboat Series
June 21-22 Bay City River Roar - Bay City, MI
Bob Teague
June 20-22 Sunny Isles Beach, FL
July 4-6 Long Beach, CA
Lovell Rock Racing
June 14 XRRA #3 - Colorado Springs, CO
June 20-22 WE-Rock #3 - Ellensburg, WA
Autumn Woods Racing
June 28-29 Midwest 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals - Springfield, IL
Brady Smith Racing
June 6-7 Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, OH
June 12 Superior Speedway - Superior, WI
June 13-14 Cedar Lake Speedway - New Richmond, WI
June 20 Farmer City Raceway - Farmer City, IL
Sudden Impact - Monster Truck Racing
June 7 Kingston, ON Canada
June 14 Peterborough, ON Canada
June 20-21Billings, MT
June 20-21Minneapolis, MN
June 27-28 Garden City, KS
See you in the pits!