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THE CHECKERED FLAG |
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May 4, 2007 Edition |
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| GREEN FLAG | |
CORR opens season, debuts on NBC
Lancaster, Calif. ~ Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) opened its season April 19-20 in Lancaster, Calif. The first two rounds of racing brought plenty of action both on and off the track and set the stage for off-road short course racing in 2007. CORR also made major noise in the off-road racing community by airing the Jason Baldwin Memorial Cup series opener on a national broadcast by NBC.
FRIDAY
The first two rounds of racing were exciting for fans. AMSOIL Super Team
members Scott Douglas and Dan Vanden Heuvel made the trip out west to take part
in the action. Douglas, running the Pro-4 (four-wheel drive) ran the third
fastest lap time during Friday’s qualifying run at 52.637 seconds. His time was
less than .2 seconds from the fastest time put in by defending champion Johnny
Greaves.
SATURDAY
Starting
third in Saturday’s race, Douglas and his Ford F-150 began their battle for the
lead with Greaves. The race would end early for Douglas as he was making a pass
on Greaves. With Douglas in mid-air, Greaves moved inside and ran into Douglas,
sending the AMSOIL driver flipping in a spectacular crash that sent him off the
track. Douglas was knocked out of the race and he confronted Greaves as Greaves
was heading towards the winners circle. Douglas finished 11th after everything
was tabulated. Another AMSOIL sponsored driver, Steve Barlow debuted his new
Red Bull Pro-4 on Saturday and finished tenth.
In Pro-2 (two-wheel drive), Vanden Heuvel qualified sixth for Saturday’s race. Vanden Heuvel’s day never really got started. He was battling with the leaders heading around the first turn when he got tangled with another driver, breaking his trailing arm and pushing him out of the race. Another AMSOIL sponsored driver, Rob MacCachren, made his return to short course racing a successful one. MacCachren is driving for the Barlow Motorsports team this season and set the fastest qualifying time on Friday. That speed filtered over to Saturday's race as MacCachren showed his great driving instincts and brought home the first win of the year.
SATURDAY – BALDWIN CUP
RACE (PRO-4)
Douglas also raced in the Jason Baldwin Memorial Cup qualifying race with
his back-up truck on Saturday afternoon. This race aired on NBC on Saturday
afternoon, April 28. Douglas was running in third for much of the race and
briefly held the number two spot when he broke a front differential coming over
a rough rhythm section. He finished ninth in the cup race. Barlow took sixth..
SUNDAY
Pro-2 proved to be a strong class in Lancaster. Vanden Heuvel started eighth
in Sunday’s Pro-2 field but a quick trigger moved him into the top five early
on. The Flying Dutchman battled at mid-pack for much of the race and was able
move into fourth when the final flag dropped. Also flying the AMSOIL logo was
MacCachren. The former series champion grabbed his second podium of the weekend
with a second.
In Pro-4, Douglas was
looking for a safe finish after flipping miraculously on Saturday. Douglas was
able to miss a pile-up in turn one that took out Greaves. Douglas did have to
pit before the restart to change a right rear tire. That meant Douglas started
last, but a quick re-start and some strong driving pushed the AMSOIL Ford F-150
into the mix after just a few laps. Douglas battled in fourth before handling
issues pushed him back a spot to finish fifth.
SUNDAY – BALDWIN CUP RACE ( PRO-2)
The second half of the NBC telecast featured the Pro-2 field on Sunday.
Vanden Heuvel drove well and grabbed a sixth place finish in the Cup race,
despite getting spun out heading into one of the table top jumps. MacCachren,
driving the Red Bull truck, was only able to finish seven laps in the cup race,
finishing seventh.
CORR will return to California for the third and fourth rounds of racing in
Pomona on May 19-20. That Cup race will again be aired on NBC, and the CORR
point races will air starting in September on SPEED.
Windham Back on Podium
Star supercrosser getting faster as outdoors near
Seattle,
Wash. ~ Kevin Windham is
known for his flawless, technical riding ability. During the 2007 AMA
Supercross Series, Windham has been working on getting his speed back to the
competitive pace he needs to consistently finish on the podium. After the last
two races, it looks like K-Dub is close to form and is gearing up for the
upcoming Outdoor Nationals which start in two weeks.
Two weeks ago, the AMSOIL backed Factory Connection team took part in the third to last supercross race of the season in Detroit. The event was the first after a two week hiatus for the series and Windham was looking fresh. He stormed out of the gates in the first heat race and finished in fourth. In the main, he ran well despite starting the race in seventh. He moved up to fourth before the checkered flag waved.
In the Lites class, it marked the final East Coast Series race for Billy Laninovich. Lano ran strong in the first heat race, finishing third. Moving into the final, the Californian was riding in second place until lap nine. He would drop back two spots and finish fourth. For the season, Laninovich finished the East Coast Series in sixth with 85 points.
Last weekend saw the return of the West Coast Series Lites class as the AMA headed to the Pacific Northwest and Seattle. Windham continued his strong resurgence by winning his heat race over Chad Reed. The final podium spot in the main went to Windham. He couldn't hold off Davi Milsaps in a tough rhythm section, but continued his solid night of racing for his second podium finish of the year. For the season, Windham is currently in fourth in the AMA standings with just one race left.
In the Lites class, Josh Grant and Jake Weimer returned to the stadium for the first time since the San Diego race in mid-February. Both riders came out of the gates strong. Weimer finished the first heat race in third and Grant evened him up in the second heat race with a third of his own. In the main, Weimer finished better than Grant with a fourth, but it was Grant who took a shot at the win. Grant moved into third on lap nine and tried to get around Jason Lawrence on lap ten. As he was blitzing through a rhythm section, he went off the track. By the time he got going again, he was back in lap traffic and finished 20th. For the season, Weimer finished the West Coast series in fourth overall while a couple of crashes pushed Grant into seventh.
The AMA Supercross Series wraps up this weekend in Las Vegas at Sam Boyd Stadium. The Supercross Series will include Windham, and the Lites classes will combine the East and West Coast riders for one shot at overall supremacy. The race will air on CBS on Sunday, May 6.
Smith Nabs Top Ten
Former WDRL champ shows strong in Illinois
Farmer City, Ill. ~ AMSOIL sponsored late model driver Brady Smith and his team traveled south last weekend and invaded the state of Illinois for a pair of high-profile Dirt Late Model events. On April 27, the Deuce was in action at the Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, Ill. for a $ World of Outlaws Late Model Series show. The night did not go quite as Smith would have envisioned, as he suffered a flat tire in qualifying and fuel pressure problems throughout the rest of the night. The Solon Springs, Wis. native missed transferring to the 50-lap A-Main.
Things got better for Smith at the Freeport Raceway Park in Freeport, Illinois the next night as the World Dirt Racing League (WDRL) sanctioned a $5,000 to win event. Smith turned the third quickest lap in qualifying before running second in his heat race and fourth in the dash. The former WDRL Series Champion rolled off from the outside of the second row for the 40-lap main event and battled the leaders throughout the race. Smith was hampered by a leaking right rear tire, which was eventually flat by the end of the race. He wound up finishing seventh in the final rundown at Freeport.
Smith will be back on tour starting Friday May 4 for a two day event at the Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway in Calvert, Ky. For a complete schedule for Brady Smith, go to http://www.amsoil.com/bradysmithracing/index.aspx
Bassmaster Battles
Storms in Alabama
Schwenkbeck misses cut after hail, high winds stir up lake
Guntersville,
Ala. ~ Darrin Schwenkbeck
won his first BASS tour event in 2006. That helped push him into the Elite
Series for a second straight year and so far the young angler is learning how
tough the competition is.
April 19-22 brought the series to Clarks Hill Lake, Georgia for the Pride of Georgia event. Schwenkbeck put his line in the water against 107 of the world’s top pros. He finished the weekend with 13 pounds of fish but did not make the top 50 cut.
He quickly loaded his boat and headed west to the Southern Challenge, one of the tour’s biggest events. The tournament was held on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Ala. Schwenkbeck and the rest of the Elite field had to wait until Friday to hit the water after a severe storm slammed through northern Alabama, cancelling day one of the tournament. With the lake stirred up, a large number of anglers missed bringing in their five fish limit on Friday, including Schwenkbeck. The Buffalo, N.Y. native finished with 14.15 pounds and again missed the cut.
After attending AMSOIL University in two weeks, Schwenkbeck will be back on the water to wrap up the Southern Swing with the Blue Ridge Brawl on Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, Va. June 7-10.
Coming Attractions:
Weekend Races
AMSOIL sponsored teams continue racing this weekend
It should be a good couple of weekends to get out and see AMSOIL sponsored teams in action. This weekend, the annual Pickwick Challenge will be held in Pickwick, Tenn. Team AMSOIL off-shore power boat driver Bob Teague will be unveiling his new Cat Lite boat. The Off-Shore Super Series event gets underway on Saturday with testing and time trials and the races will be held on Sunday.
The World PowerSports Association will host its second round of ATV racing on May 11-13 in Taylorville, Ill. AMSOIL is the official oil of the WPSA Snocross and ATV tours. The ATV series will air on ESPN2 starting June 16.
Autumn Woods Racing
continues its participation in the Special Events 4-Wheel Jamboree Series.
Watch past champion Jeff Dedick and teammate Ricky Brantley battle for the top
spots in Springfield, Mo. starting on Saturday, May 5.
Lovell Rock Racing will be taking on the fast pace of the XRRA this weekend.
The Lovell Brothers will be competing in the rock racing event being held in
Cortez, Colo. The Lovell’s are multiple champions of UROC, a rock crawling
circuit.
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