LaRocco Returns

Racing legend Mike LaRocco returns to the motocross scene this weekend at the Red Bud Motocross.

June 30 ~ "The Rock" is returning to competition. Mike LaRocco will race his first AMA Chevrolet U.S. Motocross Championship event at Red Bud, Michigan. This track has come to be known as LaRocco's home track. It's where the two-time national champion learned the skills that have propelled him to the top of motocross. The AMSOIL/Chaparral/Honda stand-out has skipped all of the outdoor races until now to concentrate on preparing for supercross. Still, LaRocco doesn't want to lose his competitive edge and this Fourth of July weekend event fits perfectly. This will be the 17th year LaRocco has competed in the outdoor national series.

In 1992, a new jump was created at Red Bud. It quickly became known as the "LaRocco Leap." It's a 125 foot uphill double jump which LaRocco quickly mastered. Some say he jumped further in his own backyard so "The Leap" was nothing to him. With all his accomplishments LaRocco has never won the Red Bud national race. With the time off, "Iron Mike" will likely be one of the fittest riders to stand in the starting gate on Sunday and is widely considered a favorite to stand on the podium afterward.

AMSOIL is the "Official Oil" of the AMA/Chevrolet U.S. Motocross Championships.

Ready for Red Bud

K-Dub finished fourth overall in Budds Creek. Watch for him to step back to the podium with teammate Mike LaRocco in the Red Bud race.

July 1 ~ Kevin Windham is currently third in national motocross points. "K-Dub" has had great flashes of brilliance, but has really had to grind out every moto. The wear of the last supercross season might be getting to the AMSOIL/Chaparral/Honda rider. Remember, he was out of the game for a long time rehabbing from injury prior to supercross. Windham won't hear any of that talk. He's currently third in overall points and hasn't finished worse than fifth in any moto. People can look for a breakthrough weekend at Red Bud now that he'll be reunited with LaRocco.

Josh Grant completed some intense training in the off week. He is set for the race this weekend.

Keep an eye on Josh Grant at Red Bud, too. The rookie 125cc future superstar has spent the last couple of weeks with former champions Jeff Stanton and LaRocco. The intense training regimen left one of his instructors with some stitches. We won't say who, but suffice it to say LaRocco is as healthy as can be for the race this coming weekend. Grant is 10th overall followed by AMSOIL riders Ryan Mills in 13th, Chris Gosselaar in 14th and Greg Schnell cracking the top 20 in 19th place.

Rinker Survives Crash to Complete Bay City

Rinker finished fourth despite a three boat crash in Bay City.

June 28 ~ Terry Rinker was able to walk away from a spectacular crash to finish the River Roar in Bay City, Michigan. In a back-up AMSOIL/Rinker Boat/Blackhawk Racing boat he finished the main event in fourth place.

The accident happened during the second qualifying heat. Rinker was hoping to improve on a third place in the first qualifier. The choppy Saginaw River was unforgiving. On the backstretch of the opening lap Rinker was entangled in a three boat incident. Rinker and Chris Fairchild tangled. Both boats went airborne with Rinker's vessel striking a pylon. Rinker was able to extract himself from the shattered boat. A third boat driven by Todd Bowden drove over the bottom of the upside down, half submerged boat of Fairchild. Neither of the other two drivers were injured. Rinker was cleared by paramedics to continue racing.

The team led by crew chief James Chambers went to work on the number two boat and had it ready to go by the time all the debris left by the crash was recovered from the water. Rinker finished the heat in eighth place. He went on to the final where again he finished in fourth place. Rinker is currently fourth in overall Champ Boat series points.

AMSOIL CORR Teams Pick Up Three Podiums

Dan Vanden Heuval posted another podium finish in Crandon.

June 28 ~ Three AMSOIL-sponsored teams in Championship Off-Road Racing stood on podiums during rounds four and five at Crandon, Wisconsin.

Dan Vanden Heuval posted a third place finish in round four action of Pro-2. It was his third podium of the season. He is third in overall points. Mike Oberg drove to a third place finish in round four of the Sportsman-2 competition. It was his third podium of the early season. He's second overall. Fellow Sportsman-2 driver Ben Wandahsega crossed the checkered flag for his second podium this year with a third place in round five. If not for an untimely tire blowout he likely would have finished no worse than second place. That's the way it goes. Wandahsega is now fourth overall in the class. Wandahsega is sponsored by AMSOIL and AMSOIL Dealer Ron Wright. Wright also sponsors the Sportsman-2 truck driven by Ken Hallgren. Hallgren finished fourth in round five. Other notable AMSOIL drivers include Rod Wells in the Stock class. He pulled off two top ten finishes. Steve McCrossan in Pro-4 also pulled off a pair of top ten finishes. He's working on a few bugs and expects to jump up the standings over the next couple of CORR events.

Wandahsega stood on the podium for the second time this season moving him to fourth overall.

Crandon also hosted 11th Annual The Governor's Cup race. Top trucks from the various classes can qualify to compete. Wandahsega finished third in his class and was 12th overall. Steve McCrossan finished eighth overall and was the third Pro-4 truck to finish. Also, McCrossan won the American Axle Tracrite Jump Competition with a launch of 126 feet, 3 inches. That's over 42 yards and nearly half a football field. Nice showing.

Big Dawg Barks

Big Dawg is still in first place overall after the Anderson, South Carolina Special Events 4-Wheel Jamboree.

June 26 & 27 - Anderson, South Carolina hosted the third Special Events 4-Wheel Jamboree sponsored by AMSOIL. Doug Noelke and the "Big Dawg" monster truck was looking to make chew toys out of the competition. Saturday afternoon, Doug and "Dawg" beat "Raminator" in round one, "Rammunition" in round two and "Sudden Impact" in the final round for the overall win on the straight line track. Saturday evening, on the "Chicago-style" track, Noelke couldn't get the front tires to grab in the corners. He was defeated in the first round, but came back as "fast loser." This gave him another shot. Noelke faced "Big Foot" in the semi-finals, but couldn't pull off the win. Sunday afternoon turned out to be a repeat of the night before with a loss to "Big Foot." Other events included the "Wheelie" contest. Fans loved the free-styling, free-wheeling action. "Big Dawg" still leads the ProMT/Special Events Series.
Another note from the Special Events Jamborees: Jeff Dedick and the AMSOIL-sponsored "General Lee" are still at the top in the Mickey Thompson Tough Truck Challenge. Dedick backed up his runner-up finishes at the Lima, Ohio Jamboree with a semi-final round exit at the Anderson, South Carolina competition.
AMSOIL is the "Official Oil" of the Special Events 4-Wheel Jamborees.

Dubé Is On His Way

Dubé has had a rough start to the season but sits sixth overall in the CMRC points.

June 21 ~ Marco Dubé took his Dube'/Honda/AMSOIL bike to the limit at Mission Raceway in Mission, British Columbia. Round two of the Canadian National Pro Motocross Championships drained man and machine. Inexplicably his bike wasn't working well in the first moto. Dubé finished 10th. The team went to work before moto two to try and rectify the problems. Everyone believed they had a competitive bike going into moto two only to have it acting up again during the race. Then the motorcycle just quit. It stopped suddenly before the end. Only 500 feet short of the finish line the bike seized up. Dubé literally pushed the bike passed the checkered flag to finish 12th. Dubé believes no other bike would have had made it that far and credits the Honda CRF450 and AMSOIL lubricants for getting there.

The team moved on to round three at Wild Rose Motocross Park in Calgary, Alberta. The racing went much better and the results showed it. Dube' finished seventh for the weekend. He is now sixth in overall CMRC points.

AMSOIL Racing Notes

Bruce Prochnavy is an up and coming motocross rider in the CMRC Canadian Pro Nationals. The Paradise Racing stand out primed his pump in the U.S. competing in the AMA Chevrolet Motocross Championships sponsored by AMSOIL. It was time to draw water north of the border, back home, in Canada. At Mission, British Columbia, round two of the CMRC, Bruce and bike raced together with smoothness and precision. Prochnavy easily negotiated through the top ten in his first moto. Momentum was unfortunately cut off when the moto was red flagged and restarted. On the second start things continued about as well as the first time around until under the very hot temperatures Prochnavy began to fade. He slowly slid back into the pack to finish 16th. In the second moto Prochnavy took off with another strong start except he rode a little tight and he knew it. He started to get passed. He calmed down to ride a smoothly for about half the moto. He caught the bikes which had passed by. A badly botched move by another rider forced Prochnavy to the ground. After getting the bikes separated Prochnavy was off to try and catch up. He finished 14th. "I was pretty happy with how I worked my way up. I just have got to not fall," said Prochnavy. In round three at Wild Rose, Alberta Prochnavy showed far more gumption in the first moto. He was comfortable with a 12th place. The second moto was equally as solid with only one costly error. He finished in the top 20. Prochnavy stands in 13th place in 125cc West points. AMSOIL and AMSOIL Dealer John Moldowan sponsor Prochnavy.

Ryan Posocco is set to defend his victory last year at the American Sleeve Bearing Classic Late Model 100. He won both the 100-lap and 150-lap feature events at Stafford Motor Speedway last season. AMSOIL and AMSOIL Dealers Robert and Diane Ayrs sponsor the Posocco race team.

AMSOIL-sponsored Bob Weber from Clarence Center, NY took the June 26 feature win at Lancaster Raceway Park in Buffalo, NY. This was his second feature win of the season, but his first at Lancaster. Bob also won the first race of the Amsoil Late Model Challenge at Holland Speedway on May 29. Weber started in the fourth spot, but a slower car boxed him in and pushed him back to the ninth spot. After clearing around the slower car Weber made the charge to the front and on lap 14 stormed past the leader. Weber opened a large lead on the rest of the field to finish the race almost a straightaway ahead of the second place car. The next race is Thursday, July 1 at Lancaster Raceway Park. It is the third race of the AMSOIL Late Model Challenge. It looks to be an exciting night of racing!

Micah Norse is posting fabulous results in Legend Car racing. Of the first four races of the year Norse had three top ten overall finishes and finished no worse than third for his class in those events. The California kid is seventh in overall points out of 37 cars and third in his class. He's sponsored by AMSOIL and AMSOIL Dealers Jim and Carol Fleschner of Fountain City, California.

PJ Osmer, remember the name, is a young motocross stud out of California. The Mike LaRocco wanna-be had hooked a string of first place finishes together dating back to March. A broken collarbone will sideline Osmer for a little bit. He had just finished second a 100cc final before falling in an 85cc moto. Hurry back PJ.

WISSOTA Late Model and Modified driver Darrell Nelson is putting together a firecracker of a season thus far. In the last week he picked up a Late Model feature win and second place. He also grabbed two second place Modified finishes. Nelson is second in the WISSOTA national points standings for Late Model drivers and ninth in the standings for Modifieds. A quick look down the national leader board shows AMSOIL-sponsored drivers Pat Doar in 18th place and Tom Naeyaert in 39th. Over in the Modifieds - Steve Arpin is 15th, Craig Thatcher is 18th and Luke Schilling at 26th. It's clear - the top drivers in the largest, fastest and most competitive race sanctioning body in the U.S. count on AMSOIL synthetic products.

Put two more top five finishes in the Curt Gelling ledger. He recently started 11th, but managed to finish fourth in a 20-lap Late Model feature at Casino Speedway in Watertown, South Dakota. Gelling is fifth in the WISSOTA National Points.

A note about snowmobile hillclimbing, ZBROZ Racing passes to The AMSOIL Checkered Flag results from 2004. Ryan Zollinger won his third Mod class "King of the Hill" title at the prestigious Jackson Hole Hillclimb. It was the team's fifth overall crown. For the season, ZROZ earned two "King" titles, 18 podium finishes, and seven top five finishes. It was another great year for the first family of hillclimbing. But according to manager Lance Zollinger, "To say we are happy, yes. But never satisfied."

A pit stop under green cost Jake Meyerink during a Late Model race at Toledo Speedway in Toledo, Ohio. He started the race in sixth. On lap 48 of the 100 lap event he was hit by another car. He exited to the pits where his crew worked to pull the metal fender away from the right rear tire. The stop was costly. Meyerink finished 15th and three laps down. Over at Kalamazoo Speedway in Kalamazoo, Michigan the crew switched to their Winged Modified car for some action. Jake "The Snake" started fourth and that's exactly where he finished in the feature. He's currently fifth in the overall points chase.

"I still can't believe the great success I've had using AMSOIL," says Perry Prichard. The SuperMoto rider is sponsored by AMSOIL and AMSOIL Dealers Marion and Christa Much of West Bend, Wisconsin. Prichard has been selected by KTM motorcycles to be a featured rider in the SuperMoto Canada series called the KTM Cup. He's riding a KTM 525 SMR factory-built bike. Prichard finished fourth in the first race of the series. At round two he finished third even after getting hit by a rock and going down, getting a separated shoulder popped back into joint and having to catch up from way back in the pack. It's all part of racing.

Al Unser, Jr. Retires

Al Unser, Jr. was sponsored by AMSOIL. He has called it quits.

July 1, 2004 ~ Little Al has called it quits. Al Unser, Jr. announced his retirement after more than 21 seasons of open-wheel racing. He won two Indianapolis 500s, two CART championships and a combined 34 CART and IRL races. The Albuquerque, New Mexico native hooked up early in his career with AMSOIL. Al Amatuzio, AMSOIL Founder and President, sponsored the up and coming Unser. Al, Jr.'s uncle Bobby Unser and Unser Racing had been using and testing AMSOIL products. It was Bobby who recommended AMSOIL. Bobby was a guest of AMSOIL at the company's 30th Anniversary Convention and spoke fondly and glowingly of his nephew's early years of racing with AMSOIL. Everyone at AMSOIL wishes Little Al Godspeed and success in all his future endeavors.

In Staging

The AMSOIL MX team is in Michigan at the famed Red Bud track for round five of the AMA/Chevrolet U.S. Motocross Championship sponsored by AMSOIL. LaRocco, Windham and the entire AMSOIL team will be ready to go.

On TV

If you can't make it to Red Bud, but need your motocross fix this holiday weekend check out ESPN 2. Round four racing from Budds Creek will air Sunday, July 4. Check you local listings for exact times in your area.

Have a happy and safe Independence Day weekend!