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.”

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.

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 Sleeman Centre in Guelph, Ontario, as the AMSOIL T-Maxx² machine ripped through the field, taking wins in all four competitions:  wheelie, donut, racing and freestyle.