Team AMSOIL Earns Three ESPN Winter X Games Medals

The 2009 ESPN Winter X Games were a forgettable experience for Team AMSOIL/Judnick Motorsports racer Ross Martin as he sustained a season-ending hip injury in practice that dashed his hopes for both an X Games medal and an AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series championship.  Determined to have a better experience this year, Martin avoided injury, but was forced to qualify through the last chance qualifier (LCQ) after getting tangled in his heat race.  Starting from the back row in the final, he came out of the first corner in ninth and proceeded to pass racers one by one until moving into second and securing the silver medal.

"I knew there hadn't been much passing all weekend so I needed to take some risks switching lines, and it paid off,” said Martin.  “I am so pumped.  I had to push last year’s injury and all the hype that comes with this event to the back of my mind and look at this as another race.  I have to say... it wasn't easy.  I am putting my silver medal next to the bronze from Winter X Games 2006 and plan to work on completing the set.  I didn't win this medal on my own.  The whole Judnick Motorsports Team and our sponsors are the reason I got to that podium.  We all won this medal!"

Martin’s teammate Matt Judnick finished eighth, while Team AMSOIL/Scheuring Speed Sports racers Andrew Johnstad and Robbie Malinoski finished sixth and ninth respectively.

Team AMSOIL also picked up two medals in the inaugural Adaptive Snocross event for disabled snocross racers.  Mike Schultz, who lost his left leg in December 2008 during the national snocross event in Ironwood, Mich., piloted his AMSOIL Ski-Doo to the gold medal, while Jim Wazny, who lost his left leg in a motocross accident in 2000, took the silver medal on board his AMSOIL/Scheuring Speed Sports sled.

Martin Takes Second in Farmington

Martin’s success carried into the fifth round of the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series last weekend in Farmington, N.Y.  Starting the Pro Open final in the middle of the pack, he once again found several good lines and battled his way forward to take second.  Martin also took third in the Pro Super Stock class.

Team AMSOIL/Judnick Motorsports semi-pro rider Mike Bauer had another strong weekend of racing, taking the win in the first round of Semi Pro Super Stock action and finishing second in the second round.

The AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series season resumes this weekend with the New England Nationals in Salem, N.H.

AMSOIL Becomes Exclusive Official Oil of USAC

Starting in 2010, AMSOIL will become the Exclusive Official Oil of the United States Auto Club (USAC) and its multiple sprint car properties. AMSOIL also begins a three year campaign as the title sponsor of the AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championships, AMSOIL Indiana Speed Week and AMSOIL Pennsylvania Sprint Week.

"USAC offers AMSOIL extreme exposure at more than 300 events each year," said AMSOIL Race Program Manager Jeremy Meyer. "Sprint car racing offers high horsepower and a great fan base, especially with those week-long events in Indiana and Pennsylvania.”

USAC has provided some of the biggest names in auto racing over the past 50 years, including NASCAR drivers Tony Stewart and Carl Edward and Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser. USAC is the leading sprint car sanctioning body in North America and has five main sprint car series, including the Silver Crown, National Sprint Car, Ford Focus Midget, MOPAR Midget and .25-Midget series.

"It's natural that a company with the products and tradition of excellence of AMSOIL serves as the series sponsor of one of America's most competitive race series," said USAC President/CEO Kevin Miller. "Their commitment to our sport has been well-documented and we are extremely pleased they have chosen to support USAC."

For more information on the series and its schedule, click the Racing tab at www.amsoil.com.

Trey Canard Wins San Francisco Supercross

The fourth round of the 2010 AMA Supercross season, including the fourth round of the Lites Western Regional Supercross Championship, was held January 30 at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif.  Coming off a strong third place finish in Anaheim a week earlier, Team AMSOIL Lites racer Trey Canard was looking to continue his momentum, and he won the second qualifying heat to put himself in good position in the main event.  Although he didn’t grab the holeshot, Canard grabbed hold of the lead by the end of the first lap and didn’t give it up, taking his first victory of the season.

Wanderscheid Wins Wausau 525

After taking second at the AMSOIL World Championship Snowmobile Derby, Team AMSOIL oval ice racer P.J. Wanderscheid was hungry for a victory at the Wausau 525 event in Wausau, Wis.  He was up against some stiff competition on the smaller track, but Wanderscheid set the tone early by winning all three of his 440 Champ heat races and entered the final as the number one qualifier.  Although AMSOIL Eagle River World Champion Matt Schultz took the early lead, Wanderscheid quickly answered and took over the lead by turn four, staying out front for the rest of the race and taking the victory.

AMSOIL semi-pro rider Matt Ritchie also found success in Wausau, taking a pair of semi-pro wins.

Brad Lovell to Compete in TORC Series

The Lovell rock racing team of Brad and Roger Lovell will branch out in a different direction this season, with Brad heading to The Traxxas TORC Series presented by AMSOIL, where he will pilot an AMSOIL-sponsored Pro-Light truck.

"Brad and his team have shown they can be successful in so many different forms of racing over the past five years and we believe that stepping into short course racing will be more of the same," says AMSOIL Race Program Manager Jeremy Meyer.  "They bring a great program to TORC and short course racing, and I can’t wait to see the new Pro Light on the track in Arizona."

While Brad’s focus on the TORC Series will prevent his full commitment in other series, Roger will race the entire King of the Hammers Grand Slam Series as well as XRRA.  In the multi-discipline Grand Slam Series, Roger will take the wheel for his first-ever desert race and rockcrawl, while Brad will enter select We-Rock rockcrawls, XRRA races and CHCA hillclimbs.

The Lovells will compete at the King of the Hammers race tomorrow, with Brad Lovell and Bill Kunz competing in the #232 truck and Roger Lovell and Greg Foutz competing in the #32 truck.  Live coverage of the race will be available on Pirate4x4.com.

Big Dawg Monster Truck Team Starts Season Strong

The AMSOIL-sponsored Big Dawg monster truck team started the 2010 season strong.  On the weekend of January 8-9, Doug Noelke and the TailGator truck took the Friday night racing victory and narrowly missed the Saturday night win in Bossier City, La., while Dale Gerding piloted TailGator to two racing victories in Huntington, W. Va.  They continued their success the following weekend, with Noelke and TailGator taking two racing victories and a freestyle tie in Southaven, Miss. and Gerding following it up by taking second in racing in Champaign, Ill.  On January 23 in Cleveland, Ohio, Noelke and TailGator finished second in racing and took the victory in freestyle.  The following weekend in Highland Heights, Ky. saw Noelke and TailGator win both the donut contest and freestyle on Friday night before losing to teammate Gerding in the Big Dawg truck in the racing bracket.  On Saturday, Noelke and TailGator took another win in the donut contest before facing off once again against Gerding and Big Dawg in the racing semi-finals.  Gerding took the win before narrowly losing in the final round.