Repeat Performance

Vernal, Utah ~ It's never easy being a champion. Whether it's NASCAR or Kart, you will always have a bulls-eye on your bumper for an entire year. Everyone wants to knock of the champ, and the pressure to succeed can be just as debilitating as a broken axle or a three-car pile-up. True champions find a way to rise above the distractions to stay on top of the heap.

Heap is a good word to use when talking about the latest in a long line of AMSOIL champions. The Lovell Rock Racing Team had to climb its way back into competition for a second straight UROC Pro National Series title, and it all came down during the last weekend of competition in Vernal, Utah.

Click for Photogallery

The team, which consists of brothers Roger and Brad Lovell, entered the series finals tied for the series lead with Rock Runner Racing's Brian Errea and Jochiam Schwiesow. Both teams got off to a rocky start by not finishing their first courses of the event.

"We thought we were done but then saw Errea roll on his course," said spotter Roger Lovell. "That rarely happens and kept the door open."

Both teams quickly got it together and successfully completed the difficult vertical courses for the rest of the event. Team Lovell twisted and turned through the man-made tracks, putting them in first place in the point's standings. Rock Runner Racing trailed in a distant fifth.

"We did the math before the finals and realized that we could not be caught in the series points race," said Driver Brad Lovell. "Our only problem was our meager lead of five points on Dean Bulloch for the event win."

Team Lovell had a chance to beat Bulloch for the weekend win. However, the "Iceman" used his calm demeanor to his advantage in the final round by only taking out one cone. Lovell needed to repeat his performance for a shot at the win, but rainsquall and a minor slip of the front tires resulted in a touched start gate, effectively handing Bulloch the win. The second place finish still meant Lovell Racing would hold onto the title for another year.

Team Lovell's consistent performance with 2005 finishes of 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, and 2nd was great enough for them to take home the "Golden Axle Shaft".

"It means a lot more this year because this is the UROC Pro National Series, the best of best," said Brad Lovell, "It took a winning combination of the vehicle, team members and sponsors."

Lovell Rock Racing has one event left this fall - Supercrawl IV to be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in conjunction with SEMA October 30, 2005. Supercrawl is the largest event of the year bringing together the top 100 rock-crawling teams.

One Win Away

Windsor, Colo. ~ Terry Rinker is so close he can almost taste it. After a winless 2004 and third place overall finish, the 2003 champion is just one win away from another title. But after three wins in the ChampBoat Series first four races, Rinker is holding on to a slim lead in the overall standings.

Rinker has enjoyed racing at the five-point track in Windsor, Colo. He has numerous top-three finishes in the Rocky Mountains, and was looking for another strong run to increase his lead over Tim Seebolt. Two unexpected things happened in the snow-capped mountains. The first was starting problems for Rinker's yellow #10. After qualifying third, Rinker misfired on the starting line for the feature. By the time the Lee Hull designed boat was up and running, Rinker had to battle the back of the pack just to reach the leaders. By the time the checkered flag had dropped on Jason Campbell's first win of the season, Rinker had moved into the sixth spot.

The second unexpected thing to happen at Windsor was the ChampBoat Series announcement that the Labor Day weekend of racing in Kankakee, Ill., would be the final race of the 2005 season. The last showdown was scheduled for mid-September in San Diego; however, scheduling conflicts arose between the two sides. That means Rinker must find a way to hold onto his 60-point lead for his first title since 2003.

"We are feeling confident that we can keep the lead," said Rinker. "I like this course here in Kankakee and we are ready for the challenge of taking our second title."

Testing will begin this Friday on the Kankakee River. Saturday and Sunday will bring qualifying heats in all classes, and Labor Day will bring numerous feature races with five classes running for national championships.

Smith Goes Topless

Superior, Wis. ~ Team AMSOIL Late Model driver Brady Smith is about to embark on a busy three race stretch over the Labor Day holiday weekend. The Solon Springs, Wis. native will bring his AMSOIL #2 MasterSbilt from Mars / Pro Power Monte Carlo to the Proctor Speedway in Proctor, Minn. for the annual 'Silver 1000' on Thursday, September 1, 2005. The WISSOTA sanctioned event will pay $2,500 to win. On Saturday and Sunday he will enter a pair of $5,000 to win PolyDome WDRL Late Model Series events. Saturday will take the team to the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn. The LaSalle Speedway in LaSalle, Ill. will play host to the WDRL event on Sunday evening.

The driver dubbed as "The Deuce" was in action in his home state of Wisconsin last week. Smith invaded the Superior Speedway last Tuesday for a $2,000 to win WISSOTA AMSOIL / Tri Star Challenge co-sanctioned event. He placed fifth in his heat race, and sixth in the 40-lap feature event.

The following night took the team to the Rice Lake Speedway in Rice Lake, Wis. for a $2,000 Tri Star Challenge event. He finished fourth in his heat race and second in the B-Main event to earn a 21st place starting spot for the A-Main event. He was able to pass 11 cars in the feature en route to a solid 10th place finish.

"We were able to get a couple of top10 finishes last week, despite having ignition problems both nights," said Smith. "We changed everything on the car at Superior and never found the problem. Then at Rice Lake, we finally found that the ignition switch had gone bad.
That problem is now fixed and we should be a lot better this weekend."

The next AMSOIL Late Model Race will be held on Saturday, September 3 at the Hibbing Raceway in Hibbing, Minn.

Special Invite

Du Quoin, Ill. ~ It was an "All AMSOIL" weekend of racing at the Du Quion Fairgrounds in Illinois last Saturday and Sunday. The Paul Schafer Motorsports Group, which is sponsored nationally by AMSOIL, brought their Monster Truck racing show to the fairgrounds in Southern Illinois. Paul Schafer even extended a special invitation to Autumn Woods Racing, the managing company of Team AMSOIL truck racers, Jeff Dedick and Chris Mosher (the General Lee truck.)

Dedick and the General Lee led the event with a first place finish both days. Mosher was right on his tail in the "00" truck with two-second place finishes. The team is preparing its trucks for the Special Events Performance Series finals in Indianapolis on September 23-25. The event will be filmed for ESPN2 and will be host to all the popular print publications documenting all the action.