Smith Looking For Late Season Success

Solon Springs, Wis. ~ The Brady Smith Racing team made the trek to Illinois and Missouri last weekend to compete in a pair of World of Outlaws Late Model Series events. However, the weekend was cut short one race; the 1/2-mile oval at the Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill. was unraceable because of muddy conditions Friday night. The St. Louis, Mo. area received heavy amounts of rain leading up to the weekend, but that did not stop night two of the weekend from being completed. Smith competed at Ken Schrader's I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo. on Saturday night in the annual running of the 'Pepsi Nationals 50'. After suffering a flat tire, which relegated him to a disappointing seventh place finish in the heat, Smith rebounded to finish second in his B-Main event. He rolled off 20th in the feature event, but suffered a flat left rear tire after advancing all the way up to the ninth position. The flat tire ended his stellar run and relegated him to a 17th place finish in the final rundown. The event was taped by the SPEED Channel cameras for viewing on December 3.

"Our finish at Pevely is not indicative of how strong our car was last Saturday night," said the Wisconsin-native earlier this week. "We had a flat in the heat race, which sent us to the B-Main.
Then we started eighth in the B-Main and ran a strong second to make the feature. The track was pretty rough from all the rain and there was a huge rut in turns three and four. I hit the rut again in the feature and it rolled the left rear tire off of the rim. It is unfortunate because I was up to ninth and on my way to a solid run. It would have been nice to get AMSOIL and all of my other sponsors a top five finish in front of the SPEED Channel cameras, but it didn't work out that way, unfortunately."

The driver of the AMSOIL #2 MasterSbilt from Mars / Pro Power Monte Carlo will take this weekend off in preparation for the upcoming 'Knoxville Late Model Nationals', which will be held at the famed Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa on September 29-October 1. A $35,000 top prize is on the line at the ultra-fast 1/2-mile dirt oval.

FACTORY CONNECTION RACING ANNOUNCES 2006 RACE TEAM

Corona, Calif. ~ The AMSOIL backed racing team owned by Factory Connection has solidified its line-up for 2006. Heading the Factory Connection Team in the 250 class at the 2006 AMA Supercross Series will be 2005 Series runner-up, Kevin Windham. Teaming up with Windham will be two-time National Motocross and 2002 US Open Champion, Mike LaRocco. Windham is also coming off of a runner-up finish in the 2005 AMA US Motocross Championships and will be representing the United States this weekend at the Motocross des Nations in France.

Factory Connection will compete in the 125cc class with an exciting combination of experience. Josh Grant will be entering his second full season of professional racing. Grant had multiple podium finishes in the 2005 season and will be looking to add a championship to his list of accomplishments. Joining Grant is the very talented Billy Laninovich, who came back from injuries that kept him out most of the 2003 and 2004 seasons. Billy captured a win in Supercross this past year and will be looking to continue on that success. Also in the 125 class will be Tommy Hahn who is coming off a successful rookie season in which he showed flashes of his ability and speed in both Supercross and Motocross. Coming back from a series of nagging injuries will be Joaquim Rodriguez who gives the team another championship level rider. Rodriguez will also be competing in the Motocross des Nations representing his native country of Portugal. Rounding out the team for the 2006 season will be 17-year-old amateur sensation Jake Weimer. Coming off of six amateur national championships, Weimer will be looking to learn the ropes from his teammates and add some podiums to his resume in 2006.

"We are very excited to have this group of riders representing us next season. We feel this gives us an excellent chance to compete for multiple championships in both the 125cc and 250cc classes," said team manager JC Waterhouse.

Considered to be the premiere satellite Supercross/Motocross racing team, Factory Connection Racing will be entering its 10th season of racing in 2006. The team will make its 2006 debut at the AMA Supercross Championships, January 7, in Anaheim, CA. Windham will also be racing this weekend as part of the Motocross des Nations team in Ernee, France.

More From Team AMSOIL

Team AMSOIL motocross rider Bruce Buchanan out of Phoenix, Ariz. took a recent victory. Buchanan won the 50+ Non Pro race at the Speedworld Motocross Park on September 17.

Kendall Hebert

Big Bird Racing

Fred Gagnon

Sixteen-year-old Kendall Hebert is having a very successful rookie campaign. Hebert recently won the "Thunder By The Beach" Top Dragster class in her AMSOIL sponsored dragster over Labor Day Weekend. Last weekend, she won the Pro-Comp class (a combination top dragster and top sportsman car) at Windsor Weekend held at the Grand Bend Motorplex in Ontario. Hebert and her dad, who runs a drag modified Beetle, are sponsored by AMSOIL Dealer David Vlodarchyck.

Big Bird Racing is having a strong motocross season in Texas. Last weekend, the trio took home a first place overall finish that included one moto win and a second. Big Bird Racing is sponsored by AMSOIL Dealer Thom Wofford.

Barry "The Colt 45" Sorenson grabbed his sixth "A" Feature win of the season on September 2 at the Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, Iowa. The win helped Sorenson secure the season points championship. He finished the year with seven feature wins and 17 top-5 finishes. He also made all 23 features in his #45 AMSOIL/CJ Rayburn.JD Wyman Ford Taurus.

Brandon "Red" Monson also captured the 2005 IMCA Modified points championship at Shelby County Speedway. The AMSOIL backed driver picked up two feature wins and 17 top-5 finishes. AMSOIL Dealer Greg Neve sponsors both drivers.

The Fred Gagnon race team took to the track in Quebec on September 10 and came away with a podium finish. After a fourth place finish in their heat race, Gagnon was able to move up one spot to a third place finish on Friday night at the Sept-Iles Speedway. Teammate Denis Girard also had a strong night of racing by finishing first in every race he entered on Saturday. Girard leads the series over Gagnon by 44 points. Both drivers are sponsored by Pièces d'autos Sept-Iles and AMSOIL Dealer Yves Perron.