Roger Norman will add to his repertoire of off-road racing competing in the 2011 W.E. Rock West Series with the Torchmate Racing Team.  “I am really excited to be able to learn and participate in the rock crawling series,” Norman said.  “Being able to be a part of the Torchmate team is great, it allows me to have a solid chance at learning from the best, in a proven machine.”

Torchmate Racing Team is naming Norman as their Pro-Modified Rock Crawling featured driver for 2011.  “After seeing how he seemed to be really excited about King of the Hammers and rock crawling, I think it is a good fit for everybody,” said Bill Kunz, Owner of Torchmate CNC Cutting Systems.  “It certainly shows Rogers dedication to the sport of offroad racing and to all the other competitors.  I just hope that he doesn’t get discouraged at first.  It is hard in the beginning, but I know he will be able to pick it up quickly.”  Torchmate Racing will completely prep and maintain the rock crawler at their facility in Reno, NV.

Roger Norman will have two of the best spotters in rock crawling on his team, Mike Shaffer and Lance Clifford. “Lance co-drove for me at the Baja 1000, but this is a much different tempo,” said Norman.  Clifford has spotted for three national championship titles, two with Shannon Campbell, one with Mike Shaffer and was a part of the Japanese National Championship with Tracy Jordan in 2009.  Mike Shaffer has competed in rock crawling since 2001, and among other successes was the spotter for Torchmate’s Bill Kunz when they won the 2008 CalRocks Championship.  “I wouldn’t trust anyone else more than these two guys to spot in the worst situations,” commented Kunz.

The 2011 West Coast W.E. Rock series consists of four competitions.  The opening round will be in Kingman, Arizona April 1-3, then to Oroville, California at Surplus City May 6-8.  The third round will be at the Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, UT the weekend of June 10-12, and the final competition round will be August 5-7 at Donner Ski Resort in the Sierra Nevadas.  “I think it is awesome and think it is good for Rock Crawling for someone like Roger to come over and compete and see how difficult and technical rock crawling really is,” said Rich Klein, President and CEO of W.E. Rock.  The last event of the year will be the Grand Nationals September 23-25 at the Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah.

More info: NormanMotorsports.com