Douglas Motorsports TORC Bark River Off-Road Race Report

Bark River, Michigan—After finishing first and second in rounds five and six of the TRAXXAS TORC Series presented by AMSOIL in Oshkosh, Wisconsin the Douglas Motorsports team was clearly on top of their game heading back to Bark River International Raceway for rounds seven and eight. Douglas has only missed the podium once this season and that was in round four when hard contact from another truck took the number 7 AMSOIL Kumho Ford out of the race.

In practice Friday afternoon, Douglas only completed one lap before the primary race truck lost an engine. Typically, that would mean a long night of work by the crew to replace the engine, but Douglas Motorsports is one of the few professional short course teams who come prepared with a backup truck for just such circumstance. The backup truck has actually already won a race this season; other than a few minor differences, Scott is quite comfortable jumping from one truck to the other.

Douglas started round seven fourth on the grid and was able to stay out of the fray through turns one and two and on the first lap picked off Steve Barlow for the number three spot. Bark River’s high speed sections make it a very difficult place to pass. Scott challenged the leaders several times but was unable to advance finishing the race in third.

“We had a great run going and our plan was to be in the top three before the mandatory yellow so we could go dicing with whoever was left. That worked out and I was right there with them on the restart. The roost off the rear tires from one truck is bad, but the roost of two is even worse. I had to try different lines and do what they weren’t doing. Sometimes that works and I thought that was my only chance but unfortunately wasn’t an advantage this time,” commented Douglas on his sixth trip to the podium in seven rounds of TORC Series racing.

In practice Sunday morning, Scott broke a spindle in the rhythm section ripping the right front tire from the truck. Bark River has a reputation for being hard on equipment and that was certainly proving to be the case this weekend. The Douglas Motorsports crew replaced the right front suspension assembly and were confident that the few minor adjustments they made from Saturday’s setup would deliver more speed on Sunday.

Douglas started round 8 on the inside of row two and quickly moved into the lead on the first lap. Coming into turn one on the second lap, the number 7 AMSOIL Kumho F-150 was slammed with a one-two punch from the Toyota’s of Johnny Greaves and Rick Huseman. Greaves slid into the right rear of Douglas’ truck in the slick corner, turning him. Then Huseman hit the right front breaking the fender and front bumper pushing his way past. Fortunately, the damage was mostly cosmetic and Douglas got back on the gas to chase down Huseman.

The contact was just the first of three times Douglas would be spun by other trucks causing the loss of position. Each time Scott gathered it up and moved back to the front. Douglas was running in second on the final lap with just four turns to go when he was hit and spun for the final time dropping him back to fourth just off the podium.

Understandably angry at the outcome, Scott commented “It’s a shame that almost every pass today was made on heavy contact. The hood and fenders have been on this truck for the past five races, we don’t drive that way. These trucks are $250,000 pieces of art and they are out here driving like we are in demolition derby cars.”

Rounds 9 and 10 of the 2010 TRAXXAS TORC Series presented by AMSOIL are scheduled for August 25th and 26th at the Route 66 Speedway in Chicagoland, IL. Douglas Motorsports would like to thank all their great fans and sponsors, including; AMSOIL, Kumho Tires, Baileigh Industrial, KC Hilites, MasterCraft Seats,  Fox Shox, Walker Evans Racing Wheels, Raceline Oil Pumps, Miller Electric, BorgWarner, Ringers Gloves, Hawk Performance, Howe Performance Power Steering, J&H Transmission, MSD, Peterson Fluid Systems, and Phil’s Inc.