Huseman Gets Third Win in a Row on Wedensday for Monster Energy/ Traxxas/ Toyota/ BFG
Pressure Mounts for Weekend Showdown at Crandon Intl
Joliet, IL (August 26, 2010)—Rick Huseman and his Monster Energy/ Traxxas/ Toyota/ BFG team arrived in the windy city for special mid-week races carrying a narrow lead over Johnny Greaves and Scott Douglas following his back-to-back wins in Bark River. The Traxxas TORC Series, taking on a new venue at Chicagoland's Route 66 Raceway, was hoping to build its fan base by taking advantage on NASCAR's truck series races being held at the adjacent Chicagoland Speedway on Friday. NASCAR's Kyle Busch would race in the Pro 2WD class adding to the excitement of the week.
Rounds 9 and 10 proved pivotal for Huseman leading up to the short turnaround for the season finale at Crandon International Raceway on Labor Day weekend. He would take the win on Wednesday along with the Oakley Bomb Award for the fastest lap. Thursday's race however would be a different story—Rick suffered a broken shock due to contact with Steve Barlow and had to make an early exit from the race. Johnny Greaves went on to claim the win and the points lead by only 2 points, setting up an incredibly thrilling and tense championship weekend.
USAC converted the Route 66 Raceway oval dirt track into a challenging and technical configuration consisting of a lot of jumps, a huge tabletop jump, very rough whoops and rhythm sections that zigzag through the infield section of the track. The long back stretch allowed the powerful 800 hp Pro 4x4 trucks to wind out their motors. Rick used turn one as a launching pad as he would rocket, wicked fast across the back stretch.
Wednesday's race was very exciting from the green flag to checkered. Rick started from the third row. By lap 3, he had move up to the 2nd position behind Johnny Greaves. On lap 4, Huseman took the lead momentarily as the two continued to battle side-by-side and nose-to-tail. Greaves regained the lead just at the competition caution. As the field fell in behind the pace truck, Johnny pulled off the track to fix a tire, relinquishing the lead to Huseman.
On the restart, Scott Douglas was able to move to the lead, but Mark Jenkins flipped bringing out the red flag. On the restart, Huseman went on the attack, ducking to the inside of Douglas. But Douglas was able to hold him off. On lap 10, Mike Jenkins flipped, bringing out the red flag once again. As the field bunched back up, Huseman and Douglas battled side-by-side across the front stretch with Huseman powering his number 36 Toyota to the lead as the two entered the back stretch. Rick began to pull away from the field to claim his 4th win of the season.
As the pressure begins to mount heading into championship weekend, the racing intensified to a new level for the Thursday race. Curt and Kyle LeDuc joined the TORC Series this week and added a lot of excitement to the mix. Curt flipped hard on lap one and Kyle rolled on lap three. Kyle would continue in the race. As the field of nine trucks jockeyed for position, Steve Barlow and Kyle LeDuc were exchanging licks and using up most of the track in the process. Rick tried to go around the outside of turn one where he had great success in Wednesday's race. The rear of Barlow's truck swung around and made contact with the left front wheel of Huseman, knocking the reservoir off of the shock and ruining the suspension of the Monster Energy number 36. Rick tried to stay on the track but eventually had to pull off, unable to continue in the race.
"We were really looking to finish well here this evening," said Huseman. "The standings are so tight and we wanted to put a little cushion between Johnny and me. It is going to be a very intense Crandon."
Rick Huseman and his crew will take the short drive to Crandon and spend the week getting the truck ready for the showdown in rounds 11 and 12 of the season finale at Crandon International Raceway on September 4-5. The Off-Road Championship will premiere on Discovery Channel's HD Theater this Thursday, September 2nd at 8pm and 11pm EST.
2010 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series
2010 Traxxas TORC Series