What a weekend it was in Bark River, Michigan. We had a fast Liquid Wrench truck when we unloaded on Friday and we continued to make huge gains throughout the afternoon’s practice sessions. It was the most confident I’ve been in the truck all year coming into the race.
I started in the 3rd position for Round 7 on Saturday and quickly made the pass up into the 2nd spot. I was absolutely sprinting in the early laps trying to get into the lead and give myself some room to breathe. The roost was so intense that getting into the lead and into clean air early was crucial. I made a small mistake trying to make the pass and got the truck up on 2 wheels; I was able to save it but had to go off the track to do so. From there I just settled back in and started picking off other trucks on my way back to the front. I used all 30 of my tearoffs in just the first 5 laps and from there I was having to wipe my shield just to see. A little more drama was introduced when the truck took a rock to the radiator and we began to lose coolant with 3 laps to go. As I watched the temps climb, the McGunegill engine began to lose power and I fought with everything I had to hold on to that podium position. Although I knew we had just acquired a bunch of costly engine damage, I was very much encouraged with our performance and proud of another podium for our team.
From there, we had all hands on deck getting the truck ready for Round 8 on Sunday. We were up until 4:30 am changing to our back-up engine, installing a new radiator, and also a new transmission that we found had some abnormal signs of wear. With just a couple hour nap, the whole team was back at it putting the finishing touches on the #21 Pro Light and making test laps. Everything was good to go!
Currently sitting 2nd in points, I started in the 5th position after the Top 6 points invert. When the green flag flew there was a bunch of early race contact but I was able to battle through it and get into the 3rd spot by the competition caution at the halfway mark. I had gotten word that the points leader had dropped out of the race so I knew I needed to capitalize. We began the restart logging the fastest lap of the race while leaning on 2nd place and the leader was in sight. At that time, some of the earlier race contact reared its ugly head when our right front spindle broke going into a high speed left turn and the truck piled itself into the outside wall. A race that was looking so promising for a win and our championship hopes quickly ended. But that’s racing and I can’t be disappointed with our blazing speed and the huge effort our crew put in this weekend just to get our truck on the track. It was our first DNF in 34 races; a streak nearly unheard of in off-road racing and strong stat for our team to hang their hat on.
I’m very encouraged by our weekend at Bark River and proud of everyone that makes this all possible. There is plenty of racing left and this weekend proved that anything can happen.
An article by Cam Reimers Cam Reimers Motorsports
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