AMSOIL Duluth National Starts Friday

The AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series debuts this weekend in Duluth, Minn. as the AMSOIL Duluth National Snocross runs Friday through Sunday at Spirit Mountain.

This year’s event features several new twists, including freestyle and a longer racetrack, for the much-anticipated start to winter.

AMSOIL will be hosting several fan contests, including one that will connect fans with the 15 pro riders in the AMSOIL Pro Open final on Sunday.

Also new is Friday’s Monster Energy Slednecks Invasion Tour, showcasing jaw-dropping back flips and other acrobatic talents by Slednecks team riders. The 50-minute extreme freestyle performance starts at 7 p.m. and is followed by fireworks at 8 o'clock.

Approximate starting times are:

. Friday — 10 a.m.-8:15 p.m. (Pro Autograph session at 6 p.m.)
. Saturday — 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (Pro Autograph session at Noon) Pro and semi-pro racing in the afternoon
. Sunday — 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (Pro racing starts at noon)

Tickets are:

. 3-Day Adult Pass — $46
. 3-Day Youth/Senior Pass — $40
. Daily Adult Pass — $25
. Daily Youth/Senior Pass — $20

With approximately 1,000 entries and 35,000 fans for the weekend, there is no on-site spectator parking. Parking and shuttle service is available at the Proctor Fairgrounds for $8 (per vehicle) and at Mr. D’s and the Powerhouse for $5.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.

Tomac, Barcia Lead AMSOIL Charge at Mini O's

Gainesville, Fla. and the Gatorback Cycle Park marks the home of the annual Winter National Olympics, or Mini O's. The motocross event is one of the final amateur races for 2008 and AMSOIL is being well represented this week by a pair of aces.

As being reported by Vurb Moto, Team AMSOIL/Geico rider Justin Barcia held off a hard charging contingency of riders in the first heat of the 250 Pro Am Division race on Monday. Barcia grabbed the holeshot and had to fight off Blake Baggett early and Derek Rogers late for the win.

Team AMSOIL newcomer Eli Tomac was fast in qualifying, but Jason Anderson was even faster. While Anderson, who is considered the fastest intermediate in the country, took the win, it was Tomac who showed off his exceptional riding ability by overtaking AJ Catenzaro for second in the 250 B Division race.

Supercross racing continues on Tuesday and Wednesday with the Motocross classes starting on Wednesday and ending on Saturday.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.

AMSOIL Duluth National Commercial

The AMSOIL Duluth National sncross race now a week away and the last minute preps are being tended to.

In Aurora, Minn., Team AMSOIL owner Steve Scheuring is set to unveil a three person trailer this year. Back is Winter X bronze medalist DJ Eckstrom and fellow pro rider Shaun Crapo. New to the team in 2008-09 will be semi-pro rider Ryan Carey (left). The sleds will all get a new look and the final prep works is being done to the sled this weekend.

As for the AMSOIL Duluth National, the track crew has been working for weeks to build enough snow for the redesigned track that will now stretch down one of the ski hills at Spirit Mountain. You can check on the snow conditions at Visit Duluth.

AMSOIL is also the title sponsor for the reformed ISOC series. The national tour will be known as the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series and will hold races in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York and Quebec. Below is the commercial for the AMSOIL Duluth National. Ticket information can be found at http://www.visitduluth.com/.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.

Championship Off Road Racing Cancels Final 2008 Race

Press release issued by CORR

Championship Off Road Racing has regretfully announced the cancellation of its final race weekend of the 2008 season scheduled to be held in Chula Vista, California on December 6–7, 2008.

Championship Off Road Racing, CEO Jim Baldwin made the following statement:

“The current national financial crisis has impacted our series to the degree that it has become impossible to produce the quality off road racing experience that our fans, racers and sponsors have enjoyed. While it has been our most sincere effort to hold this final event, every possible avenue was exhausted before reaching this difficult decision. Although we have been forced to prematurely end the current season, we are strongly committed to providing the ultimate off road racing experience on the most extreme tracks while continuing to grow the sport. We apologize to our sponsors, teams and especially to our loyal fans for any inconvenience that this has caused. Our commitment to this sport, sponsors, the teams, and fans that support us is unwavering. We will continue to vigorously pursue our objective: To build the most exciting nationally recognized short course off road racing series in the country.”

CORR is in the midst of establishing a solid 2009 race schedule. This confirmed schedule, to be released shortly, is comprised of twelve rounds of racing to be held on six weekends in 2009. There are currently discussions underway with the objective of increasing that number to as many as eight race weekends and 16 rounds. We are working to assemble a revised business plan that will reflect the steps necessary to overcome the current economic challenges. Our sponsors have shown us that they understand the current economic climate and have expressed their desire to participate with us in seeing this sport blossom. The significant investment made in CORR has brought huge crowds, national exposure, and some of the most exciting racing ever seen in the dirt.

Championship Off Road RacingTM brings high-action, four-wheel motorsports, including two wheel drive and four wheel drive trucks to closed-course, off road arenas.

Practice at Planet X for AMSOIL Duluth National

Sled Head 24/7, the production company for the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series, will be at Planet X in Aurora, Minn. on November 22 to join practicing riders and crews prior to the AMSOIL Duluth National at Spirit Mountain on Thanksgiving weekend.

Sled Head 24/7 will be filming the season’s preview show for the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series. This season Sled Head 24/7 will be following all the ACSS events and featuring them in entire episodes, in addition to the traditional shows covering happenings in the snowmobile world.

Also, racers will also have the opportunity to meet some of the ISOC staff and hear more about the upcoming snocross season. Sled Head 24/7 will also have a camera on Sunday at Quadna Mountain Park, Hill City to interview and film racers not able to make it to Planet X on Saturday.

Riders of all levels and ability are invited to join us at Planet X, from pro to beginner. The weekend will not entail formal racing organized by ISOC, but the track will be open for testing, practice and some practice heats will be organized throughout the day.

Planet X is open as of today to the public. Riders can purchase a daily pass for $100, season passes can also be purchased. The track can be contacted at (218) 229-3362.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.

The 2008 racing season has come to an end for the AMSOIL sponsored Big Dawg/TailGator team and Doug Noelke finished off another successful year.

Noelke was crowned the Monster National racing champion for 2008. He competed in 30 multiple-show events this year, a little over half of those with both trucks.

Even thought the racing season is over, the work has just begun. The Big Dawg chassis is undergoing a major overhaul. The chassis was totally stripped, reinforced, sandblasted and painted. The engine has been disassembled and is currently being "freshened up." Noelke will begin to reassemble the truck to get it together for the first show on January 9-10 in Huntington, W.V. The TailGator chassis is undergoing some minor changes, including adding wheel tethers. The first show for TailGator is also Huntington, W.V. on the Monster Nationals Tour.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.

Teague Wins World Championship

Team AMSOIL offshore powerboat driver Bob Teague can add another World Championship to his Hall of Fame resume.

Teague, along with driver Paul Whittier, showed off some impressive speed and maneuvering at the SBI Key West World Championships this past weekend in Key West, Fla. The three race schedule in the Super Cat class saw Team AMSOIL win round one last Wednesday and finish second in a dogfight on Friday with the Popeye's boat.

"They pushed, whacked and chopped us all race long," said Teague. "We had more speed, but we just couldn't get around them safely."

Team AMSOIL headed into Sunday's double points final with the overall lead, but still had to deal with a hard charging Popeye's until the final laps. Team AMSOIL jumped off the start and led the entire race. Popeye's got close with just a few laps to go, but over aggressive driving almost caused the Popeye's boat to flip over.

"We got a great start and really nailed the set-up," said Teague. "We were ahead by about eight seconds at one point. Popeye's got close and we almost flipped, but when we regained control and looked in the mirrors, we lost site of them and they were out of the race."

Along with the SBI World Championship, Teague and Whittier also won the OPA championship and the OPA Triple Crown, the OSS points championship and the OSS National Championship.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.

Teauge Takes Early Lead at World Championships

The annual SBI Key West World Championship powerboat race is heating up in southern Florida this week and AMSOIL Super Cat drivers Bob Teague and Paul Whittier are one step closer to defending their title.
Wednesday marked the opener of the three race event, and the AMSOIL boat skyrocketed to an early lead. Teague and Whittier found a clean line and handily won their class race.

''Paul found a 15-foot-wide lane between two boats and we had clean water,'' said Teague. "Clean water is everything.''

The second race opens at 10 a.m. Friday (EST) and the final event is Sunday, when racers will run double the number of laps as in the previous two races for double the points. All three races count towards the SBI World Championship.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.

Freestyle Tour Joins AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series

National snocross fans have another reason to be excited for the 2008-2009 AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series (ACSS). Monster Energy drink and Slednecks will bring their high-flying freestyle antics fused with music and attitude to the national venues this winter.

Featuring the biggest names in freestyle and the biggest name in energy drinks, the Monster Energy Invasion Tour will further infuse the national snocross tour with aerial action and the world’s best snowmobile athletes. With the recent success and awareness of ESPN’s Winter X Games snowmobile freestyle competition, the International Series of Champions went right to the top of the food chain when it came time to bring the attitude of freestyle to the national snocross tour. Now they will showcase their talents alongside the best snocross riders in the world on the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series stage.

“The success of Invasion Tour has been sick,” said John Keegan, president of Slednecks. “With a couple of world record jumps in the books, we wanted to take the tour to the next level and the ISOC national tour was the obvious choice. Now we’ll have the best athletes in both snocross and freestyle together at the biggest snowmobile events in North America.”

The Monster Energy Slednecks Invasion Tour will showcase the talents of Slednecks team riders such as Chris Burandt and Aleksander Nrordgaard. During the show, fans can grab free Monster Energy drinks; score free Slednecks and Monster swag and after the show get autographs from the athletes.

“We want to give our fans the best show possible,” said John Daniels, president of ISOC. “Freestyle has become a huge part of the snowmobiling community and we wanted to figure out a way to incorporate it into our snocross show. Partnering with Slednecks and Monster Energy allows us to bring the best freestyle athletes in the world to the national snocross tour. It’s going to be a snowmobiling circus people will not want to miss.”

The AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series and Monster Energy Slednecks Invasion Tour will kick-off this November 28-30 at the AMSOIL Duluth National at the Spirit Mountain ski area in Duluth, Minn. The AMSOIL Duluth National will feature three days of racing, freestyle, music, fireworks and more and signifies the launch of the racing season.

For ticket information and lodging reservations visit the Visit Duluth website at http://www.visitduluth.com/ or by calling 1-800-4-Duluth.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.

SEMA: Traxxas Cuts to the Chase

This article was written by Scott Rousseau from Dirt Sports.

Attendees who make it a point to stop by the Traxxas display at the SEMA show in Las Vegas will have the opportunity to see a pretty awesome display of Mike Jenkin's Traxxas /AMSOIL/Ford Pro 4 short course truck. The brand new truck, which features a "cutaway" body to give viewers a true insider's look at the engineering that goes into a CORR race vehicle, is on a whirlwind two-stop tour before undergoing testing for the 2009 Championship Off Road Racing season, according to Damron Atkins, Marketing Manager for Traxxas.

“Basically, this is our 2009 season truck, our new Pro 4,” Atkins said. “It is a state-of-the-art chassis. When you see the welds on it, they’re unbelievable. It has more steering throw, and the geometry has all been updated. Before it hit the dirt, we wanted to be able to display at two back-to-back trade shows. The first was one of our industry tradeshows in Chicago, called the iHobby Expo, and the second one is SEMA.”

Atkins said that the truck was well received at the iHobby Expo, and Traxxas is looking forward to displaying the vehicle at SEMA.

“There was always a crowd around it,” Atkins said. “We set a television inside of it and had a CORR promo running the whole time. We were really introducing the hobby to the world of short course off-road racing. Most people don’t have the opportunity even at a race to see what is under the bodywork. Now at SEMA we’re going to give tons of motorsports fans the opportunity to the behind-the-scenes of the truck."

The display is ample evidence of Traxxas’ dedication in promoting the sport of short course off-road racing.

“We’re promoting the sport from inside our industry, and we are looking to promote our hobby-quality radio control cars to the off-road industry,” Atkins says. “SEMA is even broader than that, of course. It showcases entire motorsports industry.”

You can check out the cutaway CORR truck and the Traxxas line of race-ready R/C vehicles, which now includes a licensed Scott Douglas AMSOIL replica truck.

Rinker Champion Again

Tim Seebold may have won the battle in Naples, Fla., but it was AMSOIL driver Terry Rinker who won the war.

Seebold led wire to wire and won over a hard charging Shaun Torrente in the sixth and final ChampBoat Series race of the year. Rinker, who entered the day 53 points ahead of Torrente for the season long championship, battled lapped traffic for much of the 60 lap finale, but still finished fourth on Lake Avalon. The Tampa, Fla. native was able to keep a 23-point margin for his fourth championship in the past six years and his first since his 2006 Perfect Season (7-0).

“We had to bite our tongues to force ourselves not to push too much today,” said Rinker. “The goal was the championship not the race and the crew did everything asked despite the pressure we were going through to come home with the ultimate victory.”

Rinker will take part in the Performance Racing Industry trade show in Orlando, Fla. in December. AMSOIL is the Official Oil of the F1 ChampBoat Series, which will air on SPEED channel starting in early December.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.

Rinker Extends Lead Heading Into Final

Five time ChampBoat Series champion Tim Seebold might be starting on the pole for Sunday's final in Naples, Fla., but AMSOIL driver Terry Rinker extended his championship points lead with a strong round of qualifying on Saturday.

Rinker and Seebold traded wins in their heat races on Saturday with Rinker setting the pace during the Time Qualifier that started the qualifying process. Seebold will get the nod on the pole over Shaun Torrente and Rinker after he set the fastest heat time, which is different than the Time Qualifier. Torrente, who is second overall in the points race to Rinker, won his two heat races, but finished slower than Rinker and Seebold in the Time Qualifier.

Once the math was calculated on Saturday night, it was shown that Rinker had extended his championship lead from 49 points to 53, meaning he doesn't need to win the 60-lap final on Sunday, but will to stay close to Torrente and Seebold to wrap up his fourth title in the past six years.

The final round of the 2008 F1-ChampBoat Series will take place today at 4:00 pm on Lake Avalon in Naples. AMSOIL is the Official Oil of ChampBoat. For more on yesterday, check out the local NBC story.

Until then, we'll see you at the races.