Casey Currie Race Report from Bark River, MI

Anaheim, CA (August 17, 2010)—Casey Currie Motorsports loaded up the V8/Pro Light Monster Energy/ Ford and took the long journey from Anaheim, CA, to the upper peninsula of Michigan for rounds 7 and 8 of the Traxxas TORC Series this past weekend in Bark River, MI. Casey was hoping to improve on the two second place finishes in Oshkosh a few weeks ago. A good performance would be important in order to hang tight in the points with leader Marty Hart. Casey would walk away from the weekend’s action with yet another podium, a second place finish on Sunday, but a miscue on Saturday cost him a good finish.

The Bark River track is a “drivers’ track” and arguable one of the fastest tracks in the series. It snakes its way around hills, gravel pits, a cemetery, and features a huge jump called Monster Energy Leap. The Bark River Lions Club has been putting on this race for 35 years and has offered some very exciting off-road racing in its fabled history.

Saturday: Slip, Sliding Away

Currie starting from the number 3 position on row 2 and got off to a great start. He hit the inside line of the horseshoe shaped holeshot to land in 2nd as the field rounded the corner into the front stretch in front of a huge crowd of more than 10,000 screaming fans. Marty Hart was in the lead and began to stretch his lead going into Cemetery Corner with Currie in hot pursuit. Currie knew there was something wrong though as the track felt slipperier than normal. He was struggling to keep his Ford pointed in the right direction and just before the AMSOIL sweeper on the back stretch; Casey’s Monster Energy Pro Light took a 180 degree spin. The entire field went by before he could get going again.

Casey would battle back to as high as fourth, only to spin again. He ended the race in the sixth position.

Currie said following the race: “The BFG’s were fine. I just think we made a huge mistake by not resetting the tire pressure in the rear. That made the truck really hard to drive. We will regroup and do better tomorrow.”

Sunday: Redemption

With another opportunity to set things aright on Sunday, Casey Currie lined up his number 2 machine in the pole position. When the green flag flew, Casey got a great jump, winning the holeshot and into the lead through turn one. Behind him, a hard charging Marty Hart was picking off competitors one-by-one, eventually catching Currie to take the lead before the start/finish line on the first lap.

Casey was sitting in the second spot and began to feel pressure from Andrew Caddell. Caddell tried several times to pass but Casey was able to hold him off until the competition caution. Caddell took second as the yellow flag flew at the midway point.

On the restart, Marty Hart had the front position and was able to win the race to turn one. Casey got a great run down the hill and moved to the inside of Caddell to try to make the pass. Caddell blocked the line causing Casey to have to check up to avoid a collision. As the top three went nose-to-tail through Cemetery Corner, Marty Hart suddenly lost power, sending Caddell and Currie scrambling to avoid the broken Hart machine. Caddell advanced to the lead as the front runners sailed over Monster Energy Leap. Caddell and Currie would finish the race 1 and 2 with Luke Johnson rounding out the podium.

“The BFG’s were working great today!” said a happy Currie from the podium. “The guys worked really hard to get the truck ready so that we would have a chance to rebound from yesterday. We’re going to be testing this week to get the truck dialed in for Chicago. We definitely need to step our game up if we are going to make a run for the championship in these final races.”

Casey will try to narrow his 13 points standings deficit at the next race which will be at Chicagoland’s Route 66 Raceway on Wednesday, August 25th-26th. The season finale will be at Crandon International Raceway on Labor Day weekend. Reruns of the Bark River race can be seen on the TORC Series’ website: TORCseries.com or on USAC’s USTREAM portal.

Be sure to watch the TORC Series’ premiere on the Discovery Channel’s HD Theatre in high definition coming next month in prime time. The 26 hours of exciting off-road drama, captured on multiple high-performance RED digital cine cameras, will air every Thursday at 8pm and 11pm EST beginning Sept 2nd, meaning primetime series coverage on both the East and West coasts.

Casey Currie Motorsports would like to thank all their Partners:
Monster Energy, BFGoodrich Tires, Currie Enterprises, Magnaflow Exhaust, Motive Gear, American Wire Harness, GoPro Cameras, Goodridge, K&N Filters, Kawasaki, Kicker Audio, King Shocks, Leatt Brace, HJC, MasterCraft Safety, Oakley, CBR Radiators, Sign Pros, Simple Green, Torco Oil, Pro Am.