Taylor Gets in the Groove & on the Podium to Podium at Bark River
Belvidere, IL (July 13, 2010) - Scott Taylor was looking to rebound from the uncharacteristic performance during the opening weekend of the 2010 TORC season in Crandon. The weekend proved to be eventful early on, but by Sunday afternoon the Miller Welders AMSOIL RoushYates BFGoodrich Tires Ford F-150 was in the groove.
Friday afternoon the Bark River Lions Club scheduled a practice and test session for all the TORC competitors. Taylor Racing took advantage of the track time to test a new brake configuration. During the five lap session Taylor had the #8 Ford F-150 diving deeper and deeper into the corners when disaster struck.
Late in the session Taylor was heading into the braking zone after the Monster Energy Hill, when the front brakes unexpectedly locked up. The truck hit the concrete wall fairly hard bending the left front control arms and tie rod. Scott quickly headed back to the transporter as Mike, Kevin, Dustin, and Alan were already waiting with tools in hand. Within an hour, the team had Scott ready for Round 3 action. In fact, Scott could have made the second practice session, but didn't want to press too many panic buttons within the team.
The Saturday afternoon Round 3 race saw Scott take the first few laps to make sure the brake system was working properly. The reserved approach the first half of the race put the Miller Welders Ford in sixth place at the halfway point of the race. The second half of the race saw Scott become more aggressive and was able to move up to fourth place by the time the checkered flag came out.
"We came out of this round without any issues," noted Scott Taylor. "I wasn't real comfortable with the truck's braking at the beginning of the race, but as the laps wound down I started to get back in the groove."
Overnight the team didn't have any out of the ordinary issues to address and the truck was race ready by dinnertime.
Sunday's race saw Scott take the lead just before the end of the first lap. Just before the mandatory caution the Miller Welders Ford caught a rut, getting the truck out of the groove just long enough for MacCachern to take over the lead. Then just after the mandatory yellow, Johnson made contact with Scott as the two trucks headed down the hill. Somehow Scott kept the truck headed in the right direction, but the shove was enough for Johnson to move up one position. At the flag Scott Taylor was slightly battered, but not bruised as the #8 Miller Welders AMSOIL RoushYates BFGoodrich Ford-150 landed on the final spot of the podium.
"Today I was much more aggressive and it showed in our results," explained Scott Taylor. "Over the years Bark River hasn't been one of my best tracks, so I fairly happy with a third place finish. I pretty pumped up to get to the short track at Oshkosh. In the last year we won on the short tracks at Texas and Perris and I had a good run going at Vegas as well. Again thanks to all the guys on the team, Kevin, Mike, Dustin, and Alan they are the best crew in the series."
Next Race: July 23-24, Oshkosh, WI.
Don't forget you can watch all the archived TORC race action and well as live racing from Oshkosh @www.torcseries.com
Taylor Racing thanks all their supporters including:
Miller Electric - BFGoodrich Tires - Automatic Transmission Designs - AMSOIL - Roush-Yates Engines, Ford Trucks, Russ Wernimont Designs, King Shocks, Walker Evans Racing, Ringers Gloves, MSD Ignition, Autometer, K & N Filters, Boatec, and Phil's Inc.
Taylor Racing still has marketing opportunities available for the rest of the 2010 season.
- www.taylorsoffroadracing.com
- Mike Reusche, mtgraphics@ymail.com
