Ross Hoek Motorsports: Crandon World Championship Weekend Race Report
Holland, Mich. (September 12, 2016) – The Ross Hoek Motorsports, Automatic Transmission Design PRO-4 ended the 2016 TORC Series presented by AMSOIL with a “never quit” attitude as the team ran very competitive laps at the Crandon Off-Road World Championships. Unfortunately the overall results really didn’t represent the effort and pace the #10 RHM ATD PRO-4 ran during the largest short-course off-road racing event of the year.
The team had a rough start to Thursday’s practice session as a seal failure cut short the scheduled full day of practice for Ross Hoek. The unit was replaced and the truck was prepped for Friday’s parade and Saturday’s final round of the 2016 TORC season.
The RHM team worked late into the night Thursday putting a new body and new graphics package on the RHM PRO-4. The Friday parade is a great opportunity for teams to show off the race vehicles and marketing partners to thousands of people during Crandon’s annual Main Street event.
Saturday’s nine lap TORC season finale saw the silver #10 PRO-4 truck in contention for the early holeshot heading into Turn One. The great start put Ross battling for a podium position until just past the halfway point of the race when contact with another competitor broke a front drive axle. This reduced the truck’s pace which resulted in a lead lap finish of seventh place.
The team replaced the axle and went to work with chassis and suspension adjustments giving Ross an even faster and quicker race truck for the PRO-4 Crandon World Cup and the AMSOIL Cup. Running well is vitally important as both races will be televised on NBC at a later date.
The first race of the day, the PRO-4 Crandon World Cup saw the RHM “Silver Bullet” have another great land rush start. Unfortunately the truck was involved in heavy contact just past the Barn Turn forcing Ross into the wall and breaking a front wheel as well as other suspension components. This resulted in an early retirement from the race.
Once again the crew went to work replacing the damaged suspension components preparing for the $47,000 “winner-take-all” AMSOIL Cup. With only twenty minutes until the start, Ross Hoek had the truck ready for the ten lap sprint. The AMSOIL Cup is a PRO-2/PRO-4 challenge race that gave the two-wheel drive trucks a head start over Hoek and his fellow PRO-4 racers. The race has twenty entries and it runs a very hectic pace without a halfway caution lap. This year two-wheel trucks seemed to have the advantage as Keegan Kincaid took the win unchallenged for the big paycheck. Ross Hoek ran a solid race as he kept the truck out of any serious incidents to finish as the fifth PRO-4 and tenth overall.
With the season complete, Ross Hoek finished sixth overall in the 2016 TORC Series PRO-4 Championship which included a podium finish at Spring Crandon.