Holland, Mich. (July 22, 2014) – The second visit to Bark River International Off-Road Raceway saw Ross Hoek battle his way to another podium finish with the #10 Nitto Tire/TR Beadlock/Shop-Vac PRO-4×4. Despite some adversity throughout the weekend, the Ross Hoek Motorsports team stayed focused and kept their driver on the track and running strong during both rounds of racing.

The 1.4 mile long natural terrain track had one change since their first visit in June as a tabletop jump replaced a double jump along the County Road straightaway. During the Friday evening practice session, Hoek adapted to the track change well and at the same time found a few issues with truck, most notably inconsistent brake pedal pressure.

The next morning saw the PRO teams hit the track for their three la p qualifying session, the small issues from the night before were corrected, and Hoek was ready to go. Unfortunately on the opening lap the right front wheel hub broke ending the session before a lap time could be recorded. This meant the #10 Nitto Tire/TR Beadlock/Shop-Vac PRO-4×4 would start Round 9 at the tail end of the field.

Once again the crew stepped up and quickly went to work replacing the hub assembly and all the related components that were damaged from the incident.

Round 9 would be a ten lap race with the typical mandatory caution after lap five. When green flag racing began, Hoek drove a very solid race avoiding more than a few on track mishaps as he worked his way to a third place finish. This was the team’s second podium finish in as many races.
After grooving up a new set of Nitto Tires and making a few more chassis adjustments, Ross Hoek was ready for another ten laps at Bark River.

Round 10 saw the starting inversion (based upon the previous race finishing order) put the Nitto Tire PRO-4×4 on the second row of the starting grid. The race saw Hoek hold his ground throughout the race to finish just off the podium in fourth place.

“We fought some issues with the brakes this weekend and the hub issue during qualifying, but my guys kept after it all weekend,” remark Ross Hoek. “We’re finishing races and know we can run solidly in this class, now it’s about finding more speed to run up front consistently. I’m still learning how to drive this high powered four wheel drive animal and I know with the support of my crew our race program will continue to progress.”