Ross Hoek Motorsports: TORC Crandon I Race Report

Holland, Mich. (July 8, 2015) -Ross Hoek came to Crandon looking to improve on the speed and pace of its PRO-4 race truck. The team had fought some gremlins early in the team’s 2015 race program, but the performance at “The Big House” has put Ross Hoek Motorsports back in contention for a podium finish.

The offseason as well as previous year saw Ross Hoek Motorsport make a considerable investment on driveline components and other improvements to get the team to the level of other PRO-4 teams. The race proven, championship winning RHM PRO-4 Chassis, is now equipped with all the right components and will definitely be one of the teams to watch at the remaining races.

Ross Hoek previously competed at the TORC St. Louis and Chicagoland events to prepare for “The Big House”, but rain combined with some pre-season gremlins prevented the team from getting ample track time to completely dial-in the upgraded RHM PRO-4. The veteran short-course racer is quite comfortable travelling 100 mph at the 1.7-mile long Crandon Off-Road Super Speedway, thanks to his years of competition which includes a PRO-2WD World Championship® title.Now Hoek is attempting to reach the same level in the fastest short-course trucks on the planet, PRO-4.

The two rounds of racing and the weekend ending Forest County Potawatomi Community Cup saw picture perfect weather. Something the TORC drivers haven’t seen much of this season. This allowed Hoek to use the practice, qualifying, and race session not only to maximize seat time, but also to gather valuable data about the truck’s performance throughout the weekend.

Ross Hoek Motorsports continued to have support from Automatic Transmission Design for the Crandon weekend, as the Wisconsin transmission builder is a long time supplier of the team.

The TORC rounds of racing saw the #10 Auto Trans Design PRO-4 run quicker as the laps progressed through the weekend. Saturday’s Round 7 saw Ross run in contention for a podium as he completed some passes as well as maintain the race pace with the veterans of the sport as he fought for position through every lap of the event. Round 8 was equally encouraging as Hoek battled to a top 5 finish.

Ross Hoek and the team then prepared for the Forest County Potawatomi Community Cup. The big payout, heavy metal challenge puts both PRO-2 and PRO-4 race trucks together for a wind and exciting ten lap sprint. The race can be more about surviving to the finish than competing for the top prize, as the racing contact can be quite extensive throughout the race.

Ross and his #10 ATD PRO-4 competed all ten laps, finishing as the fifth place PRO-4 overall in the running order. The race saw the Hoek continue to improve on his laps times, which made for a successful and productive weekend of racing.

“Our abbreviated schedule due to limited funds for this season, puts our team on a different program than some of the others in PRO-4,” commented Ross Hoek. “We want to race competitively and want to get in there and mix it up with the top teams, but for now we race for the future. My team really had our race truck performing well, and we know there’s more speed in the truck as well with the driver. The goal is to keep improving our program this year and hope to have partner on board to really get the team to the top level for 2016. In that regard I have to thank Charlie from ATD once again for all the support, as their transmission is the best in the business.”