 Wandahsega
Makes 2009 Debut
Team Wandahsega and driver Ben Wandahsega rolled into Crandon June
20th and 21st for rounds 5 and 6 of the Traxxas Off-Road
Championship Series with a brand new Pro 2 chassis. Only had 60 feet
on it, shop to the trailer. The goal for the weekend was simple.
Finish both races, get the feel of the truck and make whatever
changes to to improve the truck for the Bark River race.
The crew worked on the truck right up until the Friday practice.
With not knowing what to expect, Ben went out for the three lap
practice session and was very happy with how the truck handled off
the trailer. The Wegner motor ran perfect along with the ATD
transmission. The only thing that needed changed was a slight tire
groove change as the General Tires hooked up well in the loose
Crandon Dirt.
For Saturday's race Ben Started 12th out 17 trucks, his starting
position put him in the grass toward the end of the line. When the
green flag dropped, the truck spun hard due to the grass and he got
a less that desired start for his first race in the 2009 season. By
the time the competition yellow came out; Wandahsega was sitting in
the eighth position, then the next lap saw Ben lose his power
steering. With that gone, it's near impossible to drive one of these
trucks and Team Wandahsega would have to settle for a 14th for their
2009 debut.
For Sunday's race, Ben got a much better start as he ran eighth into
the first corner. The track really got tore up as the corners had
huge ruts in most of them. The truck handled every condition Ben put
it through. He was able to chase some of the other competitors down,
and prove that Team Wandahsega can run with some of the best Pro 2
racers out there. At the yellow Ben was in about the same place as
the day before. It came to an end when the transmission failed due
to a filter plug gasket, which let all the transmission fluid leak
out. At day's end Ben and Team Wandahsega were given credit for a
13th place finish.
The first weekend out was not a total loss. Ben did get valuable
seat time and used this race weekend as a test session to work out
some bugs and get a feel of things with the new truck. Now the team
knows what areas that need to improve and will have them corrected
for the Bark River race in 3 weeks.
The Team has high hopes for the next race and is planning on
finishing well at rounds 7 and 8 of the Traxxas Off-Road
Championship Series in Bark River on July 11th and 12th.
Special thanks to our great sponsors: Forest County Potawatomi,
General Tires, Automatic Transmission Design, TrailReady Beadlocks,
Ten Factory (Motive Gear), NEO Synthetic Oil, NPHPowertools.com, FK
Rodends, ER Energy Release, MuddOff, Autometer, Sticker Dude,
Meier's Signs, Lofholm's Building Center, Kobas Electric, Tom.
Muff-ex, and Mix 106FM.
To view the latest news, press releases, photos and info on Ben
Wandahsega and Team Wandahsega point your browser to:
www.benwandahsega.com
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