PROBST MOVES INTO POINTS LEAD AT BARK RIVER RACEWAY - ROUNDS 5&6 WSORR

(New Lenox, IL ) – July 27, 2007. The team came once again to Bark River, MI., for the 3rd weekend of racing in the World Series of Off Road Racing for the 2007 Pro Circuit tour (WSORR). Arriving on Thursday, the team set up the pit area to ready the Simply WOW / JMR / TOYO Tires sponsored Pro 2 and Pro Lite for the weekend of racing.

With scheduled practice activities on Friday, the team readied and checked over the trucks to make last minute adjustments as they saw fit before the practice sessions later in the afternoon. Practice went well with Kevin Probst setting fast time in the Pro 2 division and George Schultz getting driving time in the Pro lite.

Saturday July 14, 2007
The morning practice sessions were cancelled due to a very heavy rain.
Pro 2wd
The team had all morning to double check the trucks and ready them for the first events of the weekend. Kevin was up first on the schedule in the Pro 2wd. Entering the race in 3rd points position only 4 points behind Oberg and Taylor, Kevin was in a good position to build on the good finishes in the first 4 rounds. At the start, Kevin took the holeshot and lead the pack through turn 1 and lap one. Pulling out to a big 10 second lead by lap 2 Kevin had Carl Renezeder charging hard to catch up. The #99 was running strong and everything looked great. The halfway point of the race saw Kevin loosing some ground to Renezeder. “There were areas I was faster, and areas Carl was faster.” Said Kevin. “but overall I was a ½ second slower in the lap times.” Carl caught Kevin and made the pass, Kevin returned the pass and the 2 drivers put on a great show for the crowd with back and forth racing. At the finish Carl took the win with Kevin in second and Taylor in 3rd.

Up next was the Pro Lite division driven by George Schultz. The Pro-lite duo of Jon Probst and George Schultz looked to improve on the disappointing weekend at Crandon and continue the development of the SimplyWoW Nissan and the first Uweld chassis. It turned out in the end to be a successful weekend.

On the start line, George lined the SimplyWoW Nissan up in the second row behind Chad Hord and followed Hord off the start. By the time lap 1 was over, Schultz climbed from 13th to 9th. He battled the next two laps with Josh Hintz and Dan Vanden Huevel Jr. George came over the Hill Jump and set-up for the mogul section. A caution flag flew for the stalled truck of Marty Hart at the end of the third mogul. When Schultz came out of the caution and tried to grab third, the transmission would have none of it. A main shaft failure caused the loss of 3rd and 4th gear. At that point, Schultz limped back to the pit and off the track, but George and the team made significant speed improvements getting much closer to the goal at year end of finishing on the podium.

The crew worked to find a spare main shaft for the transmission that failed during Schultz’s run. Luckily, Jim Kandell had one and let the team borrow it to get Jon Probst in the truck on Sunday.

Sunday July 15, 2007
Both trucks practiced and the changes made seemed to improve lap times. The team was ready for the Sunday races.

At the start of the Pro 2wd, Kevin found himself in the #1 points position after the second place finish on Saturday. Kevin was leading the points by 3 over Taylor and Oberg. This put the #99 on the grid in the 8th spot due to the inversion of the top 8 in points. The green flag fell, and Kevin had the misfortune of having 3 trucks run him into the wall outside turn 1. Some quick moves and some luck, and Kevin came around the 2nd and 3rd turns in 5th. Coming over the famous hill in Bark River, Kevin made passes bringing him to the 3rd spot. Coming down the pit straight, Evans (leading)blew the corner and went over the guard rail leaving Carl Renezeder and Kevin in the 1 and 2 spots with Taylor close in 3rd. The 3 raced the whole race never changing positions. Kevin finished 2nd increasing the points lead to 6 points over Taylor.

Jon played it smart at the start of the Pro Lite race, and laid back a little, taking to the outside groove and avoiding the melee. After the field sorted out, Jon methodically picked his was through the field. For a few laps, Probst followed Oberg from 13th to 11th and then Jon battled Vanden Huevel Jr for another two laps. The only damage of the day came from contact while battling Glenn Grint down the backstretch. But the combination of Jeff Probst Design horsepower and Toyo tires pulled the SimplyWoW Nissan ahead and into 7th place. As the white flag flew, Probst set his sights on fellow Nissan teammate, Art Schmitt. Jon came off the fall away jump and made an outside pass on Schmitt to lock down his season high and career best 6th place.

The SimplyWoW Toyo Tires team heads back to Bark River for the next three rounds of racing. George Schultz will take another shot on Friday and Sunday while Jon Probst will handle driving duties on Saturday in the Lite, and Kevin will handle the Pro 2wd duties in the #99. The Friday event is the make-up round for Lake Odessa from June 9. Both Schultz and Probst will look to improve and shoot for a podium finish, and Kevin will look to increase his points lead in Pro 2wd during rounds 7-9 of the World Series of Off-Road Racing at Bark River Off-Road Raceway August 10-12.

Probst Motorsports would like to thank our supporting partners.

SIMPLY WOW - www.simplywow.com
JMR Manufacturing  - www.jmrmfg.com
Toyo Tires - www.toyo.com
FOX Racing Shox - www.foxracingshox.com
Craftsman Professional Tools - www.craftsman.com
Nissan North America - www.nissanusa.com
MSD Ignitions - www.msdignition.com
FelPro - www.federal-mogul.com
KMC Wheels - www.kmcwheels.com
UWeld - www.uweld.com
Ringers Gloves/Mechanics Boots - www.ringersgloves.com
K&N Filters - www.knfilter.com
Phil’s Inc and MT Graphics - www.philsinc.com / www.mt-graphics.com
Whitaker Insurance - www.whitakerinsurance.net
Lucas Oil Products - www.lucasoil.com
Hypercoils - www.hypercoils.com
Indicom Electric Company - www.indicomelectricco.com
Timkin Bearings - www.timken.com/products/bearings
US Army www.armystrong.com

- Kevin Probst - www.probstmotorsports.com