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FINAL ROUNDS 2007 WSORR AT THE LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY The Team of Kevin and Jon Probst came to Wheatland, MO., for the final rounds of racing in the World Series of Off-Road Racing for the 2007 Points Championship tour. Racing the #99 Pro 2wd Chevy, Kevin came into the weekend 19 points out of the lead in 3rd only 6 behind the #2 spot. Jon’s #5 came in with high hopes to finish the season with a podium finish, a goal set at the beginning of the race season. The team came to Springfield for the O’Reilly Street Rod Nationals a week earlier to help promote the new venue, in front of the anticipated crowd of 40000, and to get them to show up in Wheatland the next weekend, with the added bonus of checking out the track and having some input into the design of the newest track in the series. Both Kevin and Jon were eager to race the new track with the technical aspects of tight track and high jumps in very demanding corners. The added practice time was a sure winner for the younger Probst with the laps creating added stick time prior to the following weekend’s event for points. Friday afternoon had a scheduled practice session for all classes, and the new track proved to be demanding for the vehicles with many having difficulties negotiating the course. Kevin and Jon did one round of practice and called it good, ready for the race the following day. Saturday. Jon’s Pro Lite race was up first and at the green, Jon made good moves to make jumps to the # 7 spot by race end. Starting in the rear with the split points from the season, Jon ran a good consistent race keeping equal lap times and staying with the top 6 trucks for the complete race. It was great experience for Jon and showed the capability of the truck and the driver. The Pro 2wd event was next with Kevin’s # 99 starting on the front row in the # 5 spot. At the green, Kevin came through turn 1 in 3rd and managed to get into second place by the next corner. Running toe to toe with Evan Evans, Kevin maintained the 2nd spot for 7 laps. “The truck was running great; we were in position to make significant gains to the championship point’s battle.” Said Kevin. In the eighth lap, a shock shaft bent and eventually broke, causing the # 99 to try to maintain a good finish without hitting the jumps. Kevin ended the day in 7th after a great run early. Sunday Pro Lite was up again before the Pro 2wd. Jon started in the 13th spot and at the green went to work to gain positions. Lap by lap Jon kept the pressure on and kept out of trouble. The race was full of carnage with many of the lead trucks taking each other out. Art Schmitt rolled his truck, as did several other drivers. Chad Hord took control of the field and ended the day in first taking the championship from Jeff Kincaid who was taken out by another driver. Jon kept pushing and making moves to improve and ended the day in the 4th position. A great finish to the season just one spot short of the goal we made at the season opener to have the Pro Lite Nissan on the podium. The learning was steep and Jon made the most of the added seat time to end the season with his best career finish. Pro 2wd had Kevin starting in the #4 spot. At the green, Kevin came through turn 1 in 4th with a blanket covering the field. Turn 2 was a tight left hander with hard blue groove clay and little traction. Kevin made the pass of the day in the 1st lap 2nd corner by passing the top 3 trucks in one corner. “I saw the other lead trucks sliding out by entering the corner to fast to stay tight, so I broke early and let the Toyo tire hook up completing a slide pass on all 3 front trucks.” said Kevin, “It felt great to make a move like that on that field”. Kevin and Oberg kept the pace with the 2 trucks battling for the lead. Kevin kept the lead lap by lap winding down the race. Oberg broke a shock leaving Taylor in chase. Kevin, maintaining a comfortable lead over Taylor was not in danger of loosing the spot. Taylor kept pace but could not gain. On lap 9, Kevin came over the flyer going out of the stadium into the outside area of the track and when the #99 landed another shock shaft broke ending the chances to finish the race with the win. Kevin limped the truck home to end up 6th. Taylor took the win and the points title. The Simply WOW / JMR / TOYO tire Pro 2wd truck ended the season in the 3rd spot behind Taylor and Oberg. We had a great season started and some suspension issues took us out of 3 races that would have brought us to the championship weekend in a better spot. We will spend the off season building a new truck and will work out the shock issues that cost us a few races this season. “The Fox shocks are the best shocks I have ever driven, even with a couple material issues with the shafts; I know the engineers at Fox will correct the problem we had with our shock shafts. Fox shocks made a significant improvement in our performance, and are the shocks for our team” said Kevin. The team would like to say thank you to all the fans and supporters who came to see us all season and helped us make the 2007 season a good and fun season in WSORR, and a special thanks to Bud and Karolyn our friends from Kansas City who come to all the races and help out. We are looking forward to 2008 and beyond with all our Sponsors and Friends. See you at the next event! 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 Whitaker Insurance Lucas Oil Products www.lucasoil.com Hypercoils www.hypercoils.com Indicom Electric Company www.indicomelectricco.com Timkin Bearings US Army www.armystrong.com |
