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Waldvogel finds the Podium the Hard Way in Bark
River
July 17, 2007 (Fond du Lac, WI) The Waldvogel Off-Road Racing team
traveled to the Bark River Off-Road Raceway in the beautiful Upper
Peninsula of Michigan over the past weekend for rounds five and six of
the 2007 World Series of Off-Road Racing (WSORR). After a career weekend
in Crandon back in June with back-to-back victories, the expectations
were high and the confidence was probably even higher coming into the
weekend. Driver Dave Waldvogel held the second position in points and
looked to close the margin on point leader Ben Wandahsega with another
strong weekend at Bark River.
Bark River is a high-speed, high-flying Off-Road race track, including
the series largest jump, known by all series racers as “The Hill”.
Racers in the upper classes of WSORR routinely launch their trucks well
over 150’ during race events, sometimes cresting the 200’ mark, putting
on a spectacular show for the thousands of fans on spectator hill. The
crew at Bark River has been hosting races for over thirty-years, and it
has become one of the nation’s premier off-road racing facilities.
Round five started with Dave lined up second from the outside in the
land rush start. At Bark River, this typically is a large disadvantage,
as the start is angled to give competitors lower in points a better
chance to get to turn one first. On this day however, the amazing power
from the Wolverine Performance engine was channeled just about perfectly
through those Toyo Open Country M/T’s, and Dave pulled an amazing
hole-shot in his Bendix® Brakes Chevrolet, clearing the entire pack by a
full truck length into turn one. Dave battled with the Monster Energy
truck of Keith Steele throughout lap one, eventually putting a small
lead on him by the end of lap one. Dave continued to increase this lead
on lap two. During lap two, Dave noticed an apparent loss of power, and
a change in sound of the engine…of all the things that could go wrong, a
plug wire had come loose, and Dave now had his hands full as the rest of
the pack started to run him down. Dave continued to battle, but the lack
of power and poor running of the engine caused difficulty in cornering,
and even in jump entry, as one lap saw disaster nearly strike with the
Bendix Brakes truck landing hard on the nose off “The Hill”, nearly
rolling end – for – end, and tearing the entire front bumper and grill
off the truck. Dave battled on, and still had a chance at a podium
finish until the hood panel began to flip up and eliminate any
visibility. By the checkers, Dave held the fourth position. A
disappointment after a very strong start, but the team was ready to get
the truck back in winning form for Sunday.
Sunday’s start did not go as cleanly as Saturday’s, and as often happens
at Bark River, Dave was collected in a turn one incident, putting him in
the seventh position early in the race. Dave quickly moved up to fifth
within the first lap, and then continued to run consistent laps while
trying to track down the leaders. The truck ran strong and with one lap
remaining Dave made the pass on former class champion Dan Baudoux who
had developed steering problems to get the Bendix Brakes/Toyo Tires
Super Truck onto the podium in third place.
“Our goal is to hit the podium every race…with at least five or six
trucks in our class that can win in any race that is not easy...”
commented driver Dave Waldvogel. He continued to say, “…I’d like to
thank our sponsors for their great support, as well as some of the other
teams for helping us out. We needed an oil cooler after Saturday’s
incident, and Case Gunderson’s crew over at RaceFab hooked us up. Then
on Saturday night our welder went down, and we were able to borrow one
from Mike VandenHeuvel to finish up and get ready for Sunday. All in all
it was a tough weekend and I am proud of my crew for the great work they
did to keep us on the podium.”
Dave held onto the second place in the Super Stock Truck point
standings, with the next race to be held on August 11-12 back here in
Bark River. For more information, photos, videos, contact information,
and race reports, visit www.waldvogelracing.com.
The Waldvogel Off-Road Racing team is sponsored by Bendix® by Honeywell.
Bendix has been a leader in braking technology since 1924. For more
information on Bendix products and where to purchase, visit
www.bendixbrakes.com.
Waldvogel Racing is also sponsored by Toyo Tires, AMSOIL synthetic
lubricants, Phlox Auto, Allied Wheel Components, Fox Racing Shox, MSD
Ignition, Fram, Prestone, and Autolite.
For more information, photos, race schedules and reports, visit
www.waldvogelracing.com
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