Douglas Motorsports BorgWarner Race Report
Douglas Motorsports Struggles through Crandon El Cajon, CA (September 6, 2007) ? Douglas Motorsports came to Crandon for the BorgWarner Off-Road World Championships, looking to repeat their 2006 Labor Day weekend performance. Last year, the team won both points races, and the BorgWarner Shootout. Unfortunately, the 2007 edition was a battle against man and machine. Friday - BorgWarner Shootout Qualifying Scott Douglas qualified the #7 AMSOIL Precision Gear KC Hilites American Racing Kumho Tire F-150 third fastest, just 34 hundredths of a second off the time of the pole winner. After qualifying, Scott and team engineer, Bill Smith, decided to make a gear change, as well as, a spring change on the truck. The next morning practice, the #8 AMSOIL Kumho Tire Ford F-150 was the fastest truck in practice. It was over a half second quicker than the rest of the field. With that kind of an advantage, the team felt confident they could repeat their 2006 Labor Day weekend performance. Saturday ? Round 10 When the green flag fell, the #8 AMSOIL Kumho Tire Ford quickly grabbed the hole shot into Turn One, traveling at over 100 mph. Then #11, Adrian Cenni, made hard contact with the right rear of the Scott?s truck, sending the AMSOIL Ford on its side and then violently, cart-wheeling over the guard rail, and landing on another portion of the track. The race was immediately red flagged, as safety crews rushed to Scott?s aid. Fortunately, Scott was able to walk away from the incident, but the truck was done for the weekend. Almost immediately, Bill Smith and his crew went to work prepping the ?01? backup truck. Sunday morning, Scott Douglas took some time to discuss the events that caused the crash. ?Before we talk about the incident, I just want to mention that the changes the crew came up with for Saturday morning were awesome. The times we turned in practice really had the competition covered?. Well, at the start, the Kumhos got a great bite. They came out with a new design, just before this race. We got down to the corner first, clearly in the race line. Adrian was on the inside, running against the inside wall. This made his turn much sharper to get around the corner. At one point, I was about two lengths in front of him. The speed he was carrying makes it almost impossible to hold the inside line, around the corner. The g-forces run you out of the corner. When he couldn?t make the corner, he pushed up into the turn and caused a violent hit into the back of us. It wasn?t just a rub. It sent the truck flipping into and over the wall. He just took us out.? The Sunday morning practice session was cancelled in order to keep the racing on schedule. This left Douglas Motorsports without an opportunity to fine tune the setup on their ?01? backup truck. Sunday ? Round 11 The points race saw Scott take the green flag, and was in the lead heading towards Turn One. Just before the #7 AMSOIL Kumho Tire Ford entered the turn; the right front axle broke, leaving the truck with only rear wheel drive. Undaunted, Scott pressed on, looking to land on the final podium spot, at the finish. As the checkered flag flew, Scott Douglas finished fourth. Quickly, the team regrouped, replaced the broken axle, and prepped the truck for the BorgWarner Shootout. ?If we had practice this morning, the axle would have broken then,? stated Scott Douglas. ?Without the axle breaking during the race, the outcome of today?s points race would have been much better for the AMSOIL Kumho Tire Precision Gear Ford F-150.? BorgWarner World Championship Manufacturers? Shootout The start saw the field of PRO-4x4 trucks begin catching the PRO-2WD trucks by the third lap. At this point, Scott was fourth in line among the 4x4s. On lap eight, of the ten lap event, Scott and the other top 4x4s had made their way past all but one 2WD truck. At the same time, the AMSOIL Kumho Ford F-150 was battling #17 Renezeder for the final spot on the podium. When the final lap was completed, Scott Douglas crossed the line as the third 4x4 truck, fourth place overall. ?I got caught up in some of the 2WD traffic today. Sometimes I was right on Carl, then he?d get away, and then I?d make ground up on him,? commented Scott Douglas. ?Then we went by each other a time or two. Todd almost spun me, heading for the first jump, but by the time I gathered it up, Carl had gone by again. Congratulations to the winner of the BorgWarner Shootout winner, Johnny Greaves. He and his team always work hard at the game and are great competitors to run with. After the race Johnny mentioned to me that he was glad I wasn?t hurt from the Saturday crash, and relieved that we weren?t able to bring back the ?06? truck for the Borg. I guess our Saturday practice times really did have the competition thinking.? Now, we?ve got about a week to get our ?06? truck back together and head out to Antelope Valley, and then turnaround to get back in time for the finale, in Wheatland.? Next race - September 15-16 ? Championship Off-Road Racing ? Antelope Valley Fairgrounds-Lancaster, California Douglas Motorsports would like to thank all their supporters: AMSOIL, Kumho Tires, Ford Trucks, Precision Gear ,Sycuan Resort & Casino, Alloy USA, KC Hilities, American Racing, BorgWarner, Miller Electric, Raceline Oil Pumps, Mastercraft Seats, Stewart Warner, J & H Transmissions, Fox Shox, Ringers Gloves, Hawk Performance, Howe Performance, Phil?s Inc., Pro Power Racing Engines, Scott USA, and McKenzie?s. For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Jackie Douglas. - DMSpro4@aol.com - www.douglasmotorsports.com -Mike Reusche, Marketing - MTG Douglas Motorsports www.douglasmotorsports.com dmspro4@aol.com -Mike Reusche, MTG, marketing mike@mt-graphics.com