Douglas Motorsports CORR Chula Vista II Race Report
Douglas Motosports Soldiers On at Chula Vista El Cajon, CA (October 3, 2007) ? The second visit to ?the Quarry? in Chula Vista, for CORR rounds 7 & 8, was the fourth race event in the month of September for Douglas Motorsports. Scott Douglas was looking to gain ground in the CORR championship points standings. The cross-country schedule saw the team begin the month in Crandon, WI, then compete in events in Lancaster, CA, Wheatland, MO and finally in Chula Vista, CA. During the month, Scott Douglas and #7 AMSOIL Kumho Tires Sycuan Resort & Casino Precision Gear KC Hilites Miller Electric American Racing Ford F-150 competed in ten rounds of racing. Friday Practice & Qualifying The ?06? Ford F-150 ran very quick during the practice sessions. The team made a couple of minor adjustments for its qualifying run. Scott qualified on the front row, just .012 seconds off the pole winner. Saturday PRO-4 ? Championship Round 7 The rolling start saw Scott settle into second place, as the field came out of turn one. While racing through turn two, #43 LeDuc made hard contact with Scott, pushing the #7AMSOIL Kumho Ford F-150 into the concrete barrier. This bent a front upper control arm and broke a rear sway bar link. Fortunately, Scott was able to continue, but now trailed the entire PRO-4 field. Even with the ill handling truck, Scott was able to work his way up to sixth place. Then, with four laps to go of the fifteen lap event, the damage to the rear suspension caused a rear shock to break, dramatically slowing the pace of the #7 Ford F-150. Scott soldiered on, looking to gain valuable championship points, and brought the truck across the finish line in eighth place. ?I don?t know what else could happen to us, after today,? commented Scott Douglas. ?The hit from behind, put us into the wall, and really upset the handling of the truck. Then the broken rear sway bar that was still attached to the truck somehow caught the shock reservoir and broke that. Even with a severely wounded truck, we were able to finish on the lead lap. We have some work to do tonight, but we will be ready.? Sunday The Sunday morning qualifying session put Scott Douglas third fastest. The team had two races to run on Sunday, and decided to run at a conservative pace for the Cup race, and concentrate on the championship round that would be later in the day. PRO-4 Baldwin Cup Qualifier The start saw Scott and the #7 AMSOIL Kumho Ford F-150 running in a solid fourth place. Then, just before the competition yellow flag, a basketball sized boulder came rolling down the track, directly in Scott?s race line. The truck made contact with the boulder and the right rear tire went flat. Quickly, Scott headed into the Hot Pit to make a tire change. The crew made the change in record time, keeping the #7 Ford F-150 on the lead lap. When the field resumed racing, Scott was now in the back of the back, trying to regain his fourth position. The race traffic was intense, there was racing contact everywhere. Some of the contact involved Scott and ultimately broke the left front shock. This slowed his pace considerably. Scott Douglas crossed the finish line in sixth place. Now, the Douglas Motorsports crew had only two hours to repair and prep their ?06? race truck. The damage in the front suspension could not be repair in the allotted time. The team made the decision to run the ?01? backup truck, for the final race of the day. PRO-4 ? Championship Round 8 The decision to run the backup truck put Scott at the back of the starting grid. By the end of the first lap, Scott had passed eight trucks, and was running in sixth place. As the #7 AMSOIL Kumho Ford F-150 was completing the second lap, another competitor pushed Scott into the inside concrete wall, at the start/finish line. This caused a flat tire and other damage to the truck. The stop in the Hot Pit, to change the tire, put the team down a lap. Once back out, Scott stayed clear of any trouble, and finished eighth. ?Afterwards, Scott Douglas commented, ?Never have I had such a fast truck, and been so prepared for a race than this weekend. Absolutely nothing went our way all weekend. The contact from competitors, the freak boulder rolling the down the track, it just wasn?t our weekend. If there was anything I learned, is that it?s much more difficult to stay away from contact in the back of the back. It seemed like we had a bulls eye on us all weekend. I can?t say enough about all our sponsors; the Kumho Tires continue to work awesome, the AMSOIL always keeps our engine and transmission temps down, and thanks to everyone from Sycuan Resort and Casino that came out to support us. Thanks to Miller Electric, we really put their welding equipment to work this weekend.? After this weekend of racing, Scott Douglas is in third place in the CORR PRO-4 Championship chase, and in tenth place in the Jason Baldwin Memorial PRO-4 Cup standings. Next Race: October 19-20, CORR-Texas Motor Speedway ? Fort Worth, TX. 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