Ruppel Motorsports - TORC Bark River II Report

RUPPEL ONE POINT BACK OF STOCK TRUCK LEADER, CHAMPIONSHIP WILL GO DOWN  
TO THE WIRE

Chetek, WI (August 14, 2009) ? After back-to-back wins at Oshkosh,  
Eric Ruppel and his #837 Phil?s Inc. Art Carr Trail Ready BFGoodrich  
Ford F-150 were looking to continue its streak of podium finishes at  
Bark River. The weekend didn?t exactly go as planned, but the team was  
still in second place when everyone packed up and headed home.

During Friday?s afternoon practice, Eric noticed an immediate loss of  
power. Quickly, he got back to the hauler to find out what was the  
problem. Ruppel Motorsports crew of Kramer, Ewert, and Scott pulled a  
cylinder head and found a bad head gasket. Fortunately, the engine was  
turned off soon enough before serious damaged was done. The crew  
replaced both head gaskets, and had the truck ready to go before  
Saturday?s opening ceremonies.

Saturday?s land rush start saw the white and blue Ford F-150 line up  
on the front row, but second from the end of the row. It was not the  
best of starting positions. When the green flag fell, a fellow  
competitor slightly nudged the Art Carr equipped Ford-150. Quickly,  
Eric applied the pressure to the Centric brake pads and Stop-Tech  
brake rotors in order to avoid hitting the outside wall of the first  
turn. By the time Eric was able to get through the corner; he was back  
in seventh place.

Then a lap later, in the same turn, another race made contact and spun  
the #837 Ford. This put BFGoodrich Ford in the back of the sixteen  
truck field. Eric quickly got back on track, and made up a couple of  
spots when the mandatory yellow flag was waved.

After the field went back to green flag racing, Eric really put the  
truck through its paces. The #827 Ford F-150 passed several more  
trucks to finish in eighth place. In was not the finish the team was  
expecting, but it did salvage valuable championship points.

Sunday?s Eric Ruppel has a much better start. He quickly moved into  
third place, and began challenging #817 Mitch Dorr for the runner-up  
spot. On lap three while Ruppel and Dorr were racing side by side in  
the rhythm section, Dorr?s right front ball joint broke ending the  
battle. The rest of the race saw Eric gradually chasing down the  
leader, but ran out of laps before a serious challenge could be made.  
The second place finish definitely salvaged the weekend.

?We worked really hard Friday night replacing the head gaskets,? noted  
Eric Ruppel. ?On Saturday?s run we were in the wrong place at the  
wrong time, twice. Somehow the truck finished in one piece. Then I had  
a great race going with Mitch, when his suspension broke. I really  
wanted the win so we could go to Crandon and have the points lead. The  
way it stands now, there are nine drivers in Stock Truck that still  
have a shot at the title. It?s going to be a wild Labor Day weekend in  
Crandon.?

Now with only two rounds of race to go in the 2009 TORC Stock Truck  
Championship, Eric Ruppel is one point behind the leader, Don Demeny.

The final weekend of racing in the Traxxas TORC Series presented by  
AMSOIL ? SRT Stock Truck Championship is September 5-6 at the ?Big  
House? in Crandon, WI.

Ruppel Motorsports thanks all his supporters, including:

Phil?s Inc. ? Auto Parts Warehouse,
Art Carr Transmission,
Chetek Off-Road,
BFGoodrich Tires,
A & J Landscaping,
Trail Ready Products,
Halama Synthetics ? AMSOIL,
Optima Batteries,
3DCS Video,
Fox Shox, Sunoco Fuels, MSD Ignition, Team Tech Motorsports,

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