Sticker Dude Motorsports WSORR Bark River I Race Report

Zoetmulder Moves up in the Standings, Federico Podiums Round 6, O’Donnell Unable to Compete

Lake Zurich, IL (July 17, 2007) – Sticker Dude Motorsports arrived in Bark River without Lee O’Donnell, as his crew discovered a serious engine problem on Thursday. Undaunted, the crew at Race Fab thrashed all night, repairing his motor. Early Friday, saw O’Donnell’s truck take a few laps on Race Fab’s test track. Unfortunately, the powerplant was hurt more than realized, keeping Lee O’Donnell on the sidelines for the weekend’s festivities. This left it up to Luke and Steven, to display the team colors and sponsors of SDM.

Friday morning before practice, the area newspaper, Escanaba Daily Press, interviewed several race teams, including Sticker Dude Motorsports. The real cool part to the publicity was that the editor choose to feature SDM on the front page of Saturday’s edition. The article included a large full color photo of the team, under the United Trailer awning, prepping the Toyota powered race vehicles for practice.

Super Buggy
Luke Zoetmulder and his #942 Sticker Dude Designs Invisible Glass Hankook Tire Toyota Super Buggy looking for solid finished that would move the team up in the Super Buggy Championship standings. The weekend of racing at Bark River International Raceway accomplished his goal with solid driving performances.

Round 5
The start saw the Hankook Tires hook up with the FAT Performance Toyota power, as Luke won the drag race to the first corner. As the race went on, Luke battled with several veteran competitors. At the finish, Luke came home a very satisfying seventh place.

Afterwards, Luke Zoetmulder discussed his day with BUMPRACER.COM.

Luke, tell us about how your race went today?
“The FAT Performance Toyota power got me the holeshot. Then a few of the front runners in the class got under me. I made a few mistakes, that cost me a couple of spots, but all in all, it was a pretty good run for the Sticker Dude Designs Invisible Glass Toyota Super Buggy. We ended up seventh, which is a good result for the amount of time I’ve had in the buggy.”

Any issues that need special attention, as you prep for Sunday’s race?
“The back end of the chassis is bottoming out on the ground. I’ll deal with it tomorrow. When we get back, I’ll have Probst Motorsports design a different oil pan for the motor, and possibly make a change to the lower engine cage. Really, it’s just the usual Saturday night prep, and we’re good to go.”

Round 6
The #942 Sticker Dude Designs Invisible Glass Hankook Tire Toyota Super Buggy came out strong, right from the start. The natural terrain track is very demanding, as the size of the ruts and holes grow larger as the weekend progresses, a condition Luke knows well from time competing in the WSA Snocross series. Using his past experience, Luke fought and passed several drivers, as the laps went on.

When the checkered flag fell, Luke came across in a well deserved sixth place.

"We finished sixth today, and it moved me up four positions, to 8th, in the overall standings," stated Luke Zoetmulder. "My goal is to finish my rookie year, in Super Buggy, in the top 6. I'm still getting used to the buggy. I'm learning to drive with a new style tranny. It's much different from my old Single Buggy. I have to realize with the new setup, wherever you point the buggy, that's where it's headed. The Hankook tires have such great forward bite. I just need to adapt my driving a bit. While I was doing battle with Schwalbe, I started to get out of sync with the Buggy. I had to remind myself to run my own race, and when I did, I had a better handle on everything. I'm looking forward to coming back here, next month."

PRO-Light Truck
Without teammate Lee O’Donnell competing this weekend, Steven Federico and his #24 Invisible Glass PF Chang's Hankook Tire Toyota Tacoma, knew podium finishes would be a must to ensure maximum television exposure for the team’s awesome sponsors, and, of course, to move up in the championship points standings.

Round 5
The start saw Steven Federico, and his #24 Invisible Glass P.F.Chang's Sticker Dude Designs Hankook Tire Toyota Tacoma grab the holeshot, with #1 Kincaid right on his bumper. Throughout the race, the #24 fought a suspension setup that caused the Toyota Tacoma to “bike” on a couple of corners. This allowed two of his competitors to get around the Invisible Glass Toyota. With three laps to go, Steven got sideways coming off the “Back 40” jump, with the throttle still wide open, rocks and gravel got up into the wheel and ripped the tire’s valve stem. This slowed his pace considerably. A quick trip to the pits for a tire change kept the team on the lead lap, but fell to eighth place at the checkered flag.

“We tried a different shock setup today, but with the cancellation of practice, we didn’t have any time to test it. I got the truck up on two wheels several times in the corners. This allowed Hord and Schmidt to get past me. Then, with a couple of laps to go, I made a mistake going over a jump. This caused the truck to land sideways, really hard, and it tore off the valve stem and flattened the tire. Tonight, we will make the front shock changes to get the truck more stable in the corners.”

Round 6
The start once again saw the #24 grab the lead going into Turn One, with Kincaid immediately applying the pressure to Steven. The race saw the #24 Toyota Tacoma battle with the best PRO-Light drivers in the country. Kincaid, Hord, Schmidt, and Steven battled the entire ten laps. At the checkers, Steven crossed the finish line in second place. This was Steven’s second runner-up finish of the year.

Afterwards, BUMPRACER.COM caught up with Steven, as he talked about his day.
“These Hankook Tires are awesome. While we were all waiting for the signal to get in the trucks, I told a couple of the drivers that these Hankook Tires will get me to the first corner, out in front. Both days, the Hankooks put all of the Goodwin horsepower to the ground, and gave me the lead. Congrats to Chad; he’s always fast here. We’ll get back to the shop, review what we learned this weekend, and look forward to grabbing that top spot. Along with Luke getting the holeshot yesterday, I think Hankook will be selling more tires.”

This puts Steven Federico in fifth place, just eleven points out of second place, in the WSORR PRO-Light Truck Championship standings.

Next Race: Aug. 10-12, 2007 - WSORR Rounds VII, VIII & IX - Bark River, MI

For more information about Sticker Dude Motorsports and its supporters visit:
Invisible Glass – www.invisibleglass.com
Hankook Tire - www.hankooktireusa.com
Team Sticker Dude Racing – www.stickerdudems.com
PF Chang's – www.pfchangs.com
Toyota – www.toyota.com
United Trailers – www.united-trailers.com
TRD – www.trdusa.com
Vehicle Dynamix- www.vehicledynamix.com
American Racing – www.americanracing.com
Nielsen Enterprises – www.nielsens.com
Polaris – www.polaris.com
Autometer – www.autometer.com
F.A.S.T. – www.fasthelmets.com
Sponsorhouse – www.sponsorhouse.com
Kicker Audio – www.kickeraudio.com
Phil’s Inc. – www.philsinc.com
Mechanix Wear – www.mechanixwear.com
Racing Optics – www.racingoptics.com
Gatorade – www.gatorade.com


- Mike Reusche, marketing - MTG

 

-Mike Reusche, marketing - mike@mt-graphics.com