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Sticker Dude
Motorsports Battles Adversity in Crandon
June 26, 2007
(Lake Zurich, IL) – The three drivers that make up Sticker Dude
Motorsports were looking for consistency in their driving
performance. The Pro-Light drivers, Steven Federico and Lee
O’Donnell, are veterans when it comes to Crandon International
Raceway. Luke Zoetmulder has competed at the “Big House” a few
times, and has time testing at this track, this past spring, looking
to gain an advantage on his fellow Super Buggy competitors.
The weather in
Crandon was incredible for early June. The skies were sunny, a
slight breeze, temperatures in the 80’s, and not a cloud in the sky
all weekend. This made for some incredible WSORR racing.
Round 3
Super Buggy
The start saw
Luke Zoetmulder in his #942 Sticker Dude Designs Invisible Glass
Hankook Tires Toyota powered Super Buggy come through Turn One in
good shape. At the end of the first lap, Luke found himself in fifth
place. On lap three, Luke got tangled in some traffic and slipped
back to the 12th spot. Undaunted, Luke gathered up the
Buggy and began working his way up the field. At the end of the nine
lap event, Luke crossed the finish line in eighth place.
PRO-Light
The field of
sixteen PRO-Light trucks headed down into Turn One and somehow
everyone came through unscathed. Lee O’Donnell and his #23 Invisible
Glass PF Changs Hankook Tire Nissan Frontier headed down the front
straightaway in the sixth position.
Meanwhile Lee’s
teammate, Steven Federico and his #24 PF Changs Invisible Glass
Sticker Dude Designs Hankook Tire Toyota Tacoma was right behind #23
Nissan. Then as the field came past the Barn Jump, Steven spun out
from a fellow competitor’s contact, putting him back in last place
at the end of lap one.
Steven was
charging hard as his Goodwin Performance engine was really making
the Hankook Tires work. Just as the #24 was making up some ground on
the front runners, the right front wheel broke. Quickly the team
made the tire change, but the stop put the #24 Toyota Tacoma one lap
down from the leaders. At the finish, Steven was credited with an
eleventh place finish.
While Steven had
his problems, teammate Lee O’Donnell had a race long battle for
position with #77 Vandenhuvel, while trying to catch the Toyota of
#63 Kandel. The entire nine lap race, #23 Nissan Frontier held the
sixth position.
Later in the
evening, Sticker Dude Motorsports discussed their day with
BUMPRACER.com
Luke Zoetmulder
“Today was a
learning experience for me. I’m still learning about the Buggy and
how to drive with all that power behind me. I made a few mistakes,
but came home in eighth. We have a fuel pressure situation we need
to work on for tomorrow, but the rest is just between race
maintenance.”
Lee O’Donnell
“We had a clean
start and quickly fell in line with the fast guys in the class. My
Nissan is a little short on horsepower compared Kincaid and Hord,
and at Crandon it’s hard to overcome the lack of horsepower. Overall
finishing a solid sixth, is fairly good, considering the level of
competition we run against. I really believe Hankook has hit a home
run with these DynaPro tires. They really hookup well in the Crandon
gravel. I can’t forget about Case Gunderson of Race Fab. He does all
the race prep on the truck, and it performs flawlessly. I get to the
track, jump in and drive. I can’t say enough about great prep work
by Case.”
Steven Federico
“The Goodwin
Performance Toyota engine has unbelievable power. The Hankook Tires
are just awesome, I was at the receiving end of some contact and the
truck looped right around, The broken wheel was caused a hard hit ,
from another racer. Tomorrow is a new day, and the PFChangs
Invisible Glass HankookTire Toyota Tacoma will be ready for Sunday”
Round 4
Super Buggy
The start saw
Luke grab the holeshot as he led the entire field down the Skybox
straightaway. On lap two Luke did a vicious barrel roll as he headed
into the “gravel pit” section of the track. Luke got out of his
Buggy feeling a little fuzzy, but okay. This quickly ended his
weekend.
PRO-Light
This time Steven
Federico grabbed the lead right from the drop of the flag. Then
suddenly Steven pulled the #24 Toyota Tacoma off the track. The
engine temperature had soared to 270 degrees, and a quick thinking
Steven turned off the engine to prevent any serious damage to the
powerplant. He officially finished in the thirteenth spot.
While Steven’s
race ended early, Lee O’Donnell has problems of his own. His
position in the second row on the starting grid prevented him from
reaching the front pack of competitors as they exited Turn One.
About halfway through lap one, Ponder and LeDuc tangled directly in
front of Lee. With nowhere to go, #23 Nissan Frontier piled into the
two stopped trucks. The contact and the time it took to get under
power again, put Lee almost a lap down.
A few laps later,
his hood broke loose and continually flapped up and down, blocking
Lee’s vision. A quick trip to the “Hot Pits,” fixed his flopping
hood, but now he was one lap down. At the finish, Lee was credited
with an eighth place finish.
Sticker Dude
Motorsports Post Race Comments
Luke Zoetmulder**
“I took a wild
ride today. The Buggy took a good hit today, but the damage is not
catastrophic. The suspension looks good, the intake manifold on the
engine is cracked, but other than that, it really held up well. I
feel a little foggy right now, but I’ll be good by tomorrow.”
Lee’ O’Donnell
“If you get stuck
racing in the back of the pack, there’s a good chance you might get
caught up in someone else’s mess. That’s what happened today. I’ll
get the truck back over to Race Fab and they will have ready to
contend for a podium in Bark River.”
Steven Federico
“Did you see that
holeshot. The Hankook DynaPro Tires are just awesome. Unfortunately,
a cooling problem ended our day way too soon. Goodwin came by
afterwards to check up on the motor, and luckily I shut it down
before any damage occurred. I love going to Bark River. It’s where I
got my first PRO division win. It might be a fight between teammates
for the top spot.”
Team
Sticker Dude would like to thank Donna Peplansky, Heartland Strategy
Manager, Toyota Mid-West, for coming to the race on Sunday. We
look forward to seeing Donna at more races, as Sticker Dude Motorsports looks to take Toyota to the winner’s circle during the
2007 WSORR season.
Current Sticker
Dude WSORR Points Standings:
PRO-Light
#24 - Steven
Federico - 6th
#23 - Lee
O’Donnell – 7th
Super Buggy
#942 - Luke
Zoetmulder – 12th
**On
Monday morning, Lee Zoetmulder did to get to a doctor, back home,
and was diagnosed with a mild concussion. The doctor ordered
several days of rest.
-Mike Reusche, marketing -
mike@mt-graphics.com |
