Douglas Motorsports had high expectations for the final weekend of the race season, but after the four-days of practice and racing the AMSOIL Rusty's Off Road Products Cooper Tire Walker Evans Racing KC HiLites team left the Off-Road World Championships in Crandon, Wisconsin with a couple of unanswered questions. The team secured third overall in the TORC Series presented by AMSOIL PRO-4x4 Championship, but a couple of issues prevented the team from reaching their goals.

The forty-seven edition of the Labor Day weekend event saw an increased number of race entries in all the classes competing at the largest short-course race of the year. Due to the size of the field, PRO practice took place throughout much of the Thursday as the actual competitions were still scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The open Thursday PRO practice session saw Scott Douglas turn laps that were consistently near the top of the time charts. This really gave the team confidence that a great weekend was in store for Douglas Motorsports.

 

Saturday's final round of the TORC season saw the #7 AMSOIL Rusty's Off Road Products Cooper Tire Walker Evans Racing KC HiLites truck come out of the land rush start and through Turn One in fifth place. Suddenly engine temperatures began to climb and after four laps Douglas pulled off the track in order to save the powerplant. This resulted in an eighth place finish. The finish garnered enough points to give Douglas Motorsports third place in the final PRO-4x4 Championship standings.

Afterwards it was determined that rocks thrown up during the start entered the engine compartment and dislodged the water pump and alternator belts.

 

Undaunted the crew completed all the necessary inspections ensuring the Goodwin Competition powerplant was operating at peak performance as well as the usual between race prep work.

 

The Sunday afternoon World Cup race saw a great performance that was nullified by race officials. Scott Douglas and the AMSOIL Rusty's Off Road Products Cooper Tire Walker Evans Racing KC HiLites were putting on a great show for the over capacity crowd at Crandon. Scott along with Doug Fortin and Keegan Kincaid had a battle royale for second place as the laps came to a close. With just three laps to the finish, Douglas and Kincaid entered the Polaris Gravel Pit Turn side by side. As Kincaid came down from the high line and Douglas drifted up from the low line, the two made contact which resulted in the #7 AMSOIL truck controlling second place.

As the race was ending race officials determine to penalize Douglas for the contact moving the team down three places in the finishing order.

 

After a quick turnaround the crew had Scott Douglas ready for the $47,000 AMSOIL Cup. Twenty trucks lined up for the largest and most honored race in the sport of short-course off-road racing. Unfortunately, Douglas Motorsports suffered a fuel delivery issue just as the field entered Turn One for the first time. Realizing the truck would not perform at its best, Douglas retired after the opening lap.

 

"The weekend started out with such great promise. Saturday's race was just a freak occurrence. The Sunday World Cup race the truck was really hooked up, but the race officials though I initiated the contact, but really the corner is so wide that there are two distinct lines and we just came together. It was just good hard racing. This weekend was the first time our engine had fuel injection during an actual race. The added performance really showed in the World Cup race, but it was the cause of our lack of performance on the final race of the weekend. This season our team went through some changes that made Douglas Motorsports an improved group. We didn't reach our goals for the season. The wins at Chicago and Charlotte were definitely the high points. Regardless of this weekend's outcome, the truck was really fast and there's still more we left on the table"

"Once again I'd like to thank all our partners that make our racing possible especially AMSOIL, Rusty's Off-Road, Cooper Tire, Walker Evans Racing, KC HiLites and all our product partners. After a couple days Douglas Motorsports will be back to work looking to win the 2017 Championship."

Rugged Radios, Raceline Oil Pumps, Allstar Performance.  

 

- Race Report/Pics: Douglas Motorsports