Torchmate Racing Has A 4 Car Finish at Silver State 300

CC | May 20, 2011

Torchmate Racing had four cars cross the finish line at the Silver State 300; one Class 1000 and three Class 4400. In a valiant effort, Class 1000 Mike Shaffer placed third in their second race in the new car. Also in a new car, JT Taylor placed 4th in the 4400 class with Roger Lovell placing 12th and Jesse Haines placing 9th securing himself a place in the 2012 King of the Hammers after completing the 300 mile desert race.

Best In The Desert’s Bilek Silver State 300 proved to be a good test for the improvements made by the Shaffer-Motorsports crew to the Torchmate 1066 car. Starting last in Class 10, by the end of the race 1066 finished a very respectable third in class. Reaching nearly 100mph on several sections, the Torchmate 1066 car’s Turnkey tuned Ecotec motor screamed through the eastern Nevada desert. “It’s amazing how that stock, little 4 cylinder takes off like a rocket once you get in the power band,” noted Bernie Strom. “The Fox Shox suspension setup is way better than what we started with at Parker,” added Shawn Twitchell. “You can push and toss this car a lot now.”

JT Taylor, Torchmate Racing Manager and Driver, drove the #4413 Ultra4 car with co-driver Shannon Powell. This is the second race this car has competed in, with an outstanding 4th place performance. “We drove 200 miles and at over 111mph with no brakes! Thanks to Shannon Powell calling perfect turns we kept a good pace throughout the race,” said JT Taylor. “The hardest part was knowing that we could catch the cars in front of us if we had brakes to use in the hunt.” With a few other minor issues the team worked its way from the very back of the pack to the front with lots of great in-car camera shots shown in the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26jVrdWJx-4
Jesse Haines and co-driver Rich Klein knew that they needed to finish in the top 10 to qualify for King of the Hammers, “Our game plan was to run a smooth, consistent race starting at the back of the pack,” said Haines. “Early in the race we were moving at a good pace and passing quite a few Ultra4’s. When we stopped at pit 1 our crew told us we were the 13th car through the pit.” The mount for the carrier bearing on the front driveline broke off the frame which took them a bit to fix and once back on course they went right back to the game plan and made up for lost time. It was a pretty typical day of desert racing; plenty of dust, some exciting passes, some blown turns, a couple flats, speeds over 100mph, and enough banging around to make you sore for a few days. They came across the finish line well before dark and finished 9th in class securing a spot in the 2012 King of the Hammers. Since last year’s Silver State 300 race Haines has finished four Ultra4 races in a row with pretty respectable results.

Roger Lovell finished the race in 12th place. “After last year, our plan was simply to outlast the other trucks,” said navigator Brad Lovell, “We set a strong pace and focused on making the truck survive the whole race.” By race mile 100 the brothers had gained position without pushing the truck past the limit. The team’s plans were working as many other teams were stopped for repairs or crashed. The pit crew performed lightening fast fuelings that twice helped Roger gain position. “The teamwork was spot on,” said Roger, “Brad and I were working well together and I kept the truck right at the limit. It went 300 miles without missing a beat. While the results were outside my hopes, we had a great performance.”

The Torchmate team continues to be present around the country at different tracks and in different disciplines of racing.

Recap Video of Torchmate Racing Team at Silver State 300 including interviews, in-car camera and more:

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Videos of #4413 Pre-Running:
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Torchmate Racing Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/TorchmateRacing

Torchmate CNC Cutting Machines can be purchased and more information can be found at www.Torchmate.com.

About Torchmate: Torchmate CNC Cutting Systems has been bringing affordable CNC plasma cutting tables and other automation solutions to manufacturers worldwide for over 30 years, and have now extended their product line to include a 2×2 table suitable for any fabricators’ garage. Torchmate Racing has supported the offroad racing community through marketing partnerships and putting their key employees behind the wheel of the best equipment. The Torchmate Racing Team is currently involved in racing a Class 6 in the SCORE Baja series and BITD, a Rock Crawler in CalRocs and W.E. Rock, an Ultra4 racer and also support multiple racers in other series including CHCA, TORC, LOORRS and Dirt Track. Please join the thousands that are already part of the Torchmate family. Call toll free today at (866)571-1066 or internationally at (775) 673-2200 and let one of the trained CNC professionals guide you through every step of the CNC cutting process. www.torchmate.com

Sponsors: Torchmate CNC Cutting Systems, BFGoodrich, Goodyear, Radflo Shocks, WARN, Raceline Wheels, Magnaflow Exhaust, Eibach Springs, Pirate4x4.com

About JT Taylor: JT Taylor is the epitome of “been there, done that”. A retired First Sergeant who returned from the Iraq conflict with a Bronze Star, Taylor uses the skills that he honed as a soldier to manage the Torchmate Racing team. His strategic and mechanical capabilities have served him not just with Torchmate racing, but also in previous Crew Chief positions with Speed Technologies, Shannon Campbell and Dirt Sports race teams. He was the Crew Chief for Speed Technologies 2008 Class 1 Baja 1000 win, 2009 Baja 500 Torchmate team, and co-drove and was crew for the 2009 Baja 1000 and 2010 NORRA 1000, and pits for Speed Technologies SuperLite #16 in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. It would be foolish to think that Taylor is only handy with a wrench though, he is just as comfortable behind the wheel. Taylor consistently held a top ten position in XORRA for five years and is the two year reigning champion of the XORRA Germany Series. He is the Colorado Hill Climb Association Ultra4 Champion and made history as the first Ultra4 competitor to run Pikes Peak, where he won the Exhibition class. Taylor is one of the original thirteen competitors of King of the Hammers who has raced every year, including 2010 with Roger Norman on his team.

Marketing Partners: Torchmate, Tube Shark, Goodyear, Raceline Wheels, CTM Axles, Howe Power Steering, Winchline.com, Shirt Force, Power Tank

About Jesse Haines: Over the past decade Jesse Haines has established himself as one of the top fabricators in the off road industry while simultaneously cementing his legacy as one of the winningest drivers in rockcrawling history. Haines was first introduced to rockcrawling while competing at the legendary Four Wheeler Magazine Top Truck Challenge in 2002 and quickly developed a passion for the sport. Just three short years later, Jesse found himself atop the podium as the WE Rock Unlimited Class National Champion in a vehicle of his own design. To his record, Haines has won an astounding twelve rockcrawling competitions from Pennsylvania to California, a series championship, and had dozens of podium finishes. Between competitions, Haines has also built numerous championship-winning vehicles for both himself and other competitors. Haines has been on the leading edge of the wildly popular Ultra4 Racing explosion with respectable finishes at VORRA desert races, the Ultra 4 Stampede, and the King of the Hammers. Throughout his career Haines has been seen on Trucks TV, Extreme 4×4, Superlift TV, Lucas Oil – On The Edge, MTV’s Megadrive, and Modern Marvels.

Marketing Partners: Torchmate, Maxxis, PSC, Superior Axle and Gear, Raceline Wheels, Branik Machine Shop, High Angle Driveline

About Roger Lovell: Roger Lovell began his off road career in 2004 when he and his brother, Brad decided to build the first “Lovell Ranger”. With Roger as the spotter and Brad as the driver the bothers had a very successful first season and won every event they entered. After two successful years on the rocks Roger decided it was time to drive as well as fill the spotter role. An engineer by trade, Roger began building a second “Lovell Ranger” and In 2007 Roger won the XRRA U.S. Nationals and has been a top driver ever since. With a never say die attitude Roger continues to compete alongside his brother in the Ultra 4 Series, BITD, and CHCA. Since 2004 Roger and Brad have built a three truck team that competes in every aspect of off road racing imaginable. Not only has Roger helped build a race team but he and his wife, Hallie, are proud parents of a son, Parker and a daughter, Taylor.

Marketing Partners: AMSOil, Torchmate, BFGoodrich, Spidertrax

More about Mike Shaffer: Mike Shaffer is the owner of Shaffer’s Offroad that helps customers build the vehicle of their choice, from bolt on accessories to custom one off vehicles. Shaffer has been racing for 27 years, starting with BMX and then age 16 in drag racing and his first desert race was fourteen years ago. Shaffer was driver of record for 3 Baja 1000 wins, 3 SCORE Championships and one BITD Championship in Class 1700, along with rock crawling National Championship and ARCA Championship.

Marketing Partners: Torchmate, BFGoodrich, Rigid Industries, PSC Steering, RuffStuff Specialties, Shaffers Offroad, Pirate4x4.com