Building Confidence for Crandon

UTV Weekly | July 5, 2013

Rounds 5 & 6 Race Recap

Going into what the team knew would be a long weekend Morris came into Michigan determined to run in the front and not have any issues. With the rained out Round 3 added to Friday night of the Bark River program meant Morris and his Pro Light would take to the mile and a half track 7 times in one weekend; three races, three practices and one qualifying.

“We know there would be a lot going on at Bark River. Going out that many times can take its toll on the truck and equipment, the crew, and myself as a driver.”

After unloading and setting up Friday morning, the crew focused on practice and qualifying. With only a few laps on the track, Morris laid down the 8th fastest qualifying lap. With a six truck inversion, Morris would find himself mid pack for the green flag. By the competition caution the Maxxis, AMSOIL Pro Light was in 6th place. At the restart Morris charged hard into the second corner and dove down low and passed four trucks. After a battle with Lovell, Morris crossed the checkered flag in 3rd place.

When returning to the pits after the race something felt wrong in the truck. After meeting with Charlie from Automatic Transmission Designs the decision was made to change transmissions in hopes of preventing a failure during Saturday’s race. Due to the transmission swap, the team had to skip the morning test session to be ready for the race.

For the second race of the weekend Morris started 3rd and battled the entire race with Baumgartner. Going back and forth for 12 laps fans were on their feet. Morris and Baumgartner went door to door across the finish line with Morris edging out Baumgartner by inches for the 5th place.

A 5th place finish put Morris on the outside pole for the final race of the weekend. Utilizing the great starting position Morris was able to stay at the front of the pack of hungry Pro Light drivers nipping at his heels. Running in 2nd most of the race, Morris couldn’t catch Greaves, but was able to hold off Kincaid. On the last lap after the big hill Kincaid was able to get a nose in on Morris and contact caused Morris to spin. Making a full rotation and getting right back on the throttle, Morris only lost the one position to Kincaid and held on for a 3rd place finish.

“It’s really awesome to be apart of Maxxis Tire’s first pro podium sweep. They have been such a big supporter and great sponsor to me over my entire racing career. I’m very honored to be part of the Maxxis family,” expressed Morris.

Up next for the team is the historic and iconic Crandon International Off Road Raceway. The Crandon Raceway is famous in all of Motorsports for the high speed bumping action through turn one as well as the high banked gravel pit turn. Days following Bark River, Morris went to Crandon to test.

“I’ve never tested to much in one day at Crandon. It’s a big confidence booster to get to run over 60 laps at The Big House right before a race there. We burned an entire barrel of fuel through the truck,” stated Morris. “I ran my fastest lap ever at Crandon during practice, so I can’t wait to get out there in race conditions and put to use what I learned.”

For more updates and live streaming video throughout the weekend log onto www.torcseries.com and redbull.tv. Follow the race team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for up-to-the minute updates and results. Watch round 7 on SPEED Channel Saturday 6/29 at 8:00pm CST with a re-air Saturday 6/29 at 11:00pm CST.

Shawn Morris Off Road Racing would like to thank all their sponsors that make racing possible: Maxxis Tires, AMSOIL, FK Rod Ends, PAC Racing Springs, Proformance Auto and Diesel Repair, Advance Auto Parts, ProPower, Method Race Wheels, Yukon Gear and Axle, Sunoco Fuel, Impact Safety, Oakley, R2C, and Proformance Media.