Off Road

"Everything was just clicking for us tonight!" said an elated Huseman following his victory in Perris, California. "I was timing my jumps right, setting up the passes to try to avoid contact; following my lines–and man, my Toyo's were just feelin' awesome under me! I just felt like I could run anywhere on the track. I got a great start and I was able to take my time and make my passes. The Toyota/TRD motor was so strong and got me around Scott [Douglas] and allowed me to pull away early in the race. I was passing everybody in the turn after the whoops. Dirt Logic gave me some great shocks that kept me under control in those whoops where a lot of guys were really getting out of shape. The key though was just staying out front in the clean air and out of trouble."

Rick Huseman had his number 36 Monster Energy/ Traxxas/ Toyota/ Toyo truck starting in the 6th position, beside the second place in points running Kyle LeDuc. He stuck the nose of his Toyota into the 3rd spot but was able to make quick work of second place Steve Barlow and Curt LeDuc who were battling hard for position. Turn 3, after the whoops section was the passing point of choice for Rick all evening making the pass on front running Scott Douglas by lap 4 with a strong crossover move to the inside and powering ahead to take the lead.

By lap five Rick had stretched his lead to about 10 truck lengths over Douglas and fellow Monster Energy teammate, Johnny Greaves, who was working hard to maintain his third place position.

The competition caution at the midway point bunched all the trucks back together again. Rick would once again display his power as Douglas made a hard dive to the outside-giving it all he had to pass the black and green number 36 but he couldn't get it done. Rick pulled away again, stretching his lead with each lap, following his lines and hitting the jumps and whoops with precision. He stayed focused but a lot of action was taking place behind him, with LeDuc banging fenders with just about everybody including Greaves. LeDuc would eventually pass Greaves and Douglas to take second, knocking Greaves off the podium as Douglas managed to hold on to the third spot.

Backing up to Friday night's action, it was a different story for Rick Huseman and his team who were glad to make the short drive from Riverside for rounds 12 and 13 of the Traxxas TORC Series. Even though Rick had a fairly comfortable points lead over Kyle LeDuc, it was no time for a "count your chickens before they hatch" scenario. Rick started from the 6th position. All the drivers were very aggressive right when the green flap dropped, especially LeDuc since this was one of his last chances to make a charge for the championship. But he was unable to help his cause by getting into a brawl with Scott Douglas that put him out of the race on lap seven.

Rick was also caught in some of the banging but managed to hang around in the top 5 until lap 8 when he caught a rut and went barreling backwards into the K-rail in turn 3 and upside down. It took a while for the track crews to get him back on his wheels. Fortunately he was able to continue in the race with mainly cosmetic damage.

After the competition caution, Rick pushed hard to regain positions but on lap 18, his right rear tire succumbed to the previous damage and completely came off of the rim. He tried to finish the race on the rim but didn't gain any ground.

Rick was disappointed but optimistic about the Saturday race: "The truck was really good, we just ran into some bad luck. Except for the wheel, nothing broke. We were able to put new Toyo's on and replace the glass, and that's just about it!"

As the weekend's racing action ended, the TV production crews finalized the show that will air this Sunday on ESPN2 at 11:30 AM EST, and the fans mingled with the drivers in the pits, Rick Huseman Racing found themselves sitting on a 28 point lead and a great chance to take the PRO 4X4 championship for the inaugural TORC Series season in Las Vegas on October 23rd and 24th.