Steele
Impresses with Top-5 in PRO-2 @ Bark River
Madison, WI (July 14, 2010) - Keith Steele one of the most
successful Sportsman Short-Course competitors in recent memory
is on a mission. After winning back-to-back Championships, the
Madison, Wisconsin native is taking on the PRO drivers with his
under powered #29 Monster Energy Chevrolet. After a
disappointing weekend at the high-horsepower venue in Crandon,
Steele Off-Road Racing was optimistic for better finishes at the
more technical Bark River International Raceway.
Keith Steele isn't known as "The Man in Black"just for his
clean cut black racing attire and black Chevy race truck, but
also for his no nonsense, tell it like it is approach to his
racing. Keith isn't outspoken, just honest and straight forward.
That attitude is exactly why he's taking on the established
Superstars of the TORC PRO ranks.
"I've accomplished everything I can at the Sportsman
level," states Keith Steele. "My goal is to race at the highest
level, full time, and that's PRO-2. In the off-season our
team worked diligently looking for a marketing
partner that would get us to PRO-2. Unfortunately that didn't
happen. Monster Energy made us an offer, but that left the title
sponsor opportunity still available. Somehow we are here running
with the PROs, but on a shoestring budget. There are certain
tracks where horsepower is king and I have no shot at the win,
but others like Oshkosh and Chicagoland, the opportunity to
finish on the podium is a possibility. As season moves forward,
Steele Off-Road Racing continues to pursue sponsorship
opportunities and at the same time, continues to race for a
podium finish."
Round 3 and 4 of the Traxxas TORC Series presented by
AMSOIL was held in Bark River, Michigan. The all-natural 1.4
mile layout is half high-speed superspeedway and half technical
with sweeping turns one after another. In other words, only a
portion of the track was to Keith's current strong suit.
Saturday Round 3 had the entire PRO-2 race field put some
distance on the Monster Energy Kumho Tire Chevrolet right from
the start. Keith pushed the truck as hard as he could, but
finished the race at the tail end of the field.
Overnight the
team performed the usual between race cleanup
and prep work, but Keith tried a few adjustments to the chassis
setup trying to get more speed out of his black Chevy Silverado.
Sunday's Round 4 action brought a smile on Keith's face.
Almost immediately from the wave of the green flag, the #29
Chevy seemed to run a faster pace. The field still ran in front
of the Monster Energy Chevy, but now Keith was racing with the
pack.
At the halfway mandatory yellow flag lap, Keith really had
worked his Wolverine powered Chevrolet into seventh place. Then
will just over a lap to go, Dan Vanden Heuvel and Round 3 winner
Mike Oberg tangled right in front of the #29 Chevy. Keith
avoided the incident and picked up two more positions. When the
checkered flag came out Keith Steele came home in fifth place.
"Today was almost as good as a win for our
team," noted Keith Steele. "Our 2010 race budget
is currently less than ten percent of the winner today. We
passed a few trucks today and that's a major accomplishment
considering we are at least 200 horsepower less than the guys on
today's podium. Now I can't wait to get to Oshkosh. A couple of
years ago I took this Sportsman truck to podium finish in
PRO-2. It would really be cool to do it again."
Next Race: July 23-24,as the Traxxas TORC Series presented
by AMSOIL heads to the Oshkosh Speedzone in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Don't forget you can watch all the
archived TORC race action and well as live racing from Oshkosh @www.torcseries.com
Keith Steele would like to thank all its product
supporters, including:
Monster Energy, J & H Transmission, Kumho Tires, Yank
Torque Converters, R2C Filters,Wolverine Performance, King
Shocks, and Phil's Inc.
Keith Steele and his Steele Off-Road Race
Team still have marketing opportunities
available for the 2010 Race season.
Interested parties can email Izzy
Steele:
info@steeleoffroad.com
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