Makita Global
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Lucas Oil Offroad Racing Series
June 27-28, 2009
As we approached another race weekend, the Makita USA, Alumi Craft, K & N, and Goodyear Tires #973 pro buggy team had a short distance to travel to Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex Thursday, June 25th. With the imminent blistering heat, driver Bobby PeCoy, Crew Chief Bruce Kinney, and family sibling trophy kart drivers, Chelsey and Travis PeCoy, unloaded and prepped for the upcoming event (and then found shelter under numerous EZ-ups!).
Friday was a phenomenal beginning to our weekend! The Redline powered Honda pro buggy was running impeccably with an on the mark chassis and suspension set-up by Crew Chief Bruce. Bobby qualified first with the best lap time of 1:07.924 and a speed of 53 MPH. Being the fastest qualifier, we then picked a number out of the ‘jar’ to determine the inversion, and with a little less fortune, we drew a four which dropped us to eighth starting position. Even though we weren’t starting at the head of the pack, Bobby and the team were prepared for Saturday’s race.
As Saturday approached, Team PeCoy was doing all we could to beat the heat. With the #973 starting in eighth position, Bobby was patient and started to pick off drivers one at a time. A challenging race filled with aggressive drivers, and at the mandatory caution, Bobby settled into 9th place. After the mandatory yellow, it was an intense fight for positioning. PeCoy was in an experienced group of drivers including Greg Foster, Rich Ronco, and Joe Morgan as they fought to the finish. Bobby improved four positions in what was a tough, muddy race and finished a respectable 5th. “Two more laps and I could have picked off three more positions,” Bobby said excitedly after the race!
With Saturday’s race being history, Bruce noticed a crack had emerged in the transmission due to bad casting. With the help of Alumi Craft and Team PeCoy a new transmission was installed. Sunday morning approached and as Bobby was getting ready to practice and qualify, to Bruce’s dismay, he noticed another fracture in the new transmission (that was only ran in the parking lot the night prior!). Bobby was able to practice and still qualify a meek 12th. Again, surrounded by the support from the ‘guys’ at Alumi Craft, the faulty-case transmission was replaced by another (totaling 3!) before Bobby’s race. The goal today was to improve positioning and capitalize on points even with the down-spiraling luck!
As our team watched the pro buggy from the stands we noticed it wasn’t running to its full potential. Bobby was struggling, pulling over and re-starting the engine as he continued to race. Unfortunately, the ignition box had failed, but he was still doing all he could to get completed lap points. Team PeCoy had to find the humor in the weekend as Bobby kept pulling over to restart . . And “it’s still racing,” we commented! Our team will put this behind us as we prepare due diligently for the next race again at
Chelsey and Travis are also working on improving their driving skills as they finished in the middle of the pack in the Junior 1 trophy kart series both Saturday and Sunday. There is definitely time to watch them grow!
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- Wayne Hart
- Sr. Communications Manager
- Makita U.S.A., Inc.
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