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FOXY'S RESULTS
Coming off of a second-place finish at the Rally America rally for Rockstar Energy Drink last weekend, Tanner was cautiously optimistic that he would be able to secure a win at the new track in E-Town. "I like learning new tracks but this one certainly benefited the ultra horsepower cars on the long first corner," noted Tanner. "However, the NA superpowers driven by JR (Vaughn Gittin Jr.), Conrad (Grunewald) and Darren McNamara all had some issues as the event started, giving us an edge out of the gate."

Tanner wasn't too optimistic about his bracket, with pairings against Stephan Verdier, Ryuji Miki, Rhys Millen and ultimately Tyler McQuarrie in the finals. Verdier was quick, but the last three guys were the fastest in the competition by far. Tanner was able to take out Verdier's Subaru, stick to Ryuji's 160-decibel FD and take advantage of a small and rare error from Rhys Millen.

Leading Tyler in the Finals, the Rockstar/AEM Z topped 80 mph on the entry. Tyler fought hard to keep up but was only able to reel Tanner in on the last turn, giving Foxy the advantage. "Following Tyler's Porsche, I focused on getting the best acceleration possible off the line so he couldn't get out of reach. It worked out and I stayed in his draft through the entire track; that was enough to give Rockstar and AEM their second Motorsports podium in two weeks... for the second time this year; and our first win in Formula D this season!" exclaimed Tanner. "We're right on track for the season. Now if every month could just turn out like this we'll be set!"

BIG PAPA'S RESULTS
Steph performed very well in qualifying, ultimately capturing the #6 qualifier with a 91-point run to advance to eliminations. To put this in perspective, not even all of the top seeded drivers qualified over 90 points on the new track. On Saturday, Steph knew he would have to be aggressive to make the tandem rounds but was unable to advance to the Top 16, scoring 83 points in the 32-car elimination field.

"I was very pleased with my performance on Friday during qualifying," stated Steph. "This track is super fast and fun. It was also great to be back in E-Town again, having come full circle from drag racing to drifting and ending up at one of my all-time favorite venues. The staff at Englishtown and the fans here are incredible. I look forward to coming back next season."

FAST FACTS
This was the inaugural event for FD at Englishtown Raceway, after Wall Speedway was closed on short notice prior to the event...both cars have qualified for eliminations in 2008...the team has four top 5 qualifiers (one seeded 1st, 2nd, & 4th, one unseeded 5th) one victory and a third place finish this season...Tanner is the current series leader and both Rockstar/AEM drivers are ranked in the top 30 series competitors...the next event is at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on July 12th...

The Rockstar/AEM drift team is sponsored by Toyo Tires, Motegi Racing Wheels, Tokico Gas Shocks, Advanced Clutch Technology (ACT), Specialty Products Company (SPC), ChargeSpeed and C-West.

What started out as a storm-filled weekend at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri last weekend, turned into a great day of racing on Sunday for Carl Renezeder. Saturday was a complete washout for the Pro classes in the first round of the Lucas Oil World Series of Off Road Racing, so the classes had to double up on Sunday to get all the racing in. For the first time in his career, Renezeder swept all four rounds of racing in his Lucas Oil Skyjacker Pro2WD and Pro4x4.

"I had a lot of fun racing today," commented Renezeder at the end of the day. "Not only did we have great battles on track, but we were able to find and fix a problem that's been nagging us for the past few races in the four-wheel-drive truck. And, I still can't believe the amazing job the track crew was able to do to make the track so racy after all the rain we had. It's a testament to their expertise and the commitment they have to putting on a first class show."

The team pulled out of the track Sunday night and headed straight for the West coast, driving through the night to get back in time to prep the trucks for rounds five and six of the CORR series at the LA Fairplex in Pomona, California this weekend.

"We raced here in April and finished on the podium all four races," explained Renezeder. "Between the good luck we had here to start the season and the great luck we had last weekend, we're hoping to parlay that into two more successful rounds of racing this weekend."

LAKE FOREST, CA (June 10, 2008) – "I just remember thinking 'how many times can a guy hit you in one corner,'" commented Carl Renezeder after his 72nd career win in a race that had greater resemblance to American Gladiators than off-road racing. If any driver left the L.A. Fairplex in Pomona after rounds five and six of the CORR season this weekend with all their fiberglass and no broken parts, it was from sheer luck.


"We won one and got nailed hard enough from behind in the three other races to get flats in all of them," explained Renezeder. Twice, while jumping out of "the hole" (turn four), he was hit in the air. The force of the landing popped the left rear tire both times. The third flat was caused by a fellow competitor using Renezeder as a brake going into turn five.


An alternator problem in his Lucas Oil Pro-2 on Saturday morning resulted in having to use a past champion's provisional to tag the back of the main event, which was an 18th-place starting position. He ran as high as seventh before being served a flat tire by Jeremy McGrath while jumping out of turn four in the closing laps. In the Pro-4 race, Renezeder was top qualifier, was leading by the mandatory caution, and then fought hard with Johnny Greaves for the last six laps, securing the win in the final turn on the final lap. Renezeder earned all the points possible in that race, which turned out to be the only bright spot of the weekend.


On Sunday, Renezeder again qualified the Pro-4 on the pole, and earned a respectable seventh place starting position in Pro-2. The invert put him on the pole in the Pro-2 race, but Jerry Welchel ran over the back of him after the mandatory caution, giving him a flat that had to be changed with only a lap and a half remaining. The invert put his Lucas Oil Skyjacker Pro-4 on the outside of the fourth row for the start of the final race of the weekend, and he raced his way to the front.


Another mid-air hit, this time by Rick Huseman, while jumping out of the hole had the makings of a horrendous wreck. Somehow, the truck landed on its feet, but the left rear tire didn't survive. Yet another flat relegated him to the pits and a finishing position outside the top ten.


"They say 'you can't win 'em all' and this weekend they were right," concluded Renezeder. "We'll regroup during this six-week break, put the trucks back together and start looking at our strategy for the second half of the season. This team is hungrier than ever for more wins and championship titles."

Tanner Foust took second place at the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR)--the fifth round of the 2008 Rally America Series. STPR takes place in the woods of northern Pennsylvania. It's a fast and technical course, known to be brutal on cars and drivers-the heat of this weekend only making things worse. But Tanner Foust with co-driver Chrissie Beavis drove his Rockstar Energy Drink Rally Team Subaru WRX STI to a second place finish and after one hundred and twenty miles there were just twelve seconds separating him from the first place finisher, Antoine L'Estage. Turbo and intercooler issues on Stage Eight unfortunately exacerbated by the extreme heat caused enough lost time to relegate Foust to second. Foust and Beavis won seven of the rally's twelve stages.

Despite not topping the podium, the Rockstar Energy Drink Rally Team dominated STPR winning ten of the twelve stages. Foust's teammate, Andrew Pinker with co-driver Robbie Durant won three stages and finished the rally in fourth overall place. Pinker was at the top of the leaderboard for most of the rally along with Foust, but he was unable to make up enough time lost on Stage Four to similar though more serious turbo issues. Pinker's fourth place puts him back in contention for a place at the Summer X Games Rally in August. STPR was a return to form for the Rockstar Energy Team after a frustrating first few rounds of the series.

With only one Rally America round to go, the Rockstar Team are now focusing all of their efforts on the Summer X Games where Foust won last year.

The next Rally America Event is the New England Forest Rally in Bethel, Maine, July 11th.