News Archive - 2009
January
31, 2009 - RORI 2008 End of Season Banquet Once again we all enjoyed our year
end banquet, reliving the past racing season, and catching up with
old friends and making new ones. This year our banquet was at
Uncle Ed's BBQ & Grill,
we thank them for helping us put together such a wonderful banquet,
the food was great and the staff exceptional.
With our bellies full, it was time to hand out trophies. This year Dennis and Kyle Lynn served as our emcee's and did an outstanding job! The "Joke" awards they came up with were as creative as they were funny, I especially liked the "Cupcake" award, you guys did a super job and we thank you for taking on the task.
Our congratulations to Rick Corso, our series Champion, for also taking home the "Best Appearing Car" award, and Kyle Lynn for "Most Improved Driver", and let's not forget Dwayne Williford our "Rookie of the Year". Dave Nett took home the coveted "Story Writer of the Year" award, and it couldn't have gone to a nicer guy, you are truly talented Dave.
A special plaque was presented to Tim Roach for FIRA, it was great racing with you guys this past season. It was fun to see everyone, both past and current racers, and it was nice to finally meet Justin and his wife, who will be new to RORI this coming season.
I hope you enjoy the photo's on our photo's page, I hope everyone had as good a time as I did.
5-9-09 - Rockford Speedway - The Rascal Outlaws first race of the season turned out to be a bit chilly, but thankfully the wind kept to a minimum so my hair didn’t suffer too much. It was great to see the guys, hear the roar of the engines, and eat that great track food again. After some hot-laps to check out their cars it was time to figure out our heat line-ups. Since there were no time trials today, everyone picked a number to determine their starting point. Roach was having some trouble with his car but with so many people helping him out, he would make the heat. Kossak broke a weld but was able to fix that too, so gentlemen….Start your engines.
The green flag flew for our heat and the guys were off, coming into turn four, Thiel encountered tire trouble (i.e., the whole tire came off the car). As Thiel spun on the track, and his tire flew into the air, it was amazing that Corso and Mahoney managed to avoid him, Lynn was coming up and saw the tire in the air and hit the gas just in time to miss being hit by the tire. Thiel was fine but without a tire, the race was over for him. The restart had Corso out front followed by Mahoney and then Findley. And all three managed to hold their positions to the end of the race. Great job guys!
So back in the pits, Thiel worked on changing his tire and rim (see photo’s) and he would make the feature. I was able to get some popcorn and check my hair, before setting out to take some more pictures.
Our feature lineup began with Thiel and Roach out front with Kossak and Brown in second position. The flag flew and they were off. Thiel took off and was immediately out front with Brown on his tail. Mahoney had some distance to catch them and Corso was pulling out from the back of the field. After several laps, Mahoney was a finally able to overtake Thiel for the lead and Corso wasn’t far behind. Corso soon took second position and Mahoney was holding his own, it was a battle won by Mahoney in the end with Corso taking second and Brown rounding out the top three. What a way to start the season, Mahoney took his first feature win of his career, great job Jason!
Written By Sue Findley