September 7, 2008
9/04
Score: #12 Brian Collins Likes it Rough
MacCachren leading Pro-2 and Pro Buggy classes;
Freeman tops Single Buggy Point Standings
after 6 Rounds of 2008 CORR Series
Chula Vista International Raceway
in Southern California
LAS VEGAS—Menzies Motorsports of Las Vegas continues to lead the point standings in three of the four classes it competes in this year after the first six rounds of the 16-race 2008 Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) short-course series. Rob MacCachren, who leads the all-Las Vegas six-driver, seven-vehicle team with 67 career CORR class race wins, is at the top of the leaderboard in both the Pro-2 and the Pro Buggy divisions while teammate Bryan Freeman has been nearly untouchable in leading the Single Buggy class so far in 2008.
Rounds 5 and 6 were held June 7-8 at the impressive 9,000-seat purpose-built facility on the grounds of the Los Angeles Country Fairplex
Winning three of the six races so far in 2008, MacCachren has 559 points to
lead Pro-2 in the No. 21 Rock Star Ford F-150 while in Pro Buggy, where he was
four wins and two seconds, he has 610 points in the No. 921 BFG Tires Honda-powered
AlumiCraft open wheel desert race car. MacCachren, a three-time AARWBA All-America
motorsports team selection, has finished fourth, sixth and 18th in the three other
Pro-2 races so far this season.
Freeman, a third-generation desert racer, has won five of six races in
Single Buggy, with 624 points in the No. 307 Nevada Off-Road Buggy Fraley-VW.
He has also been the fastest qualifier in all six races so far in 2008
MacCachren and Freeman’s Menzies Motorsports teammates, who are also all from Las Vegas, and their current positions in the 2008 CORR points are: Bruce Fraley (9th, Pro Lite, No. 12 MSD Ford Ranger), Bryce Menzies, team owner Steve Menzies’ son who sat out Round 4 with a neck injury (22nd, Pro Lite, No. 7 Fox Shox Ford Ranger), Larry Job (7th, Pro Buggy, No. 907 MasterCraft AlumiCraft-Honda) and Brock Krahenbuhl, Steve Menzies’ son-in-law who has three third place and one second-place finishes so far this year (3rd, Single Buggy, No. 312 KMC Fraley).
While MacCachren has more than 20 years of short-course or stadium-style off-road racing experience the rest of the group are either total rookies or close to it in this form of the sport. Bryce Menzies and Fraley finished one-two in Single Buggy last year, but this is the first year that either of them has driven a race truck and this is the first full season for Job, Freeman and Krahenbuhl in this type of racing.
“Menzies Motorsports continues to develop at an accelerated pace, which is very good for me as a driver as well,” said MacCachren, who also splits driving in the No. 1 Rockstar/Makita Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy-Truck in the SCORE Desert Series. “We came out of the box strong and surprised a lot of people, I think, but we didn’t have a podium placement at the last round in Pomona which definitely became a reality check for all of us. It has been good to have this break of about six weeks between races so we could regroup, rebuild and test our updated race vehicles.”
“Especially being a new team, we need all of the testing time we can get and time to work on all the little things to help make us better for the rest of the season. Not being under race conditions gives us time to pause and re-do things if we need to and still be moving forward in the direction we all want to go. Our first visit to Chula Vista this year will conclude the first half of the season, but we don’t have any more long breaks between race weekends like the one we’ve had currently.”
Next up for Menzies Motorsports will be Rounds 7 and 8 of the 2008 CORR Series, to be held July 26-27 at the Chula Vista International Raceway near San Diego. Rounds 7 and 8 of the CORR Series will both be televised live nationally. A two-hour show from Round 7 is scheduled to air at 3 p.m. (PDT) Saturday, July 26 on Speed TV and a one and one-half hour show from Round 8 is set to air at Noon (PDT) on Sunday, July 27 on NBC. After rebuilding its race vehicles, Menzies Motorsports held a significant test session on Tuesday, June 24 at their Las Vegas test track.
This weekend in Chula Vista, a closed test session will be held at CORR’s Chula Vista International Raceway.
Menzies Motorsports is based out of a state-of-the-art 31,000-square foot race shop in southwest Las Vegas and the new team also has a test facility with a one-mile track southeast of Las Vegas which is laid out nearly identical to the course at the Las Vegas International Off-Road Raceway in Primm, Nev.
Kroyer Racing Engines of Las Vegas builds the Ford truck engines and the Honda Pro Buggy motors for Menzies Motorsports while Southern California’s FAT Performance builds the Volkswagen Single Buggy engines.
Menzies Motorsports, owned by prominent Las Vegas contractor Steve Menzies, is making a major impact despite being only in its second season of existence and first year with more than two drivers and two race vehicles.
2008 CORR Series
(Remaining Races)
Rounds 7 & 8
July 26-27 Chula Vista International Raceway-Chula Vista, Calif.
Rounds 9 & 10
August 16-17 Los Angeles County Fairplex-Pomona, Calif.
Rounds 11 & 12
September 13-14 Chula Vista International Raceway-Chula Vista, Calif.
Rounds 13 & 14
October 25-26 Las Vegas International Off-Road Raceway-Primm, Nev.
Rounds 15 & 16
December 6-7 Chula Vista International Raceway-Chula Vista, Calif.
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