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GRIZZLY BITES - Last
Updated
Thursday, 07 February 2008 |
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Never cage an Eagle, they get nasty.
Both times this season when Sydney Speedster
Troy Little has pushed his Kimbo
Transport/Grizzly Dyno Shocks eagle to the
feature win, it has been when he has been caged
up at the back of the grid. Late last year
Little ran the alphabet to take the win at
Hamilton speedway and then again last weekend
(Saturday 2nd) he came from the back
of the feature grid to take the win on the last
lap.
Little’s Eagle looked quick all night although a
couple of minor driving issues hampered his
forward progress on occasion.
However, in the final event Little spent the
duration of the race chasing down the race
leader who was doing everything he could to keep
Little behind him, and finally managed to pass
him going into turn one on the lap last. From
there, Little opened up a small gap by the time
he took the chequered flag.
Meanwhile over in Florida Jason Johnson in Lanny
Row’s The Shop Diesel Service/Custom Equipment
Design Eagle was continuing his hot form from
his Australian summer with a win in the ASCS
Finale at North Florida Speedway.
Johnson was running a very similar combination
to that of Little - being an ASCS engined Eagle
chassis.
Eagle chassis are available
from the Australian agent Bill Roberts’ Grizzly
Dyno Shocks on (02) 9686 4873
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Eagle’s
feast at Rolling Thunder Raceway
Following on from his fourth
straight feature win in Wanless World Series
Sprintcars competition, Cajun Sensation Jason
Johnson has continued his winning ways leading
home a flock of Eagle mounted drivers in the
historic Sprintcar Thunder Showdown, the first
event for 410 cubic inch Sprintcars at Rolling
Thunder Raceway (Bacchus Marsh – Australia) on
January 2nd.
Johnson (Supaloc/Jim Beam)
was forced to come from position eight in the
feature and worked his way to the front of the
pack to take home the $7,000 first place
prize-money.
Fellow eagle proponent Danny
“the Rock star” Reidy (Queensland Speedway
Spares) lead the race for the majority of the 25
laps raced from pole position but had no answer
for Johnson’s awesome forward surge.
Compatriot Mark Dobmeier
(92.9FM) making his Rolling Thunder Raceway
debut brought his Eagle chassis home in a clean
sweep of the podium positions with Troy Little (Kimbo
Transport) fourth in his similar version.
In the Sprintcar Thunder
Series event for 360ci Sprintcars at the same
meeting, Eagle chassis were once again to the
forefront with Troy Little (St George Landscape
& Gardening Supplies) putting his second car on
pole alongside Tony Moule (MCF Trailers) in his
Eagle. Due to unforseen events the 360
sprintcars never got to race their feature event
however the brand did win three of the four
heats (Little, Moule & Darryl Wright – Murray
Machining & Engineering) and Littles’ fastest
lap time was only narrowly shaded by the fastest
lap time set by Reidy on the way to a win in his
410ci heat.
Eagle Chassis and Grizzly
Dyno shocks – A winning combination.
Eagle chassis are available
from the Australian agent Bill Roberts’ Grizzly
Dyno Shocks on (02) 9686 4873 or visit
www.grizzlyracing.com
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Eagles soar
through speedweek openers.
Posted: 29th
December 2007
Louisiana’s Jason Johnson in
the Disbury Family Racing Eagle has continued to
set the pace in the Wanless World Series
Sprintcars speedweek competition taking the
opening two rounds at Adelaide and Murray Bridge
to make it three wins on the trot for the
likeable and enthusiastic American.
Fellow American Brian Kemenah
has been assisting the team in recent times with
the multiple All Star Series of Champions crew
chief of the year, offering advice via long
distance phone calls from his Ohio base.
In addition to Johnson’s hot
form, compatriot Mark Dobmeier completed an
Eagle one two at Murray Bridge and is positive
that his PMFM 92.9 Kendrick Eagle will be the
next one to visit victory lane as the speedweek
championship continues.
Johnson’s run in the latest
round wasn’t totally straight forward as he was
forced again to pass tough competitors to get to
victory lane. Johnson firstly had to pass Brooke
Tatnell and then Robbie Farr before he was able
to power away for the teams third consecutive
win.
“Robbie was running a hard
race there and I got to thinking that the only
way I was going to get him was either in lapped
traffic or on a restart.” Stated Johnson.
“I found a bit of moisture up
top coming off turn 2 and it worked out pretty
well on that last restart.”
“We definitely started the
year off pretty rough but we have sure turned
that around the last three nights.”
“If we can go on and take out
the Speedweek again that would be pretty
awesome.”
“This sport definitely has
its highs and lows and right now we will just
enjoy this high!”
Dobmeier similarly had to
work hard and was finally rewarded for his
outstanding talent with a fine drive into second
position.
“This is more like what I am
used to back home where we run up to 3 nights
each week.” Explained Dobmeier who already has
three victories in his maiden down under tour
and is the first American confirmed for the
Summer Thunder event at Rolling Thunder Raceway
on January 2nd..
“The only difference I have
noticed so far is that the tracks I have raced
on to this point are a little flatter than what
I am used to.”
With the strong run into
second placing, Dobmeier feels that perhaps lady
luck is about to smile on the team and he is
fully confident they have something for Johnson.
“We are not far away… in
fact, I’d say were up next!”
The night prior at Adelaide’s
Speedway City after a passing infringement in
the dash, Johnson was forced to blast his way
past stellar performers to score the win at his
adopted Australian home track
Johnson dealt with young guns
James McFadden and Steven Lines first up and
then set off after the leaders passing Farr and
then having to do it again after a restart
negated the move. Johnson was able to repeat the
move on the restart and used his superior car
speed to mow down race leader Trevor Green and
take the lead and the win.
"This feels fantastic. You
know we have had a tough start to this years
Wanless World Series Sprintcars but the whole
Disbury Family Racing team has so much faith in
each other that we knew we would be all right."
beamed Johnson.
"Speedway City has been a
pretty emotional place for me over the years and
to get this win here is great.
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Eagle
Chassis and Grizzly Dyno Shocks – a winning
combination.
The past
couple of weeks has been a good time for
Sprintcar racers running Eagle chassis in
Australia, especially if they are running on
Grizzly Dyno Shocks.
Aussies Troy
Little and Darryl Guerin and Americans Mark
Dobmeier and Jason Johnson spread their eagle
wings to visit victory lane right across the
great Australian continent.
26 Year old
Mark Dobmeier, the hired US ace for Geoff
Kendricks 92.9FM squad, has twice visited
victory lane since landing on the west coast,
the most recent time being a team Kendrick 1 – 2
with 18 year old rookie Jason Kendrick following
his team leader across the line down in the
beautiful Esperence region of south east Western
Australia.
The 26 year
old Dobmeier raced from position 8 to score a
brilliant victory in the 30-lap main event using
an Eagle chassis and Grizzly Dyno Shocks.
Dobmeier
didn’t have it all his own way however once he
hit the front as Ben Ellement actually caught
and passed the American, who quickly recaptured
the lead and the win.
Kendrick then
took advantage of an error by Ellement to seal
second place for the 92.9 Eagle/Grizzly
combination.
Dobmeier’s
win, coupled with his earlier win at Northam,
sees him leading the AHG Sprintcar Series.
While the
Kendrick racing Eagles were soaring on the west
coast, the same was occurring further east with
Sydney’s Troy Little storming through from an
8th place start in the B-Main, to take the win
in the opening round of the Sprintcar Racing
Associations Brodix Series at Hamilton’s Western
Speedway
Hamilton has a
rich history of sheep farming being the home of
the giant wool bale and Little was a bit
sheepish after his below standard heat races.
However, following a few calls to Grizzly Dyno
Shock’s proprietor Bill Roberts (who was
attending the PRI trade show in Florida), Little
redeemed himself by flying through the pack to
win the B-Main.
Little then
repeated the performance on a quality field,
which included the current Australian 360
Champion (starting from pole), as he swept three
wide around the outside in a daring move that
saw him take the lead and the win and leaving
those behind demoralised.
Further North
and slightly to the left, Darryl Guerin was
enjoying his race at his home track of Broken
Hill Speedway. Guerin led them all a merry
dance in his Grizzly Dyno Shock mounted Eagle in
the Silver City 360 event.
A week later
and further south it was the turn of Louisiana’s
Jason Johnson to score big when he pushed the
DFR Eagle to the win in round 8 of the Wanless
World Series Sprintcars at Mountain Dew Ice
Speedway in Tasmania. Johnson who has come off a
brilliant US season took his first win for the
Aussie summer.
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Grizzly Cub debuts at Nowra.
The
latest creation from the fertile mind of
speedway innovator Bill Roberts finally made its
track debut at Nowra speedway on Saturday (8th
December 2007).
Dubbed
the “Grizzly Cub”, the little car made its
belated Micro Sprint debut at the hands of
development driver Mark Matthews, with creator
Bill Roberts watching nervously from the
sidelines.
“This
business of being a car owner is tough.” Joked
Roberts who was pleased with the cars first
serious shake down. “Mark did a great job and
the car performed as expected. There were a
couple of little things that we learnt and will
change but otherwise it went well. The car ran
reliably except for a bolt which broke in the
steering system.”
It was a
bonus for Roberts to see his latest creation
make its debut as he was originally scheduled to
be turning the spanners of Troy Little’s
Sprintcar at Geelong’s Avalon raceway. When
Avalon was cancelled due to rain Roberts had
time to revise his travel arrangements and
headed down the coast to Nowra.
The
“cub” is radically different from other
Micro-sprints, including the Australian
Championship winning Grizzly of Troy Little
which is itself markedly different from every
other Micro Sprint currently in competition.
Not only
is the grizzly cub chassis different from the
rest, so to is the engine which is a 450cc four
stroke Kawasaki as opposed to the 250cc two
strokes run by everyone else.
“The two
strokes are fast but also notoriously unreliable
as we unfortunately saw on Saturday.” Explained
Roberts. “What we are trying to do with this car
and more specifically with this engine, is to
develop a cost effective and ultra reliable
alternative that will help to grow the class.”
The cars
next hit out will be at Gilgandra on December 29th
for the NSW State Championship where Roberts
himself may make a return to the driving cockpit
while also fettling the hitherto undefeated
Podium Wings Grizzly of current national champ
Troy Little.
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FATHER’S DAY SPRINTS IN PENNSYLVANIA
Troy Little Racing decided to
postpone any Father’s Day celebrations in
Pennsylvania in order to sneak in a local
holiday show on the half miler at Tri City
Speedway today (Sunday).
It was not a 50 car roll up
or anything spectacular – just another track and
set of circumstances to deal with.
The opposition was
interesting, All Star champion Greg Wilson,
Friday night main event winner Bob Felmlee and
Penn State whiz Rod George.
The 410 main event was over
20 laps and Felmlee charged to the front with
last week’s main event winner Rob Eyler, Wilson
and Little in hot pursuit.
George waited his time before
diving under the unsuspecting Felmlee who wound
his elbows up and stood on it big time.
He unfortunately overran the
next corner and was collected by Eyler, the
latter being okay for a restart.
George whistled off the
remaining laps as Wilson and Little closed out
the top three in the main event.
A successful weekend with a
third, fourth and two fifth placings from four
starts between Friday and Sunday.
And still plenty of time to
celebrate Father’s Day when it falls in
September at home.
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ON
THE ROAD AGAIN IN AMERICA’S MID WEST
It could only
happen in America and thank goodness it still
does!
The cold
Australian winter seems light years away, but
the All Stars Ohio Speedweek is almost upon us
so where do you find Troy Little, Bill Roberts
and Doug Kekich….that’s right….in America’s mid
west with new cars and engines preparing for
Speedweek.
Last year it
was like a royal tour with heaps of Aussies
here, but this time the numbers might have
diminished, but the object is the same, place
and don’t wreck!
Friday night
we debuted at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver,
Pennsylvania.
Dirt
Motorsports took over Lernerville a few years
ago and the banked third miler is one of the
fastest and toughest tracks to master when the
racing surface has stacks of tack.
Unfortunately
on Friday it was dry slick, but given the dire
weather here of late, that was fine.
Troy’s task
was to shake down the new #20 Eagle and stay out
of trouble which he did, finishing fifth in the
main behind Rod George, Scott Priester, Carl
Bowsher and Charlie Holben.
These guys may
not be Steve Kinser, Danny Lasoski and Donny
Schatz but they run Lernerville’s Friday night
sprint show like they were born at the place so
take nothing away from them.
Saturday we
freshened up for that night’s show at Sharon
Speedway and set off down the road to tackle Ed
Lynch Jr and all the locals who were pleased to
renew handshakes and the odd howdy in the pits.
Many of these
guys we made friends with during our Ohio
Speedweek tour last year and there is a feeling
of returning home again.
The
competition was again tough and in the main
event Troy Little was outstanding coming from
behind to place fourth behind Bob Femlee, Ed
Lynch Jr and Dan Shetler.
Just as we
were packing up at Sharon somebody came up to
our truck and said “are you going home or across
to Merced?”
A quick check
told us the 410 sprints were the stars of
‘Saturday Night live” at Raceway Park so we rang
the track as the transporter rumbled down the
road.
They told us
to come on down and they would change the main
event schedule so we could start last as an
Australian provisional – never heard that one
before.
By the time we
arrived you would have thought Lewis Hamilton
had entered the grounds with the McLaren team.
Off the truck
with a fresh tank of gas and Troy started dead
last before working his way through traffic to
finish fifth without putting one scratch on the
new car.
So after three
shows in two nights we had a pair of fifths and
a fourth and not a blemish to speak of.
Troy Little is
slowly working his way back in new equipment and
on different ovals against home track heroes.
At the end of
the first weekend Troy, Bill and Doug are
delighted as they prepare for their second Ohio
Speedweek, thanks to Guy Webb and his All Star
team.
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Windsor Wildboy wings out a
winner.
Posted: 30th
May 2007
Current Australian Micro-Sprint Champion Troy
Little winged his way out of Australia on May 29th
a winner bound for the Silver Anniversary All
Star Ohio Speedweek after continuing his recent
domination of Micro Sprint races on Sunday 27th
at Cullen Bullen in the Podium Wings/Kimbo
Transport Grizzly.
For some reason the club elected to run a
wingless meeting, however, despite the fact that
the new Grizzly was designed to run with a wing,
the new car once again proved its potential with
another dominant feature win after coming off
the back.
Little won the opening heat complaining that the
motor was going off over the final two laps.
Bowing to the expertise of a class front runner,
the team chose not to investigate the issue
believing it was one of those two-stroke
behavioural things.
Sadly as they went to fire up for the second
heat the engine had seized.
Some untried changes were then made to the car
for the third heat which then turned out to be
the feature event.
Within four laps Little had hit the lead and
despite being told to ease up over the final
four laps he took a huge win to keep his recent
record intact.
Two days later Troy left Australia headed to the
USA to prepare to lead an Aussie assault on the
timeless Ohio Speedweek.
Little based last years USA campaign around the
speedweek competition but with a wreck while
leading a feature event at Sharon speedway the
weekend prior to speedweek, Little and the team
missed the first couple of shows while they
repaired the once brand new Eagle at the
workshops of Doug Kekich’s Intense Design and
Fabrications. Then when the car was squared away
again an afternoon rain storm washed out the
Sharon round of speedweek. The cruel irony of
this was that Sharon speedway was a mere five
miles from the teams US base.
From then on Troy competed at the tricky “New
Fremont’
Speedway,
the beautiful Limaland Motorsports Park and the
daunting Eldora Speedway where he set fast time
on his debut at Tony Stewarts famed half mile.
Little qualified directly into each feature
event with the best result being fifth at
Eldora.
Two Outlaw shows at Lawrenceberg and I-55 were
next and once again Troy made both features. All
five shows were at tracks that Troy had never
driven on before.
This year
Troy
and crew chief Bill Roberts are looking for more
improvement.
“Last year was difficult for Troy having never
raced on any of these tracks.” Stated Roberts.
“But he still did a good job making all the
mains and running well. This year should be
better as he has already raced at some of the
tracks and we will do a couple of shows at
Attica, Hilltop and Fremont prior to speedweek
so he can get some laps in on some of the
speedweek tracks which should help.”
The teams planned itinerary with the Kimbo
Transport/Racer Magazine/Intense Design &
Fabrication Eagle sees them kick off with three
straight nights at Attica, Fremont and Hilltop
on June 15, 16 and 17. This is then followed up
by hopefully nine straight nights of racing
incorporating Speedweek.
Lernerville speedway in Pennsylvania will kick
off the chase on June 22 followed by Fremont
again on the 23rd. Speedweek officially starts
at Attica on June 24 and then runs through Wayne
County (25th), Waynesfield (26th), Hilltop
(27th), Fremont (28th), Limaland (29th) and
concludes at Eldora on June 30.
This will not be the end of the team’s tour as
more races are anticipated including the
possibility of some wingless action with the
Indiana based KISS organisation.
As with last year,
Troy
won’t be the only Aussie in All Star
competition. Fellow Sydneysider David Doherty
will also be chasing the week of action. In fact
Doherty and crew chief Tim Gleeson will be
utilizing the tow rig and trailer used last year
by the “Clampetts” as Roberts had nicknamed the
team having thought the team looked like the
Beverley Hillbilly’s with their little twin cab
Chevy parked next to the large impressive
transporters used by most of the All Star teams.
Doherty’s plans are to quietly get some extra
racing laps under his belt after a disappointing
domestic season.
“I’m only doing it to get better at PCR.” Stated
the media shy Doherty “We had a bad season at
home this year and I’m not going to go on like
that again.”
Doherty’s Active Power Steering Ex Sammy
Swindell machine will contest both the Ohio
Speedweek and the Pennsylvania Speedweek before
shipping the car home.
Fellow Sydneysider Bruce White has also lodged a
speedweek entry.
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Troy Little Racing left deflated
Posted 8th January 2007
 Troy
Littles’ campaign in the Bevellite Glass $50,000
to win Sprintcar event this weekend was yet
another meeting of fluctuating fortunes.
The opening
night of the two day event held and delivered
much promise for the Austruck Truck Bodies/St
George Landscape Gardening Supplies N20 Eagle.
With a huge
field of top class Americans present Troy timed
in 3rd fastest after qualifying ahead
of all the assembled superstars.
In his heat
race he charged from his sixth place starting
position to take the chequered flag first.
In the dash he
lined up 3rd and then finished 2nd
behind the all conquering Donny Schatz.
Come feature
time and the Kimbo Transport/Grizzly Dyno Shocks
Eagle was to start from position three amongst
some heavy company including “the King” Steve
Kinser and Schatz.
A top four
finish was all the team needed to lock
themselves into the following nights feature,
and after a late race dice with Joey Saldana who
took advantage of a late race caution to close
onto Littles tail, the team had achieved their
objective, or so they thought. A badly
communicated change in the format from last year
however meant that no-one was locked into the
Saturday night feature. They would all have to
contest another heat on Saturday.
“The car
wasn’t going too bad.” Said the at times laconic
Little. “We were committed to the ledge that
developed up the top and that’s were we ran.”
Saturday
started out okay with a second place heat
result for the Intense fabrication and design
machine.
In another
change from the norm, starting positions for the
dashes were drawn from a hat and luck wasn’t
kind to Little who started from fourth but
slipped back to 7th on the outside
row.
“We went
backwards in the dash.” He explained. “We just
hadn’t locked the car down enough.”
After two days
of fierce competition the track was now slick
and after starting from position 14 Little
admitted, “we were just sitting there on a one
lane track,” when the team suffered yet another
flat left rear tyre. Unlike last week, an
impending curfew was not an issue and the team
were allowed to quickly change the left rear
tyre and rejoined the race at the back of the
pack.
From there
Little got the elbows up and over the next 14
laps was able to push the car forward to a tenth
place finish still on the lead lap.
“The good
thing was that we were able to get going forward
and make the top ten still on the lead lap.”
Little stated. “Now we are looking forward to
Wednesday nights event (January 10).”
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NO SPIN
ZONE AS TROY FINALLY FINISHES ONE
Posted 5th January 2007
 Bill
O’Reilly always draws attention to Fox News
always being a ‘spin free zone’
Which is exactly Troy Little wants to remember
tonight’s opening stanza of the $50.000 to win
Bevelite Glass sponsored two nighter at
Parramatta Raceway.
“We
did what we had to do, third quick timeout of 68
entrants, won our heat, second to Donny Schatz
in the first dash and fourth behind Dakota
Donny, Steve Kinser and Kerry Madsen in the main
event.
Joey
Saldana, Paul McMahan, Skip Jackson and Jason
Meyers finished behind the Kimbo Transport
Eagle.
“Everyone puts their own spin on however they
qualified and where they finished in the main –
we’ll allow others to put the night into
perspective,” declared Troy after a successful
night at the office.
“We’ve had an awful week, qualifying well and
starting on the second row in just about every
main, but luck hasn’t been with us,” declared
Little.
“We
were crashed out of a feature and lost a car,
but I don’t believe in excuses because Donny and
Steve have run 1-2 in three successive shows and
that shows consistency,” he added.
Marty Perovich set quick time at 12.054 from
Trevor Green (12.229s) while Little
took
third (12.252s) with Adrian Maher and Steve
Kinser next in the queue.
Friday night is the first opportunity for
drivers to time trial and transfer to the main
by a solid heat race result.
A
top four or six finish in the first night
feature under WoO rules that usually locks the
top guys in the second night’s dash.
“There was nothing easy about tonight’s events
because the guys are really tough and it’s
elbows up racing which I love,” commented Troy.
“Once again I’m indebted to Bill Roberts of
Grizzly Dyno Shocks who is my crew chief, mum
and dad who make it all possible and our
fabulous crew who don’t know how to quit,” he
added.
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EAGLES in for the kill.
Johnson and Wright share the spoils.
Posted 5th January 2007
Racin' Cajun Jason Johnson added
yet another prestigious award to his already
stellar career when he snared the World Series
Sprintcars Proton Jumbuck Speedweek
championship, with a convincing win in the final
event on January 1st at Warrnambools'
Premier Speedway (Australia).
Typically of Johnson and the
Disbury Family Racing (DFR) Supaloc/Armor
All/Jim Beam Eagle they were consistent all week
and while threatening for wins they simply
stalked their prey and waited until the final
round to swoop down for the kill and to fly off,
or should that be drive off in the brand new
Proton Jumbuck car, with the spoils.
Johnson has become a crowd
favorite over the years, due to his continuing
commitment to World Series Sprintcars over the
Australian summer and the victory at Warrnambool
was a popular one despite defeating local hero
Max Dumesny at the death knell.
By virtue of the win the DFR
Eagle team has also retaken the lead in the
season long World Series Sprintcars
Championship.
Speaking on the teams DFR website
Johnson said.
"I am really thrilled with the
result and to win the Proton Jumbuck – it is a
great reward for everyone's hard work over the
past week. Luck didn't always turn our way
during the week but Wayne, Ferg, Chappy, Craig,
Gary and Terry never gave up during this run of
races.”
"To get the chance to win Speedweek we knew we
had to take the win tonight and hope the cards
fell our way. Max had his share of luck this
week – especially at Speedway City – but tonight
it was our turn.
"Everyone on the team is thrilled to give
Supaloc, Jim Beam, Armor All and all our other
sponsors their first major title. I really have
to thank my car owners Darren and Tricia and all
our supporters who have followed us this week."
With a 20 point lead in the World Series
Sprintcar Championship, Johnson and the Supaloc
Racing squad now head to Mildura this weekend –
a round the team won during 2005/2006.
"I am really proud of Jason and delighted for
our guys to take the Speedweek crown – we
obviously took the opportunity to celebrate
responsibly with a couple of Jim Beams last
night," Team Owner, Darren Disbury said.
"We certainly have our sights set on the World
Series crown as well. That was the ambition for
Tricia and I this year and we now have the
points lead back with only four rounds to go.
"We know we will have a big fight ahead. Max
Dumesny knows how to win these championships and
we can't count on him having too many nights
like last night. We will have to race Max right
through to the
chequered flag on
the final night."
The consistent team ran 2nd,
3rd, 3rd, 4th
and 1st over the speedweek
championship and the win was potentially set up
in the opening round at Adelaide on Boxing Day
(Dec 26) when Johnson stormed from the B-Main
all the way to the runner up position on a track
that was not conducive to passing.
World Series Sprintcars Points
Jason Johnson 6797
Max Dumesny 6777
David Murcott 5329
Robbie Farr 4190
Danny Reidy 4124
Meanwhile As Johnson was sewing
up the speedweek championship, across the border
back in Adelaide (South Australia), the “Murray
Bridge Missile” Darryl Wright was taking his
River City Sheds Eagle to victory in 360ci
Sprintcar competition.
Wright was the best of a quality
field which included current Aussie 360ci
Champion Jamie Cobby who finished 3rd.
After a couple of consistent heat races Wright
drove a smart race to work his Eagle to the
front of the field and to park happily in
victory lane.
“It’s great to be back in the
winners circle.” Stated Wright post race as he
celebrated with his happy crew.
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New car, same bad luck for Troy
Little Racing.
Posted 2nd January
2007
The hard working Troy Little
racing team were again left frustrated after
another DNF, this time on January 1st
at Parramatta when yet another flat left rear
tyre and a decision by the stewards not to allow
the team to change the tyre, as per the normal
rules, meant they failed to finish the feature
after thrashing to build a new car following the
December 30 wreck.
Time trials and the weather
could have been an omen for the teams fortunes
when Little ventured onto the track for
qualifying without the timing transponder
installed. Officials allowed him a single lap
run at the end of the session on a totally slick
track and by the rules the best he could do
would be 25th place no matter how
fast it was.
“I don’t know what time we
did, I didn’t even look because I was so
disappointed.” Said Little. An official time of
15.328 was recorded (25th).
Missing the inversion for the
heats carries a significant handicap and the
rain storm in between qualifying and the heats
caused additional problems when the track became
a fast one lane track that was virtually
impossible to pass on.
“We went out for our first
heat at 9:30 after heaps of wheel packing and
the track was pretty much one lane.” Little
explained. After starting 7th Little
finished 6th.
Little was now in a place he
hasn’t been for a while – the B-Main – and after
starting 3rd he won that race to then
start 21st in the main event.
In the feature race Little
was just cruising early on in about 17th place
when incredibly, the left rear tyre went flat,
again! Normally any team in this situation would
go to the designated work area and be given six
laps under the yellow in which to effect
repairs. In this situation however, that
privilege was denied on the grounds of an
impending curfew thereby ending the teams night.
“The new Kimbo
Transport/Grizzly Dyno Shocks Eagle was nice, it
didn’t do anything wrong. Bill (Roberts) and all
the team did a great job to build us a brand new
car as good as the other one in the time they
had.” Said Little gratefully. “ I still like the
other car (without the powder-coating on it),
It’s not all shiny and new. It’s all scratched
up. It’s just us.”
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Troy Little sees out 2006 with
Micro Sprint Victory
Posted 1st January 2007
 After
a hard wreck on December 30 in the Sprintcar
feature at Parramatta, Troy Little eased the
pain with his second straight win in his sister
Amandas’ Micro-Sprint, this time at Toowoomba in
Queensland. It was also an excellent way to see
out an at times frustrating 2006.
Following his
last start win at Cullen Bullen the friendly
rivalry between Little and brother-in-law
Stephen Ellicott continued. Ellicott thought he
was on to crew chief Bill Roberts’ “secrets” and
was well prepared for the second instalment of
the Little-Ellicott inter-family competition.
However, a
different strategy and car set-up was employed
at the hooky Charlton raceway and Little
utilised the system perfectly despite the
absence of Roberts who was busy back at the
teams Windsor race shop building a new Sprintcar
for the January 1st International
event at Parramatta.
After scoring
wins in both of his heats, Little once again
shadowed Ellicott early on in the feature event
before moving up track and edging past into the
lead which he held until the end.
“It’s amazing
how a win can take away the pain of the previous
nights rollover.” Said Little post race. “Bill
has been making little tweaks here and there to
the car and engine and I can feel the difference
and I think it showed tonight.”
“I’d also just
like to say I hope everyone has a happy and safe
new year and to take this opportunity to thank
all of our valued sponsors, fans, supporters and
especially my fantastic crew on both cars for
their help and assistance throughout 2006 and on
into 2007.” Little said appreciatively.
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A LITTLE
WAS A LOT IN AGP AFTER TYRE WOES
Posted 27th December 2006
 Troy
Little timed eighth behind Americans Donny
Schatz and Steve Kinser in the Valvoline AGP at
TPCR last night and finished seventh in the
main.
Nothing earth shattering about that you might
think, but the real story surrounds what went on
between that delivers a sense of satisfaction to
a team.
Crew
members had to plug a rear tyre as it went south
in the final moments of timing as Troy notched
12.330.
If
it had popped a couple of seconds earlier it
might have ruined the night completely for the
team who could not do anything right 12 months
ago at the corresponding meeting.
“I
remember the international nights last summer at
Parramatta as character building and it all
started with the Valvoline AGP,” remembers
Troy.
“If
there was a wreck I was in it and we cut a
couple of engines too which hurt our budget and
lowered the crew’s self confidence,” he added.
The
Kimbo Transport Eagle driver then finished a
third and second to Schatz in his heat races
before another second to red hot Don | | | | |
