Elk River, Minn. June 28, 2016 – It’s hard to keep a good man down, and nothing was going to keep Andrew Carlson from capturing his first podium of the season in The Off-Road Championship (TORC) series this past Saturday in Crandon, Wis. Despite starting deep in the final grid and fighting an onslaught of mud and debris, Andrew rallied towards the front, passing as many as three competitors in a single lap to gain a third place finish at the line, just 12-seconds behind leader Travis Dinsmore.
The podium finish put a hard stop to a string of tough luck and mechanical gremlins that had plagued the Carlson Moto team through the early stages of the season. Yet thanks to relentless persistence and laser focus from the entire team, Carlson had the Best Western, AMSOIL Pro-Light truck romping through the pack on what is considered the largest and fastest track in TORC competition. Andrew’s third place finish along with Dinsmore’s win also gave Carlson Moto sponsor Atturo Tire a double podium finish, a first for them in their feature class.
“That’s the best the truck has ever handled,” Andrew said after Saturday’s race. “I wasn’t sure where I ended up when I crossed the finish line, I was just trying to pass as many guys as I could. The truck was incredible…I was closing the door on guys…diving low on the corners and getting underneath them. It was a fun race and it feels good to be back on the podium.”
The Crandon weekend didn’t start out well, however, as an errant rock took out Carlson’s brakes early in Friday’s Atturo Pro Light final. Andrew was forced to simply “hang-on”, staying on the lead lap and collecting as many points as possible.
“Our team has worked so hard and I’m most happy for them,” Andrew said. “We’ve got some of the best mechanics in the series and they just kept at it, making the truck better and faster. They proved we’re for real…they gave me a truck that was easy to drive. I didn’t have to bang doors to get around guys. Now we’re headed to our home track and I’m really ready to do well in front our fans.”
Andrew’s “home track” is at ERX Motor Park in Elk River, Minnesota where the TORC series will make its Minneapolis/St. Paul debut for the Twin Cities Takedown, July 16-17. The mile long track should prove to quickly become a favorite amongst racers and fans alike with its mixture of multi-line, high-speed straights and technical features including huge fly-away jumps and several tight turns all contoured into the rolling terrain of the immensely popular Midwest racing facility. Tickets for the Twin Cities Takedown are on sale now at www.erxmotorpark.com/tctakedown.
You can relive Andrew’s drive to the podium in Crandon on tape-delayed, 90-minute condensed programming on Fox Sports 2 with round 5 airing on July 14 at 6:00pm and round 6 broadcast July 21 also at 6:00pm.
Follow the Carlson Moto Team throughout the season on their website www.carlsonmoto.com or on Facebook @CarlsonMoto, Twitter and Instagram #CarlsonMoto.