LICATA TIES TEAMMATE FOR LEAD WITH IMPRESSIVE ASA TRUCK SERIES WIN AT TOYOTA SPEEDWAY AT IRWINDALE
Release Date: 5/28/2010
Santee, CA – May 28th, 2010 – Last Saturday night, May 22nd, was a night to remember for the 2009 ASA Truck Series defending champion Joey Licata at Irwindale, California. Licata brought his Chevy Colorado to victory lane for the first time at the TOYOTA Speedway after taking the lead from Race Liberante on Lap 62 of 75 after an exciting double file restart. It was also the first time the ASA Trucks have used double file restarts. Licata is teammates with Dylan Kwasniewski for United Nissan and was able to tie up the 2010 points race with his win over Dylan’s fifth place finish. The top five finishers were #71 Joey Licata, #51 Taylor Cuzick, #12 Jim Putman, #25 Shawn Steele and #3 Dylan Kwasniewski. In a post race interview, Licata confirmed he "liked the double file restarts because it’s better for the fans as long as we don’t tear up too many trucks". Joey has only been racing in this series for two years and has shown consistency better than anyone as this win was his first, even though he was able to secure the 2009 Championship without that elusive victory. Many racers can learn a valuable lesson from Joey and know that consistency pays off. Licata commented that #6 Race Liberante "ran a great race without too many mistakes and was real tough." Licata went on to say "before the caution, the truck to beat was the #51 of Taylor Cuzick" who just ran out of time and finished a strong second on his season debut back in the ASA Truck series. Licata finished with the statement "the last caution was good for us and my truck came to us for the last 15 laps" and he was able to pull away to a comfortable one second victory over Taylor Cuzick in his Arizona Freightliner Chevy. Joey Licata was all smiles at post race tech where all five trucks were deemed legal and his win was official.
The ASA Trucks put on a great show for 75 laps of competitive, side-by-side and three wide racing on the fast ˝ mile super speedway. Fast time qualifier, Taylor Cuzick out of Peoria, Arizona had a fast lap of 19.847 with single truck qualifying instead of the usual ‘group qualifying’ procedure. The trucks again demonstrated the talent of these drivers by running 60 laps of green when a number of the drivers were just back for their first time this season like #02 Jamie Bennett, #5 Kevin Smith, #6 Race Liberante, #51 Taylor Cuzick, #10 Cameron Jocelyn and hard-charging #25 Shawn Steele. Steele missed practice and qualifying and had to start at the back of the field. With motivation of his soon-to-be born son’s initials MW on the hood, Steele never looked back and went from last to finish fourth without a scratch on his truck. The other drivers jumped right ‘back in the seat’ and did a great job running a clean race and adhering to the new tech procedures and management of the new series owners, Todd McLauchlan. McLauchlan was pleased with the truck count of fifteen and the well-maintained trucks these drivers brought to the track.
Series ‘regulars’ were back to conquer the fast, high banks of TOYOTA Speedway as #10 Eric Sloan, #18 Mike Herda, #1 Jeff Catlin, #16 Donny St. Ours and #9 Jason Black all had competitive trucks. Another notable ‘regular’ is #20 Taylor Miinch who, after only three races in the series, has taken a strong third place in the 2010 points chase. Miinch, a former go-kart champion, is only fourteen years old and is also demonstrating that consistency pays off in racing like Joey Licata knows. Licata was "definitely excited to get this monkey off my back" with his first series victory and is ready to keep going. He wanted to thank his parents, family, crew (Lee Keach, Greg Knight, Carey Means, Kendal Anderson and Jordan Hyland) and his sponsors United Nissan, Justice Brothers, Cheri Real Estate and Ron Sutton Winners Circle for standing by him all these races and being there to see him win. Jim Putman, from Norco, California in his #12 Chevy was strong all night and had a ‘podium’ finish in third. Jim was beaming after the race and said, "Racing is fun right now!" Putman went on to say "I have such respect for the talent of these young drivers who raced me hard, but clean all night". That is what the ASA Truck series is all about!
Giant RC, a generous sponsor of the event, donated an RC car to the "Giant Move of the Race" that was voted upon and awarded to Race Liberante at the end of the event. The move was actually made at the beginning of the main event when he went three wide and passed clean to jump up front by lap 3. Liberante lead over 50 laps and had a dominate ASA Truck. Unfortunately, with only one lap to go and in third position, he ran out of VP racing fuel and coasted to an eight place finish. Hopefully winning that awesome RC car from Giant RC helped ease the pain of running out of fuel.
Licata was excited that Team United Nissan was now "three for three" with teammate Kwasniewski taking the first two victories. Joey is from Lake Balboa, California but loves to race in Las Vegas at the Bullring which is his teammate Kwasniewski’s hometown track. He stated, "In Vegas we will both be tough as Dylan has a lot of laps around the Bullring, but I am usually really fast there as well." The battle will continue for a point’s championship on June 5th at the Bullring in Las Vegas. For more information about the track or tickets, go to www.lasvegasmotorspeedway.com/bullring. We look forward to another action packed event in Vegas as hometown drivers #28 Branden Underwood and #77 Jerimiah Wagner come back to compete with the ASA Truck Series. There are a few ASA Trucks ready now and available for rent or purchase. Contact Lisa McLauchlan at 619-596-6816 for more information and contacts of those available rentals.
Remember to support our series sponsors by using products and services from the following vendors: Jim Van Gordon Racing Engines, Mike Naake Suspension Specialist, VP Racing Fuels, Hoosier Tires, DJ Safety, Frank’s Radios, Starter Guard, Advertising Edge, Mechanix Wear, Mallory/ACCEL/Mr. Gasket, TOYOTA, POLYDyn TX7, Top Notch Flooring, Kollasol Ink, Naake Suspension Specialist, STR, and Luke’s Transmission.
The ASA Trucks are 2,450 pounds, full tube chassis, 108 inch wheelbase, 375 horsepower Van Gordon Racing V-8’s, fired by Mr. Gasket’s - Mallory / ACCEL ignition systems and VP Race Fuel, with 2-speed direct drive transmissions and Speedway Engineering aluminum quick change rear ends on 8-inch Hoosier Racing Tires and Allied Racing Wheels and can reach speeds of 105 MPH at the ˝ mile TOYOTA Speedway at Irwindale oval and 150 MPH on the 2.1-mile road course at Firebird International Raceway. The ASA Trucks sport exact replica Norris Racing fiberglass bodies in Chevy S-10, Chevy Colorado, Ford Ranger, Dodge Dakota and Toyota Tacoma.
If you would like to find out more about the ASA Truck Series and how your company could be part of the growing excitement across the nation about this dynamic series, contact Todd McLauchlan at 619-596-6816 / mcracers@prodigy.net or go to www.asatruckseries.com. Attractive marketing partnership packages are available for your involvement regionally or nationally, contact Jay Rutherford at Motorsports Marketing LLC, at 760-249-1149 or JR@motorsportsmarketing.net.
The ASA Racing program is comprised of more than 35 short tracks around the United States, as well as road racing divisions and regional/national touring race series. For more information, call ASA Racing at 386-258-2221 or send an email to info@ASA-Racing.com. For news and information from all the race tracks, road racing divisions and tours involved in the ASA, visit www.asa-racing.com. ASA™, ASA Racing™ and American Speed Association® are trademarks of Racing Speed Associates, LLC. Racing Speed Associates, LLC is not related to nor affiliated with ASA LATE MODEL SERIES, LLC.
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