LA HABRA, California — El Cajon’s Taylor Miinch (#5) wins the ASA Truck Series season opener in Lake Havasu, AZ and Cameron Jocelyn (#11) out of Laguna Hills, CA finishes 3rd.
" My truck worked well on the longer runs and with all the cautions that flew at the end I really had to get up on the wheel. "— Taylor Miinch
In his debut race for the ATK Motorsports team, Miinch qualified 2nd for the main event and held on for the 50-lap race win to score his first ever truck series victory.
“We had a great truck this weekend. My truck worked well on the longer runs and with all the cautions that flew at the end I really had to get up on the wheel. Thank you to Dallas Leininger, Kevin Smith and the ATK guys for giving me a truck I could win with this weekend!”
Due to the roll-of the dice invert, Miinch started the main in 3rd and quickly secured a 2nd place position behind race leader Scott Franchimone (#12) who led the field to the green after a 4th place qualifier. Those two paced the field for the first 22-laps before things got a little interesting on the Havasu track. After numerous cautions for wrecks behind the leaders, Miinch passed race leader Franchimone after an apparent right front flat ended their evening.
“It would have been nice to have raced the 12 at the end for the win”, Miinch added. “Their truck was better on the short runs and it seemed ours was better on the longer run. “
Shortly after taking the lead, Miinch and series’ newcomer Darren Amidon (#33) got together in Turn 3 resulting in Miinch being sent to the back for the restart. After making some passes on the track and a few more cautions, Miinch found himself back on the lead for the final 5 laps and held on for the win in the season opener.
After starting 6th for the main event, the other ATK Motorsports entry of Cameron Jocelyn fought his way up to a 3rd place finish and his best-ever series result.
Jocelyn states, “Practice got rained out and it put us behind for the weekend being this was my first time in the truck. We’re very pleased with our podium finish to say the least!”
The next stop for the ATK Motorsports team, Taylor Miinch and the ASA Truck series is the road course circuit at Firebird Raceway on April 23rd.
ATK Motorsports is a full-service race team specializing in lease programs, maintenance services and young driver development for the ASA Truck Series and beyond. With nearly 20 years of combined experience in the truck series alone, ATK Motorsports brings one of today’s most competitive race teams to this touring West Coast series. For more information, go to: www.racewithatk.com
For more information on Taylor Miinch go to: www.taylormiinch.com
ATK Motorsports would like to thank DJ Safety, JEGS, King Taco and Jenn Ledon Photography for their continued support.
The ASA Trucks are 2,450 pounds, full tube chassis, 108 inch wheelbase, 375+ horsepower 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 ½ 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 or Lisa McLauchlan at 619-596-6816 / mcracers@prodigy.net or go to www.asatruckseries.com.
