BEAR RZESNOWEICKY SCORES HIS FIRST ASA SPEED TRUCK CHALLENGE WIN AT HAVASU 95 SPEEDWAY

Source: Dave Grayson
Date: 04/09/2007

With the poise of a seasoned veteran, 14 year old Bear Rzesnowiecky used the presence of a lapped vehicle as a pick and went on to win his first ASA Speed Truck Challenge Series race, April 7th, at the Havasu 95 Speedway a quarter mile paved oval located in Lake Havasu City-Arizona. The stunning, late in the race move, came within the final 20 laps and capped off an event that was littered with eight yellow caution flags and one red flag.

From the initial green flag, series veteran Jim Putman came off of his outside front row starting berth and jumped into the lead. Going for his second win of the 2007 season, Putman's Performance Grading Dodge appeared to be formidable and the Corona-California driver was clearly the class of the field despite the fact that his racing rhythm was repeatedly disrupted with all of the yellow flags during the often wild 100 lap event.

The absolute worst of the on track incidents led to the race being red flagged when the Chevrolet Truck driven by Peoria-Arizona's Colin Dickerson sustained a hard hit into the backstretch wall just prior to the half way mark of the race. The truck coasted to the turn three wall where it came to a rest and speculation suggested that either an oil pump or oil line was severely damaged and spilled hot oil onto the mainfold resulting in an engine fire. Speedway emergency officials were quick to respond to the scene but there was a temporary malfunction of the firetruck's water hose. The problem was quickly resolved but, unfortunately, not before the truck's entire engine compartment became engulfed in flames. Dickerson quickly exited the flaming truck but was understandably upset over the massive damage to the engine.

With the race underway again, Putman again displayed his race long dominace while Rzesnowiecky used a combination of the track's low and center grooves to work his way into second. With less than 20 laps left in the event,the presence of lapped traffic became a reality and led to the race leader's undoing. While Putman was trying to negotiate his way past a lapped race truck, Rzesnowiecky dived to the bottom of the track before the race leader could get there and used the lapped truck as a pick to take the lead for good. Unfortunately for Putman lapped traffic hampered him again and he was forced to the high side of the track on the final lap of the race where he lost three more positions.Despite the disappointment of the finish, Putman took it all in stride and said "what can you say, how many of these things have been won or lost in the past due to the presence of lapped cars? We're just going to move on and make sure we're ready to go get 'em at the next one."

Darren Young, the reigning series champion and the race winner's team mate, took second and gave United Nissan Racing a most impressive one-two finish. Randel King, who won the March 17th event in San Bernardino, took third Shawn Steele finished fourth while Putman had to settle for a hard luck top five.

After parking in the Havasu 95 Speedway's victory lane, the happy Las Vegas driver climbed on top of his winning race truck and literally jumped up and down on its roof. "This feels awsome", he said adding "United Nissan put these wheels underneath me and I've got to thank my buddies Lee Keach, Greg Knight and my spotter Cary. Most of all I'd like to thank my dad and my grandfather for coming out and being here for this fabulous win." Describing his race winning move, Rzesnowiecky said "obviously he,(Putman), had his high line figured out so and I thought I could make the low line work a lot better than he could so I just took right then and there. After that I just checked out."

Like so many youngsters his age in racing today Bear Rzesnowiecy began his racing career early in life by racing go karts both on ovals and road courses. He eventually moved to the bigger and faster Bandelero cars and then to the Legend Series where he quickly showed his growing racing talent. While many consider him a natural racing talent, he also learned a lot of of valuable racing lessons from his father, Steve, who is well reknowned for his many years of winning races. Steve Rzesnoiecky was one very proud father after watching his son win the race and said "I knew he was going to get there eventually. The kid has a lot of drive and that drive that he shows inside of a car is just unbelievable. He puts so much effort into this both mentally and physically. He trains himself with running to keep himself in great physical shape and that effort shows. He works hard and he drives hard." Commenting on a race winning move usually only employed by experienced veterans he said "I think that comes from the go karting. He's learned how to drive way ahead of himself and he didn't lose his momentum and that pass was a classic example of that."

That first win was indeed cause for a Rzesnowiecky family celebration. While taking his victory lap the race winner's grandmother, Anna Rzesnowiecky, was standing topside of the turn four wall dancing up and down and waving a checkered flag bandana. Describing her feelings after watching her grandson win the race she said "I'm so very proud of him and his team. This was a total team effort. All of them are working very hard at this and they're doing their very best."

Still another Rzesnowiecky lady who was celebrating the win was Bear's mother:Patricia who said "this is very exciting. They've put together a great team and we're really fortunate to have the opportunity to have this great team behind us led by Lee Keach, Greg Knight and the rest of the team mates. It's a great combination with the teams they've put together including the drivers that they have. This win was just a matter of time and I'm very excited."

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