Midlothian, Illinois (Thursday, May 22, 2008): Fortunately for Lorz Motorsports, the next race on their 2008 schedule is close to home. The Midlothian, Illinois-based team will make the 45-minute trip West on I-80 to Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Illinois for the 10th annual George Appleton Memorial 125.
In the teams’ last weekend of racing at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis on April 25-26, 2008 it was a weekend that Car Owner, Mike Lorz would rather forget. So taking that into consideration, the “real” season for his team starts this weekend with the second race of the 2008 season in the ASA Late Model Series Northern Division!
“We had a banged up weekend at ORP, but that’s racing!” Stated the Car Owner as he prepares for the Appleton Memorial to be held over the Memorial Day Holiday Weekend.
Driver Troy Hintzsche was perhaps the hardest working man at ORP on Friday, April 25, 2008 as the Malta, Illinois driver overcame an early race accident and several pit stops to finish 15th and the last car on the lead lap.
“We were lucky to finish the race, but the crew never gave up! We fixed the whole rear back of the car as fast as we could and keep him on the lead lap.” Lorz explained. “Then with eight laps to go we cut a left front flat tire we changed that and got him back out again on the lead lap. So I was pretty happy with the finish. It could have been a DNF to start the season!”
“I can’t wait to get back in the #76 Winfield Solutions, DeKalb Seed Ford Fusion! ORP didn’t go as well as I would have liked. We were fighting some engine problems during practice which kept us from tuning on the chassis so we didn’t qualify as good as we would have liked.” Explained Hintzsche as he reflected on the weekend that was at ORP.
“The car felt pretty good the first eight laps of the race, then we got ran over by an impatient rookie and had a lot of damage to the car.” Hitnzsche added. “With all the problems we had at ORP, we still finished on the lead lap!”
I have to give thanks to the hard working Lorz Motorsports crew. I’m looking forward to Grundy County Speedway! We got the engine running right and Lorz knows Grundy County pretty well. Now we can focus on getting the chassis tuned right so we can run up front.” The 24-year-old ended.
As for his rookie driver, Josh Lane, the weekend couldn’t have started any worse for the Algonquin, Illinois driver. Lane failed to make the ASALMS North show on Friday night, so with nothing to lose, Lorz entered Lane in the ASALMS Challenge Division event the next day at ORP.
“We just wanted to get Josh some good seat time but that did not work out so well either!” Lorz remarked. Lane slammed the inside front stretch wall on Lap 20 and flew over the hood of 13-year-old Logan Ruffin’s machine before sliding into the Turn One wall ending his night.
“That wreck destroyed the car, so we’ve been building a new car for Josh for Grundy as the whole team has been working hard every day and night to try to get it ready!” Lorz continued. “I am so damn proud of these guys! I would like to give a special thanks to the whole Lorz Motorsports team for the time and hard work they have given!” He ended.
“ORP wasn’t exactly how we wanted to start the year off, But looking at it in a positive aspect we can only get better, faster, and stronger from here on out!” Lane added as he talked about his adventurous weekend in Clermont, Indiana.
“After leaving ORP there wasn’t much of a chance on getting a brand-new Lefthander chassis built for Grundy.” The 20-year-old explained. “But with some hard work and determination the boys at Lorz Motorsports came through for me, and I hope I can repay the favor and the put the Performance Enterprise Ford Fusion near the top.”
Lane then continued; “They have spent countless hours getting the car ready and they hope to have it completed by the early weekend. It was a hard hit and I can’t thank the guys enough for building such a well-built race car.
As for the next race on the schedule, Lane is looking forward to racing on a track where he’s turned thousands of laps! “I grew up and went to High School just down the road and I hope to show well for my sponsors, fans, friends, relatives, team, and myself! We just need to get the ball rolling at Grundy and hope to make a snowball affect from there on out!
For the 2008 racing season, Hintzsche will steer a Lorz Motorsports Ford Fusion with sponsorship from: Winfield Solutions as well as DeKalb Seed, International Truck and Engine Corporation, BASF Chemical Corporation, Rooster Reality, Bell Racing, M.P.H. Promotions, and Lorz Motorsports.
As for Lane, he will steer the familiar #54 Lorz Motorsports Ford Fusion carrying sponsorship from; Racers Against Hunger as well as Complete Automotive Solutions, Chicago Family Law, Performance Enterprises, Red Line Synthetic Oil, Kdubya.com, M.P.H. Promotions, and Lorz Motorsports.
