Dernières Nouvelles

Cam Reimers Comeback in 2012 Should Translate to a Successful 2013 Season

14 déc. 2012

AMA ATV rider Cam Reimers has the ability to over come adversity

Cam Reimers is not a quitter. He is a fighter. He perseveres when faced with adversity.

Cam Reimers is a winner.

After breaking both of the bones in his lower right leg at the AMA ATV Motocross Nationals opening round at Aonia Pass in Washington, Ga., Reimers made a remarkable comeback just five months later and found himself on top of the podium, sweeping the Fun Valley Moto X Series’ third and fourth rounds in Montezuma, Iowa.

“I had only been training for a couple weeks at home before the Montezuma race,” Reimers said. “We actually weren’t even planning on racing the event, but we had a lot of rain in (Iowa) that weekend and (Montezuma) was one of the only tracks in the Midwest that was going to be good. I was starting to feel stronger every time I got on the bike so a few days before the event we decided that we would go race and see where we stood.”

Where Reimers stood was on top of the podium. Twice.

The race completed brought full circle the events that could have ended, if not seriously set back, Reimers’ career.

The day started out strong for Reimers, who had the holeshot and won the first Moto. When Moto 2 lined up, Reimers had a poor gate pick. After a nice start, Reimers found himself in 3rd place heading into a fast section of the track.

After a major set back in the beginning of the 2012 AMA ATV race season, Cam Reimers, once again began his steady climb toward the podium

“After I took third, there was a high speed section in the back with some pretty good sized jumps. Some riders got together through that section and it started a chain reaction. I got clipped in the air and had to ditch the bike. I ended up landing down in the flat on the hard Georgia clay.

“I felt something pop when I landed and as soon as I tried to stand up, I knew I had some issues.”

When the paramedics removed Reimers’ boot, the gruesome injury was revealed. Reimers had suffered compound fractures to both his Tibia and Fibula. With the bones sticking through the skin, Reimers slipped into a daze.

“The pain pretty much went away. I saw everything I worked for disappear; it was actually pretty heartbreaking. There was nobody to blame for it, just a racing deal. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Reimers father, who doubles as his mechanic, was at his side, along with Can-Am race manager Jimmie O’Dell. At the hospital, Reimers was rushed into surgery. The next day he returned home to Iowa, where more surgery was required. Doctors inserted metal plates into his leg to strengthen the bones. After a few days, doctors were optimistic.

“The first week in the hospital back home, I was pretty bummed out. But as soon as I got released, I was ready to start recovery and try to salvage my season. It was a long five months, but that is actually a very quick recovery for this injury. I had a successful few months of physical therapy and was released to ride again in July.”

After his triumphant return at Montezuma, Reimers was feeling good on his Can-Am. Things were coming together and Reimers was focused on finishing the season strong and carrying that momentum into 2013.

Things don’t always go as planned.

Reimers suffered some vision issues after hitting his head in another accident.

“I was feeling good. My speed was coming back and my stamina was getting better. My leg was starting to feel a lot stronger too. I was really starting to have some fun again.”

Cam Reimers will be back and ready for action in 2013 on his Can-Am ATV

The head injury effectively ended Reimers season. He has since been cleared to ride again, but is currently waiting for his 2013 plans to come together. Reimers says he has some exciting things in the works and is looking forward to finalizing everything and getting back to racing in 2013.

“This season was very disappointing, to say the least. I set very high goals at the beginning of the season and was unable to achieve any of them. But whatever 2013 brings, you can bet we will be there in full force.”

Cam Reimers will be back.

Cam Reimers is a winner.

Reimers added this about K&N, his other sponsors, his friends and family:

“K&N has always provided our race team with good products. There is not a better air filter on the market that makes the power that the K&N Filter does. I can’t thank them enough for the support over the years.”

“After this season, I am very thankful for all of the good people I am surrounded by; I cannot thank my family and friends enough. Along with K&N, there are several other companies that make it all possible: Can-Am, Hicklin Powersports, Motoworks, DWT, SSi Decals, Fly Racing, Jett Boots, CheapTearoffs.com, CTO Goggles, Freshletes Clothing, Wiseco, Rath Racing, TiLube, Precision, Fox Racing Shox, BCS Performance, and CR21 Motorsports. See y’all in 2013!”

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Jason Line Sneaks in to Grab Final NHRA Pro Stock Pole of 2012 Season

14 déc. 2012

Jason Line is normally a top contender In NHRA Pro Stock

As the race tightens up for a spot to race for the coveted 2013 K&N Horsepower Challenge, the Pro Stock competitors kept the qualifying exciting during the final event of the 2012 NHRA season. The number one spot changed hands several times during the 48th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals before ultimately going to Jason Line, and his Summit Racing Equipment Camaro, thanks to a track record setting lap during session number three.

Where a team ultimately lands on the qualifying sheet, has so many implications including the amount of points earned toward the K&N Horsepower Challenge. During each NHRA national event, the pole sitting team not only adds the maximum 175 points to their K&N HPC tally, but also snatches up a nice $3,000 low qualifier bonus from K&N Engineering. The consummate goal to finish as one of the top seven point earning drivers that will join an eighth to be selected by fan vote. Those elite eight will compete for a $50,000 championship check with $10,000 being awarded to the runner-up, $3,000 each to the two semifinalists, and $2,500 each to the four first-round finishers at a new venue for 2013. The K&N Horsepower Challenge will be contested during the 14th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in early April.

For the most recent NHRA event at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, the opening round of qualifying found Allen Johnson sitting on top with a 6.565 at 210.47-mph. While he certainly enters every event with his eye on starting from the pole, just making the field was the minimal goal for Johnson and his Mopar Dodge Avenger crew. Just qualifying would sew up the 2012 NHRA Pro Stock Championship for Johnson.

"I watched the first few cars and first few runs, and I made the decision if it started to shake, our mindset was that we were going to get one run, and then it was going to rain and they'd set the field and we didn't make it," Johnson said. "I had my mind made up if it started to shake, I was going to start grabbing gears. We were going to get down the track and at least be sixteenth.”

"When I put it in high gear and that Hemi was humming at the finish line, that was a pretty good feeling," he continued. "My guy came on the radio and said, 'I think we can say championship now.' "

Jason Line drives the Summit Racing Chevy Camaro in the NHRA Pro Stock category

Johnson felt that once the track came around and cars started running quicker, even if he were unable to make another full lap in qualifying, his first run would hold him in the top four and the 2012 NHRA Championship was his.

Still with an eye on finishing the season well, Jason Line, Johnson's closest rival in both the championship and the K&N HPC standings, took the early number two spot by laying down 6.569 and the classes fastest mile-per-hour of 211.10 mph. And the battle for the top spot had only just begun.

The second session on Friday proved to provide the much better track conditions, which Johnson and other teams planned on, with many drivers making huge strides over their previous time slips. Early in the session it was Line's teammate and multi-time K&N HPC Champion, Greg Anderson who nailed his run and shot all the way from well outside the field to the top spot with a solid 6.527. Allen Johnson made the second quickest of the round with a 6.537 and Line close behind with a 6.539, putting the three drivers at one, two and three.

If Anderson's run held through the next two sessions, it would be the first time the driver with seventy-five career Pro Stock poles started from the top in 2012. “It's like Christmas for me. It's been a while. I don't want to sound like a whiner, but for me, it's been a while,” Anderson confessed after the run. “I don't know if it will hold after [Saturday]. It's supposed to be nice again, but I'll take it for one night. I've got at least until 11 a.m. [Saturday] to enjoy it.”

While Line has been able to enjoy success with his new Camaro, Anderson has been waiting for the table to turn with his. “We've been working very hard on these new Camaros and we got a little bit lost when we brought them out,” Anderson continued. “The cars are going to be great, we just got a little confused with the chassis' we built.”

Unfortunately for Anderson, it all came to an end in the opening session on Saturday and for the first time in many seasons, he would go a whole year without a number one qualifier falling to the handiwork of his teammate, Jason Line. Line made a spectacular run, resetting both ends of the track record with a 6.517 at 212.56.

“I really thought he was going to get one,” Line said of Anderson. “I felt like both him and I were going to go 6.51 on that last one, but we'll both get it figured out.”

Line's run would hold, even if just by one thousandth of a second over Johnson's 6.518 posted in the final session. The number one qualifier, during the final event of the 2012 NHRA season, would mark number nine for Jason Line for the year, as well as taking the last four in a row.

There is really no ‘off-season' for any of the professional teams, more like two different seasons. While the flurry of preparations continue for the fast approaching 2013 NHRA season opener, right back where things left off in Pomona, and the 53rd annual O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals in mid-February the 2013 K&N Horsepower Challenge standings hold with the newly crowned NHRA Pro Stock Champ, Allen Johnson sitting on top. Jason Line holds at number two, a tight twenty points behind is Erica Enders at three, K&N's Mike Edwards at four, Greg Anderson remains number five and Vincent Nobile at six. Fighting to grab the seventh and final spot for the challenge are V Gaines and Ron Krisher who are currently just sixty points apart.

Again for 2013, fans can not only vote for their favorite Pro Stock driver to have a shot at the eighth and final spot for the K&N HPC but also enter to win big in the 2013 K&N Horsepower Challenge Sweepstakes. Enter today for a chance to win a trip for two to Las Vegas for the 14th Annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals plus have a shot at taking home the 2013 K&N Horsepower Challenge Edition Toyota Tacoma.

Deadline for entry is 6:00 p.m. ET on March 8, 2013. -

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

The 2012 Monster Jam® Series a Year in Review and 2013 Improvements

14 déc. 2012

Tom Meents and Maximum Destruction extended his remarkable record of World Championships to 10 in 2012

A typical monster truck tips the scale at a strapping 10,000 pounds, while the alcohol-burning, supercharged, V-8 engines generate 1,500 to 2,000 horsepower. During a Monster Jam Series event they use every last one of those ponies to explode with a snarl of thunder into awe inspiring flights reaching distances of 130 feet. Can you really consider your life complete without witnessing that kind of exhibition of brute power at least once?

There are currently more than 4 million fans that attend the K&N supported Monster Jam Series and with its rapid international tour expansion, Monster Jam is continuing to gain more fans in new countries around the world. This is an incredibly loyal and dedicated fan base, and that's in part because they enjoy unprecedented access to the drivers and their marvelous monsters.

The 2012 Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam World Finals^SM XIII held in Las Vegas' Sam Boyd Stadium gave bragging rights to Tom Meents, driver of Maximum Destruction®, and Cam McQueen, driver of Northern Nightmare^SM. They were clearly the stars of the show as they brought home the Racing World Championship and Freestyle World Championship respectively. Tom Meents and Maximum Destruction extended his amazing record of World Championships to 10 when he won the World Racing Championship for the second straight year and sixth time overall.

Cam McQueen received the ultimate payback from the event that saw him fall a tie-breaker short of the 2011 freestyle crown when he turned in an even more spectacular performance taking the Canadian themed Northern Nightmare truck to the freestyle win. This was McQueen's first World Freestyle Championship.

2012 also celebrated the 30th anniversary of one of the most recognized Monster Jam trucks - Grave Digger. The celebration kicked off when a fleet of Grave Digger Monster Jam trucks took to the Las Vegas Strip, exuberantly broadcasting the popular Monster Jam truck's arrival. The Monster Jam World Finals encore was a perfect tribute to the Grave Digger 30th Anniversary celebration as the floor filled with Grave Diggers in a spectacular display of freestyle and destruction fitting for every part of the Grave Digger team.

Since 2010 Monster Jam continues to expand its summer stadium events along the east coast, and in 2012 launched the Path of Destruction Series. Many firsts occurred including Monster Jam's Path of Destruction inaugural event at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In front of a packed house, Tom Meents presented a freestyle salute to the FDNY in a custom FDNY Monster Jam truck and in a finale finish attempted a double back flip (two full rotations) in front of tens of thousands of fans with Maximum Destruction.

The Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam season reignites the weekend of January 4, 2013 with twelve events in Trenton, New Jersey, Des Moines, Iowa, Nashville, Tennessee, Manchester, New Hampshire, Birmingham, Alabama, Columbus, Ohio, Rochester, New York, Tacoma, Washington, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Lexington, Kentucky, Houston, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

2013 is also the 10th anniversary of the MAX-D, and Monster Jam has created special anniversary MAX-D events to celebrate throughout the year. Monster Jam has also expanded its fleet by adding four new Monster Jam trucks to the 2013 line-up.

National Public Relations Director Amy McWethy reported, "While we can't reveal all four right now, we can tell you that Monster Jam has created the first ever Latino Monster Jam truck to celebrate its loyal and growing Latino fan base. This custom designed Monster Jam truck demonstrates our appreciation to our Latino fans and Monster Jam put the naming rights straight in the hands of those fans by launching an online naming contest and voting system. The results were tallied in November and the fans have named the new Monster Jam Latino truck, El Diablo and it will debut in January 12 in Anaheim, California."

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

K&N NASCAR Pro Series West Season Comes to a Close with Dylan Kwasniewski on Top

12 déc. 2012

Dylan Kwasniewski drives the number 3 K&N Pro Series West car

Dylan Kwasniewski rewrote the NASCAR record book once again by becoming the youngest driver to win the K&N Pro Series West championship.

He already was the youngest driver to win the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award and the youngest driver to win a NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race.

With a runner-up finish in the season finale at Phoenix International Raceway, Kwasniewski secured his first K&N Pro Series West championship, denying his Gene Price Motorsports teammate, Greg Pursley, a chance to repeat as champion.

17 year old Dylan Kwasniewski is the youngest Pro Series West driver to win a championship

“I haven’t even taken it into consideration yet,” the 17-year-old Kwasniewski said. “It’s awesome. All of this started with my dad. This was his legacy and I wanted to make sure this happened for him.”

Randy Kwasniewski, Dylan’s dad, died three years ago. Since then, his son has won five races in the K&N Pro Series West and has become the top driver in the series.

“We finally got the championship,” Kwasniewski said. “All I had to do was go out there and drive. These guys worked their butts off to get the car ready for me. I have to thank the crew for it. It was a great year. We’re going to go into the East Series and hopefully do the same thing.”

K&N Pro Series racer Michael Self celebrates with some typical donuts

Kwasniewski was 17 years, 5 months and 10 days old when he won the K&N Pro Series West championship. Chuck Brown held the previous record for youngest West Series champion at 22 years, 7 months and 11 days.

Kwasniewski plans to move to the K&N Pro Series East next season and perhaps race in select NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events.

“I’m going to go and race against those guys,” Kwasniewski said. “I think it’s going to be the same thing. Those guys in the East Series race really good. I’m excited to go out there and run with them. They’re all really good drivers, same as in the West, but I gotta get some more diversity and some more seat time in different cars. I’m excited. I’m really looking forward to going out there.”

Micahel Self put togehter a successful season with wins at Brainerd, Minnesota, and Iowa

Kwasniewski finished six points ahead of Pursley in the K&N Pro Series West standings. Pursley won four K&N Pro Series West races in 2012, but finished in sixth place in the season finale Casino Arizona 50.

Michael Self won the race, his third of the season. He started on the front row with pole winner Cale Conley. Self took the lead on the first lap and was out front for all 50 laps.

“Not a whole lot to say. Just an unbelievable race,” Self said. “The car underneath us was phenomenal, lap after lap. It never missed a beat. From the start we knew what we had to do. A 50-lap race is really short. We knew those tires would last the entire length. Just get out and get in front as early as we can and pull a gap, that’s exactly what we did. It makes things comfortable when we have a good car like that.”

Conley finished behind Self and Kwasniewski in third place in the race.

“We had a pretty good race,” Conley said. “Michael Self raced us really hard and clean there the first couple laps and he got the lead from us. We had a pretty tight race car. It was hard to force the issue especially under breaking, getting into the corner.”

Finish line at Phoenix International Raceway

Self won the K&N Pro Series West races at Brainerd International Raceway, a road course in Minnesota, and at Iowa Speedway. But he said racing at big tracks like Phoenix International Raceway is a good way to prepare for moving up the NASCAR ladder.

“Coming to places like this makes a really big difference,” Self said. “There’s a lot of room to race at tracks like this. Hopefully when we move in to the upper series, the Trucks, Nationwide, even the Cup Series, these are the tracks we are going to be racing on. Really looking forward to getting the experience on these tracks and making the best of them when we have the opportunity too.”

Austin Dyne finished in 13th place at Phoenix and won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year, finishing one point ahead of Cameron Hayley.

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K&N's Steve Williams Rolls to Another NHRA Super Gas National Final in Las Vegas

12 déc. 2012

Steve Williams drives his Super Gas Corvette to the final round in Las Vegas

With a history of great successes over the seasons for California resident Steve Williams at "The Strip" at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his latest feat in Super Gas during the 12th annual Big O Tires NHRA Nationals continues to solidify his near domination at the facility. Williams added yet another final round appearance in his 1963 K&N Corvette Roadster, just missing the Wally by a mere three thousandths of a second.

Coming into the most recent Las Vegas national event, Williams, along with many of his fellow racers, had just competed at the venue two weeks before for the NHRA JEGS Pacific SPORTSnationals, presented by K&N Filters.

"We race in Vegas three to four times a year and I think the interesting thing about this is that everybody had just been at the SportsNationals," pointed out Williams, V.P. at K&N Engineering. "So, even though we only got two time runs, most of us had all just been at that track. I mean there were one hundred and ten Super Comp and Super Gas cars and there were twenty dead-on passes right off in the first run, so we all knew it was going to be a blood bath."

"When they called first round of eliminations, it was seven in the morning and it was really cold," he reflected. "I don't know why they called Super Gas second class out. If the track temp is under seventy degrees in a Super Gas car, you are really going to be moving around out there. Well I raced Eddie Oplin first round and he has about the same mile-per-hour that I do. I'm telling you, we were both all over the place."

"First round was actually the luckiest round because I just happened to get there first, even after moving all over the race track," he added.

Williams also competes in the quicker index category of Super Comp, but wasn't as fortunate in the opening round. "I made a mistake and gave it back by two thou in the dragster," he admitted. "I was pretty upset since I had a better light and I did everything that I wanted to do, I just misjudged the finish line. I think that actually gave me a little extra motivation in [Super] Gas."

That would be the only round of competition for the Super Gas class during Friday's activities and the next several planned for Saturday. Williams and his K&N Corvette worked together like a well-oiled machine to sail through each one. "I was ten, ten and twelve on the tree each of the first three rounds and I have thirty-one [delay] in the box," he said. "The car was just perfect. I ran three 10.05's [Super Gas Index for Las Vegas], I was right where I wanted to be. I was holding about one or two [hundredths]."

After putting away Oplin, Brad Pierce and Steve Parsons it set Williams up for a huge match-up with fellow K&N racer, Luke Bogacki for a shot to earn a bye that would take the winner into the semi-finals. "It was a great race, obviously he is a great driver and gets the opportunity to race a lot more than I do," noted Williams. "Normally I would hold a little bit, but in this case, I felt like if I hit the tree I could get on about a mid-10.05. And since I run about 170 mph and he runs about 155 mph, if he's going to take the stripe, he's going to be set up fast and will have to do a really good job, if I'm on time."

Steve Williams has a passion for racing that also translates into his work at K&N

"I set the car dead-on, I'm .008 and he's .006," he continued of the round with Bogacki. "At about 1100 feet, he's about a car and a half out and he starts backing into me. He did a really good job and was trying to take about a foot and a half, but when we crossed the stripe, I just fed him about two or three feet, so I'm 10.054 and he's under with a 10.043."

Not only was it a big round to get past Bogacki, but by driving it well, Williams had now earned a competition bye that would shoot him right into the semi-finals. It was during his single round that the K&N racer feels he could have played it a little better. "I really just wasn't believing what I was seeing. During my bye, I packed the [delay] box full since I didn't want anyone to know what I was capable of or what my light would be," he confessed. "It showed me that the race track was about ten thou slower in reaction time and sixty foot had also slowed down ten. I didn't really believe it, I left the thirty-one in the delay for the next round."

"I crushed the tree and as I left the line I was thinking man, that had to be a .005 or at least a .010," he continued to explain his semi-final match up with Rob Willis. "I got by him but when I got my [time] slip I was really surprised to see that I was only .023 on the tree. I told ‘Ferd' [Mike Ferderer], I tell ya, I murdered that tree and to be .023, I really need to take some out for the final."

In preparation for his final round match up with Steve Apted, Williams followed his gut and took .010 [ten] out of his delay box and rolled up to the lanes in hopes of repeating his 2010 Super Gas victory at this same event.

"I've raced Steve before and I have a pretty good record against him," he said. "I had the left lane again, which is what I wanted. The way the sun was going down, the bulb had a little half-moon in it that was dark and the sun was on the other side of the tree. I saw the dark spot and thought I would see that better and thought I better put that ten back in the delay."

As the final round played out, neither driver had the best reaction time, but it was Apted's .039 that gave him just the slight advantage he needed over Williams' .042 to run dead-on the 10.05 index, while forcing Williams just under the number.

"That ten was the race right there," admitted Williams. "If I just would have left that alone, it would have made all the difference in the world. I took two-thou stripe and felt really good when I left. I didn't feel late. The odd thing is, the sixty foot slowed down another ten and if you do the math, we were just losing reaction time in all those late rounds and I just didn't catch it."

While Williams didn't grab this national event win, he still added to his ever impressive NHRA national event final round total which includes five finals with four wins in Super Comp and now six finals with two wins in Super Gas.

With one event left on the table Williams is already looking ahead to 2013. "I feel like I learned a lot this year and both cars ran really good. One of the best things is that I know I can still be very competitive," he said. "There are lots of new things on the table for next season, including a new American Race Cars dragster with a new 665 ci Brodix that based on what the 622 was doing in the quarter on the stop, should go over 190."

"With my job with K&N, it's not always easy to commit four days to being at a national event. But the company really supports me and wants me to race," he smiled. "They want me to get out there twelve to fifteen times a year, as I plan to do again next season, and that also really helps me to know what is going on. Just like with the guys that are thrilled that K&N is helping with products on the tow side of their operations now, too. The guys that have switched to K&N's new heavy duty filter for their big rig tow vehicles are very pleased with the results that they are experiencing."

"That is all a part of me being out there," he continued. "Supporting our partners, our racers that are out there and continuing to look into new products that we need to develop, it's really quite a group effort that I'm very happy to be a part of."

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