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Open-Wheeled Modified Racer Blake Terry Shoots for Big National Races

18 lip 2013

Open Wheeled Modified racer Blake Terry has aspirations of qualifying for National Races at the season's end.

Elizabethton, Tennessee native, Blake Terry, was raised in an environment lending to his passion for the sport of racing. Attending events at an early age, he quickly became engulfed in an atmosphere where the air was permeated with the roar of screaming engines and the sense of competition. Although sharing a camaraderie, each driver entered the field geared up and ready for a fierce battle to the checkered flag. In turn, Terry found himself dreaming of maneuvering a car through a maze of drivers, all with the same goal - chalking up a victory.

Blake Terry is engulfed in his second season of racing in the Dirt Open-wheeled Modified class.

In 1999, the driver got his first taste of the anticipation that preludes the waving of the green flag and the excitement of a relentless quest to the finish line. Blake Terry was bitten by the bug and had no intentions of doing anything other than pursuing his passion. In fact, now 19-years old, he is still eaten up with the sport. But with age and experience, he left the karts behind and is presently driving in the Dirt Open-Wheeled Modified class in the U.M.P. and AMRA series.

Driving a stock, GM front -clip with a tubular chassis from the engine back, the driver savors 620-horsepower of raw power at his disposal. When asked what he enjoys most about competing in this class, he said, "The difficulty to drive them, and the competition level is extremely tough. I grew up coming to local dirt tracks and always wanted to race."

Embarking in his second season in the Dirt Open-wheeled modified class Terry realizes that many of his competitors have more years under their belts. Although confident in his aggressiveness, the driver also understands that to be competitive night-in and night-out, he must recognize and improve on his weak points. That in mind, he is focused on fine tuning his consistency from lap to lap.

Beginning the 2013 season at the Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, North Carolina, Terry began the feature in the 10th spot. The driver held his own throughout the race, and in fact, managed to gain a couple of positions. When the dust had settled, Terry crossed the finish line in seventh place.

As do all drivers, Blake Terry has experienced his fair share of troubles throughout the most recent season. The driver recently headed to the Volunteer Speedway, at Bulls Gap, Tennessee with aspirations of success. Starting first in the main, everything seemed to be falling into place. But team B. Terry Motorsports' luck went south in the blink of an eye when his drive shaft snapped, deeming the night over. However, he is sitting in the sixth spot overall in the Southern Open Wheeled Shootout series. And with in the neighborhood of 20 scheduled events ahead of him, there is still ample time to climb even higher in the ranks.

Blake Terry's driving skills will obviously play an essential role in his success throughout the remainder of the season, But he is also aware that there are other elements of a winning record as well. Referring to the importance of his team the driver said, "My team is one of the most important things in my life, behind God and family. I spend all of my spare time working on the car, trying to get that extra one-tenth-second out of it."

Having been involved in racing for 14-years, the driver is also mindful that success depends a great deal upon keeping his vehicle running at it's peak performance. Alluding to the importance of proper maintenance, he explained, "I think maintenance is what makes or breaks teams! I know plenty of good drivers, but they can't finish races due to part failures, which is due to a lack of maintenance."

That in mind, Blake Terry and his crew are strong advocates of using K&N products to keep the internal components of the engines contaminant free. "I run the K&N E-3750 performance air filter, the HP-2002 oil filter, a K&N 62-1514 crankcase breather, their E-3750PK filter wrap and a K&N 81-1003 fuel filter" he explained. "They are second to none products! I use them on everything from my daily driver to my race car hauler. I will never use any filter that is not made by K&N."

With a good grip on maintenance and a heavy understanding of the sport, Blake Terry is anticipating success throughout the remainder of the 2013 season. Looking forward, the driver ensured, My goals are to finish out the season with a couple of wins and some strong top fives. And I hope to qualify for the big national races toward the end of the year."

Related K&N News Articles about Modified Racing Series: Modified Racing Series' Jon Henry Wins American Late Model Series Race at Attica Raceway Park; Modified Racing Series Driver Jason Patison Wins Trophy Dash then Finishes Top 10 at Lake Havasu 95 Speedway; Jim Mardis and the Mardis Racing Team Battle for Modified Racing Series Championship; K&N is Onboard for the 2013 Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series' Most Competitive Year Yet

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Ron D.R. Laing's Unconventional K&N Air Filter Application Befits Canada's NASG

17 lip 2013

The conveyorized belt parts washer's effectiveness was greatly improved after adding an E-1650 air filter.

"I'm a diehard gear head/car guy, and I run a small performance shop at night named Laing Speed & Performance," Ron D.R. Laing confirmed. Laing's nocturnal automotive pastime and resourcefulness recently crossed over into his fulltime day job, where it's now paying huge dividends. Laing is the Manufacturing Engineering Manager for North American Stamping Group, Inc. in Woodstock, Ontario. NASG produces metal components for the automotive industry.

Ron D.R. Laing unconventional use of a K&N air filter has reduced maintenance and improved the life of their washer/blower system by more than 50%.

"Our product focus includes both light, and heavy gauge exhaust, seat components, as well as specialized sub-assemblies. Unique innovations such as our in-die welding technology and in-die tapping have given us a competitive advantage in high volume applications. To that end, we recently installed an automated, conveyorized belt parts washer," Laing explains.

"The machine was manufactured by Alliance Manufacturing in Wisconsin. We use the wash system to clean our stamped components that we produce here. During the metal forming (stamping) process the parts receive a film of lube for forming, this film isn't always accepted by our customers, based on end product use, therefore they are clean/washed prior to shipment. It's basically a hot water pressure wash and high heat drying system all integrated with a conveyor system."

During the installation of the washer system Laing noticed the blower inlet for the radiant heater only had a metal guard covering it without any air filtration system in place. "The environment within our manufacturing facility is not completely dust free, and I had requested the vendor supply a filtration system to address this concern. After receiving a quote for a very large amount of money, I chose to solve the issue myself," Laing said.

Laing simple air filtration solution was inspired by the air filter on his 1968 Roadrunner.

Laing's ingeniously simple solution was to use the K&N air filter from his 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner. "We used the filter and lid off of my car to 'mock-up' the system and ensure the idea would work. When we installed the 14"x3" round filter (E-1650) and the X-Stream top (66-1401) we discovered that the systems were all working very well."

"We complete a regular monthly clean and service on the filter and the amount of debris held back by the filter system is impressive. By using the filter system we are greatly reducing maintenance and improving the life of the blower system by more than 50%," adds Laing.

Laing and his crew are in fact so pleased with the K&N air filter's effectiveness, that he took the time to forward his "upgrade" air filtration solution to the manufacture of the wash cell, and asked them to consider this as a new standard they should include with their equipment.

"Thank you K&N for creating such a superior product that can be used on many applications outside of automotive."

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2013 LOORRS Racer Carl Renezeder Sets Record at Miller Motorsports Park

17 lip 2013

The experience LOORRS Pro 2 and Pro 4 driver Carl Renezeder has acquired throughout is career plays a huge role in his overall success.

Carl Renezeder and his crew recently rolled into Tooele, Utah, eager to get rounds seven and eight of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing series (LOORRS) underway. Team Renezeder had experienced a stellar season thus far, and the driver was anticipating yet another succession of great performances. In fact, with a little luck and a lot of skill, the driver would finish rounds seven and eight with a new record under his belt.

It all began with a win in round 15 of 2012. Although the beginning of the season, had proven a bumpy road for the driver, he put the slump behind him with a flawless performance and a win. Renezeder had no intentions of looking back, and earned the top podium spot in the Challenge Cup, ending the season on a good note.

Lucas Oil Off Road Racing series (LOORRS) racer Carl Renezeder has experienced a stellar season thus far in 2013.

With 2013, the driver continued his winning streak on the Pro 4 division. In fact, he entered Miller Motorsports Park with wins on the first six rounds of the 2013 LOORRS events.

Looking back, at the abrupt change in his success rate, the Carl Renezeder said, "Truthfully, there weren't any major, wholesale changes made to turn things around. We just kept digging, kept fine tuning and adjusting to make these trucks better and better. The Pro 2 and Pro 4 classes are ultra-competitive. It's not easy to win. So when we have a few weekends like we have so far this season, we appreciate them."

With a personal winning streak record at his fingertips, Carl Renezeder embarked upon round seven of the event with vigor. And when the dust had settled, his eagerness and an impressive performance had earned him his ninth consecutive win in the pro 4 division, clinching the record and setting a new standard.

Carl Renezeder recently set a new record in the Pro 4 class of the LOORS series upon earning nine consecutive wins.

Round eight of the event, brought with it even more anticipation. But on the other hand, with every race the odds of being plagued with a stroke of bad luck increases. And that it did, when he hit the rear brakes in lieu of all four going into a turn. The battle was heated and went down to the wire, but Renezeder's error earlier in the race was just enough to put the driver in second place.

"It's never a bad day when you finish on the podium," he ensured. "I was pretty upset with myself early in that race when I messed up setting the truck into turn four. It put me back to fourth or fifth place," he continued. "I ran out of time to work my way back to the lead. But I'm glad I was in the contention for the win. Stuff like that happens. We definitely won't let it ruin our season."

Looking back at the record-breaking string of wins, the driver said, "It's a great stat for the books, but records are made to be broken. We'd like to be the team that wins 10 in a row."

With many years of driving under his belt, Carl Renezeder and his crew benefit from experience, an element of racing that simply comes with time. And throughout the years, the importance of his team has come to the forefront time after time.

"You can't compete in this sport without a great team," he ensured. "They mean everything to me. Everyone has something, and often several things, they're really good at. We combine all of our strengths to make the best team we can every race weekend."

Experience has also taught Renezeder that there is no replacement for a stringent maintenance program. "It is incredibly important," he explained. "We have detailed checklists for the shop and at the track. The last thing you want to do is lose a race because you simply forgot to do routine maintenance."

One can rest assured that keeping the internal components of their engines contaminant free is at the top of their list. That in mind, they turn to K&N products for their filtering needs.

"We've been using K&N's air and oil filters in all of our race trucks, haulers and team vehicles for over 10-years," he ensured. "K&N is the industry leader, and we're proud to be able to run their products in our equipment."

Along with the ease of mind of knowing their engines will be running clean, Carl Renezeder and his crew will be going into the remainder of the season with confidence on their sides. "We'd be crazy if we weren't confident right now," continued the driver. "But in no way does that mean we just expect to win. Our team puts in long hours, the hard work and the constant innovation necessary to give us the confidence to be competitive each weekend.

"We need to keep doing what we're doing - finishing on the podium and winning as much as we can," stated the driver. Anticipating the remainder of 2013 Carl Renezeder concluded, "Hopefully fans can expect more of the same as the first-half of the season! We're committed to chasing more wins and two championships."

Related K&N News Articles about Carl Renezeder and the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series: Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Pro-4 Driver Carl Renezeder Wins at Firebird International Raceway; Carl Renezeder Reclaims 2012 Lucas Oil Challenge Cup at Firebird Season Finale; Carl Renezeder Shatters the 100-Win Milestone at Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Event in Las Vegas; Carl Renezeder's Pro-4 Lucas Oil Off Road Series Race at Miller Motorsports Park Marks 98th Win

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Michael Lewis on the Ups and Downs of 2013 and the Formula 3 Masters at Zandvoort

17 lip 2013

Lewis is looking forward to building his relationship with the K&N family in 2014.

It's been a decade and change since southern California's Michael Lewis began his competitive career in Quarter Midgets driving for his dad's team. A couple of championships between 2003 and 2005, in the Senior Honda and Light 160 Honda classes, instantly confirmed his obvious talent. The term "prodigy" got wildly tossed into the equation, yet Lewis' race savvy dad managed to keep that sort of thinking under control, until further down the road at least, when all the numbers can be properly added together.

Michael Lewis was honored for the second year by being invited to the Formula 3 Masters at Zandvoort.

Now 22-years-old, Lewis has continued to gather experience and wisdom at triple-digit speeds, often teetering on the brink of bedlam. This year, as perhaps none before, Lewis has been tested on the track as well as in his personal life, yet he never wavers when it comes to conducting himself as a champion.

The extreme highs and lows of 2013 will no doubt make more sense in time as they unscramble in his rearview. From competing against some of the best drivers in his second RTL GP Masters of Formula 3, to his hard crash earlier this year during the Formula 3 European Championship qualifying at Brands Hatch, the young Laguna Beach native has had an eventful year, and there are plenty of headlines still to be made.

Let's begin with your health and state of mind, any lingering scars from the crash, and how are things stacking up this year with your new team?

Lewis dons a sticker on his racing helmet in memory of his friend Jason Leffler.

"The crash was pretty bad and I'm glad I was totally okay. The impact was recorded at 21G's. I weigh around 144 pounds, so multiply that by 21, and roughly 3,024 pounds of force was exerted to my head and body. I must say a big thank you to Bell Helmets and Puma for making great racing gear. And there are no lingering effects from the crash physically nor mentally. I really just confronted the situation, analyzed what I could have possibly done different, and really just hope next time for a bit of luck to not crash or hit the wall."

The Mücke Motorsport team is flat-out awesome says Lewis.

"As far as my awesome Mücke Motorsport guys, they couldn't be any better! I am so happy to be with this team and everyone from the owner Peter Mücke himself, to my engineer, my awesome mechanics, and the entire team. Mücke Motorsport is a truly superb racing team. I enjoy driving their cars every time I get into the race car."

Congratulations are in order regarding for being invited to the Masters at Zandvoort, what did you take away last year that you applied this time around?

"This is truly an awesome event because of all the history it has. I mean we race at Zandvoort during the season in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, so the track is sort of a ‘usual' track for us to visit. But, because the Masters is a one-off race with so much history like the Macau Grand Prix, it's cool to be a part of that and possibly get into the record books for a win."

"Although I didn't get the finish I wanted (12th), I prepared for it taking some things from the 2012 race. Mainly managing the tires was the biggest thing. The Kumho, which we use at the Masters is a very ‘peaky' tire, whilst the Hankook that we usually run, tends to get better and better over a run of 8 to 10 laps."

This year you've faced down a number of usually tough personal challenges, including the passing of your friend Jason Leffler, how are you dealing, and how's it affecting your focus?

"You brought up a cool thing in referencing Jason Leffler. I mean, it was pretty difficult to hear what happened, and honestly it was a total shock. Jason was such a big influence in my life. I can remember him when I was at the race track watching my dad's No.9 Midget team, and he was always really cool to me and it was awesome to see him race."

"As I grew up and started to race cars myself, Jason was always around and interested in what I was doing. I now run a sticker on my racing helmet in memory of Jason and I will donate the proceeds from my merchandise (arriving soon) to The Charlie Dean Leffler Discretionary Trust to help Jason's son. I'll always miss you my friend - RIP."

On a more upbeat note, have you started thinking about next season?

"I'm totally excited about possibilities. I'd like to keep building with the K&N family, as we've been partners since 2010. It's so cool that K&N has been a major driving force behind my career and I must thank Steve Williams and Tony Yorkman for all that they do. It was really cool to see K&N stick behind me after the unknowns of this past winter, so I'm totally pumped to get some great results before we finish out this a year with Formula 3."

And along those lines, what are your thoughts about returning to Norisring in Nuremberg next week?

"It's the first street course we will run on this year, so it's cool to be on a different style circuit. It's super fast and everyone runs LDF settings so the draft or tow is really important. You've just got to keep driving and know that the track is going to get better and better. So any set up changes made early on might have to be re-analyzed once the track has been used a bit more. It'll be fun."

Related K&N News Articles about Michael Lewis and the Formula 3 Euro Series: Michael Lewis is Back to Full Speed in the 2013 FIA Formula 3 Euro Series Championship; K&N's Michael Lewis Earns His First Formula 3 Euro Series Victory in Valencia, Spain; Michael Lewis Finishes 6th in Formula 3 Euro Series at Nürburgring in Germany; Michael Lewis Talks about the Formula 3 Euro Series Championship and Skateboarding

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Italy’s Marco Belli and His Exclusive Zaeta Impressive Once Again at 2013 Pikes Peak

17 lip 2013

As with everywhere he goes, there was much interest in Belli's motorcycle.

As with everywhere he goes, there was much interest in Belli's Zaeta motorcycle.

Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is the second oldest auto race in the United States, weighing in at 12.42 miles through 156 turns from the start gate at 9,390 feet, to the summit finish at 14,110 feet. Each year would-be conquerors converge from around the world in hopes of etching their names on the infamous mountains history. Italy's Marco Belli has been here five times and on three of those occasions he landed on the podium. Impressive indeed, yet what marks Belli's efforts as extraordinary is that he isn't a part of a big-money, brand-name endeavor, he in fact competes on a motorcycle of his own creation.

Marco Belli and his handmade Zaeta have made it to the podium 3 of the 5 times he's competed at Pikes Peak.

Depending on the season, Marco Belli is either a well-known Italian Flat Track specialist, or another highly motivated vanquisher of the Peak. And, the enormously dedicated K&N sponsored racer gets it done on a 530cc four-stroke Zaeta, which he exclusively designs and engineers himself in Italy. His races essentially are one continuous high-speed test lab. The personalized feedback that Belli collects on the peak or track, he immediately applies to the ongoing evolution of the Zaeta. This year, for the 91st running of Pikes Peak, Belli and his two-wheeled creation were challenged as they hadn't been in the past. Belli and his diminutive Zaeta had to compete against the big dogs in the Heavyweight Supermoto class.

Despite having to run with the big dogs this year, Belli still managed to finish 5th in his class and 43rd overall.

"Racing at Pikes Peak is always a big emotion," says Belli. "This was my fifth time on the mountain with already 3 podium finishes in the past, so I'm always a bit optimistic about the result, even if the competitors are really tough and the race itself is always more for street bikes. During the entire week of practice we found a good set up for the bike, running with new 17 inch wheels and slick tire, which I'm not use to, but they did give a good grip and good corner speed. So by the end of practice we would gain the 5th place on the starting line, hoping to gain a little bit more during race day."

The K&N sponsored racers vows to make some adjustments to his Zaeta before returning to Pikes Peak next year.

The K&N sponsored racers vows to make some adjustments to his Zaeta motorcycle before returning to Pikes Peak next year.

On race day Sunday morning Belli and his crew woke up at 3:30 am, which gave them enough time to prepare and make the drive up to the pit area by 5:00. Keeping in mind at all times that the weather is always a key contender here at high altitude, where the conditions can change dramatically from sun to ice every five minutes.

"On the mountain before us were the 1200cc superbikes and then the Heavyweight Supermoto bikes, which are a bit more competitive then my bike. But that's the new rule and we have to make adjustments for that next year," remarks the forward thinking Belli. So fill the gas tank, put your head down, and go."

"By the end I had a good run, cutting my previous record, so I can be satisfied, even if a 5th pace is not what I really expected as a racer. As a guy from Italy, riding his own handmade bike, it's a big result, but we want to write our name in the story of this race, so the new challenge is already on. In 2014 we are coming back to Pikes Peak, see you there!"

Related K&N News Articles about Marco Belli and Pikes Peak: Marco Belli Wins Opening Round of the Newly Formed Italian Flat Track Championship; K&N Backed Marco Belli's 750 Zaeta Earns Third Place at 2011 Pikes Peak Hill Climb; Italy's Marco Belli on Leading the Italian Championship and Riding with Fast Freddie; Rhys Millen Racing Returns to Pikes Peak Hill Climb to Defend Hyundai Record

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