taylorsoffroadracing.com 2002 Race Schedule and Results



2002 Race Updates

Scott Taylor begins his quest for a fourth straight title at Edmeston, NY

On Memorial Day weekend in Edmeston, New York was the start of the 2002 Pro 2 - CORR Series. After practice on Saturday Taylor said, " This is going to be a fun and Technical track".
Race Report
Edmeston, NY - May 25-26, 2002
Round 1
Saturday's race Scott started in the middle of the starting grid with nine trucks. Came out of the first turn in 7th position and by the 2nd lap Taylor worked his way up to 4th position. Battled for 3rd position for a couple of laps and by the half waypoint made it stick with his BFGoodrich Mobil 1 Ford F-150.
Scott a hard charge on the 2nd place truck but just ran out of time and took home a 3rd place win.
Round 2
At the start of Sunday's race tried to make a pass on the outside when Taylor realized it wouldn't work he pulled back in and ended up last in the first turn, but quickly made up time and moved into 2nd place by the 4th lap. Taylor caught up to the leader and continued to improve his position but ended up with a respectable 2nd place win. Taylor comments, " with me looking for another championship and all the other competitors trying to take it away - This is going to make it for an exciting race season!"
After the first two rounds of racing Scott is in 3rd place only two points out of first in the CORR Pro-2 standings.

Taylors gets first two wins of the year!
Antigo, WI - June 8-9, 2002
Round 3 Taylor started Saturday race in the 3rd row and entered the first turn in fifth place. With the Mobil 1, BFGoodrich, Ford F-150 Taylor moved quickly up to 3rd place. For the next three laps Taylor reeled in the only two competitors and by the half way point Taylor took over the lead. Taylor never looked back and took home his 1st place win of the 2002 Season. Round 4 Taylor started the race in 8th position , when the green flag dropped Taylor got pushed to the outside causing a bad start for Round 4. By the second lap Taylor moved into 5th position. Taylor closed in on the leaders and raced nose to tail for a couple of laps, making it exciting for the race fans, but Taylor just was not getting any breaks and took home a respectable 4th place win. Round 5 Scott Taylor luck was better in Round 5 with his Mobil 1, BFGoodrich, Ford F-150. Taylor started the race in 8th position again but on the inside this time and when the green flag drop Taylor took the inside line and came out of the first turn in 3rd and moved right into 2nd place. After the first lap past the leader on a sweeping turn when the leader went wide, Taylor keep his Mobil 1, BFGoodrich Ford F-150 tight on the inside and took over the lead right in front of the grandstand and the crowd cheered. On the very next lap Taylor went wide on a corner and the 2nd place truck tried to get the lead back but Taylor closed the door and keep increasing his lead to take home his 2nd first place win.


SCOTT TAYLOR WINS 2002 POTOWATOMI GOVENOR'S CUP
Crandon International Raceway - Crandon, Wisconsin - June 22-23, 2002
The fastest Pro-2 and Pro-4 in the country got together for a 10-lap shootout. The winner receives $18,000 for the win. The 2002 Potowatomi Governor's Cup had the record books rewritten. In the 8 year history of the event, Scott Taylor is the the first ever two-wheel drive winner. In fact, Scott lead wire to wire. In the process he was running the fastest lap times of the weekend.
The unique event gives the Pro-2 trucks a 10 second head start to compensate for the faster lap times of the Pro-4, four-wheel drive trucks. When the green flag dropped Taylor immediately took the lead and to the dismay of the Pro-4 drivers, proceeded to turn laps 4 seconds faster than he had all weekend. As the laps progressed the top Pro-4 driver, Johnny Greaves, was slowly making up ground. With three to go, Scott seemed to find that something extra, and Greaves never closed in on the Mobil 1, BF Goodrich Tires Ford F-150. Scott won the Govenor's Cup with Greaves about 50 yards behind. As soon as Scott made to the Winner's Platform, he climbed on to the roof of his truck and raised both arms in victory. The 25,000 spectators immediately went wild.
For the 10 lap event Scott was presented with an $18,000 check from the Governor of Wisconsin, Scott McCallum and another $5,000 from Ford Truck Motorsports director, Mark Hansen.
During post race interviews Scott stated, "winning the Potowatomi Governor's Cup is the pinnacle of my 27 years of racing." When asked about the keys to his victory…"immediately after Round 7 I had my team and the BF Goodrich tire guys, put a new tire combination together. It was a gamble, but we needed that extra 10% if we were going to make history. The new combination really put our Roush engine's horsepower to the ground off the start and really hooked up in the tight corners.The two tight corners gave us fits earlier in the day. The victory is for the entire Mobil 1, BF Goodrich Tires, Ford F-150 team, we worked hard to get the truck working the right way all weekend. The earlier problems in the weekend didn't discourage anybody, we just kept working at it. All the work really paid off." …." Thanks again to my entire crew, family, and sponsors Mobil 1, BF Goodrich Tires, Ford Truck Motorsports, as well as our associate sponsors, Auto Meter, Auto Transmission Design, Boatec, Justice Brothers, KN Filters, MSD Ignition, Phil's Inc, Precision Gear, PSI Performance, Ringers Gloves, and Roush Racing."
This victory also makes the front runner for the BorgWarner Shootout for the $100,000 BorgWarner Cup, held in Crandon, Wisconsin during the Borg-Warner Championships, August 30 - September 1, 2002.

Crandon, WI. - June 22-23, 2002
Round 6
Crandon International Off Road Raceway is famous for it's land rush starts and large rocks getting thrown around by the 800+ horsepower Pro-2 trucks. Both played a role in round 6 action.
The Mobil 1, BFGoodrich, Ford F-150 came out of the first turn in second place. Following behind the truck in the lead a rock fell onto Scott Taylor's hood and into the race truck getting wedged under the gas pedal. Taylor says, " I was hoping it would go right through the holes in the floor of the truck, but this rock was just to big of a rock." Even with the rock problem Taylor still managed to power his Mobil 1, BFGoodrich, Ford F-150 on the leaders bumper by the second lap. But with the rock still wedged and causing problems Taylor was losing positions and at the half way point was in the fourth position.
Taylor made the decision to pull over on the track and get the rock from under the gas pedal.
After a quick stop to lose the rock, Taylor continued on for two more laps,when the transmission overheated and ended his day… "It was just a very unfortunate day because the Roush motor and BFGoodrich tires were really hooking up well, We will get them tomorrow!"

Round 7 After replacing the replacing the transmission Saturday night, Scott Taylor and his crew were ready to battle the competition. After his 8th place finish on Saturday, he found himself tied for the points lead in the CORR Pro-2 championship.
As all 14 Pro-2 trucks left the land rush start line and powered through the first turn, Taylor found himself in 3rd place just behind Evan Evans and Kevin Probst. All three trucks were on each other's bumper when on lap 4 Taylor moved into second place. The crowd was on is feet as the two top trucks were battling not only for first place in the race, but first place for the points championship.
As the race wound down, Taylor kept looking for a way around the leader, but has to settle for second place as time ran out. Taylor after the race noted, " The Mobil 1, BF Goodrich Tires F-150 ran great, we had a little trouble with traction on the two tighest turns on the track. Second place keeps in the championship points chase. The truck is on great shape for the Govenor's Cup race later today."


Scott Regains Series Points Lead
July 15, 2002 - Bark River Michigan - 2002 BOSS Snowplow Off-Road Challenge
Round 8 On Saturday round 8 started with 10 trucks on a land rush start. Scott came out of the first turn in 6th position. On the very first switchback on the natural terrain track, points leader truck of Kevin Probst stalled, which allowed Scott to move into 4th place. By the fifth lap, Scott's Bark River bad luck stuck again. He lost his power steering, which made the truck a real handful to drive. This caused Scott to drop to the back of the pack and finish 10th.
After the race, the crew found a hairline crack in the power steering pump drive pulley. The crack caused the pulley to flex and expand, which would throw the drive belt off the engine. The pulley was replaced using the pulley from the Roush prepared backup engine.
Saturday night the Taylor racing team had a meeting and made the decision to make additional changes to the sway bar, shocks and ride hide on the Mobil 1, BFGoodrich, Ford F-150. After Sunday practice Taylor says he felt very confident of the changes they made and felt really good about Sunday's races.

Round 9 Sunday morning was a better start for Taylor ending up in third position after the first turn. Taylor caught up the second place truck right away and working the entire track trying to find the best place to make a clean pass. On the fifth lap Scott was able to pass the second place truck when it got sideways. This allowed for a clean track to run down the leader. Once in second Scott charged hard to makeup the 10 second difference between first and second place. Scott pushed his Mobil 1, BFGoodrich, Ford F-150 hard to the last lap. Just as the leader, Evan Evans, entered the last turn before the finish, Scott got right on the rear bumper. Unfortunately the race ended before Scott had a chance for the lead. Scott was heard just after the race …. "Just give me one more lap and I would have had him." Scott's luck at Bark River started to improve with one more round to go.
Now only 1 point back in the championship points lead, Scott and his crew went to work checking the Mobil 1, BFGoodrich, Ford F-150 one last time to make sure everything was working perfect for round 10.
Round 10 As the green flag dropped Scott was fourth in the first turn and quickly moved up to third position. Scott waited for the perfect time to make his moves on the first and second place trucks. On the second lap Scott was in the lead. Staying smooth and making every corner perfect with the BFGoodrich Tires, he brought home a 1st place win. It was a long over due victory for Scott at Bark River. Scott credits the BFGoodrich crew and tires for coming up with an excellent grooving pattern to finally beat the opposition tires at Bark River.
After 10 rounds of racing Scott Taylor is back in 1st place for the season, with only 4 rounds to go.

Taylor battles Evans for Series Supremacy
August 10-11, 2002 - Bark River, MI
Rancho Suspension Long Jump Contest Scott was the last contestant, and the jump was worth the wait. Taylor's jump of 191 feet tied Jason Baldwin's Ford F-150 Pro-4 truck for a new record. Once again, Scott proves again that 2WD trucks can compete with the 4wd trucks. Scott can now fly in both his Lancair airplane and his Ford F150. Taylor commented " WOW that was awesome."

Round 11 After Saturday morning practice, Scott and the crew are confident. Scott started the downhill land rush start in the 8th position, a tough spot to get a clean line for the first right hand turn. When the flag dropped, Evan Evans and Kevin Probst bumped and rubbed each other enough to give Scott a clean shot to the first turn and into the lead. Scott led wire to wire, with a hard charging Evan Evans finishing second. After the win, Scott commented how well the BF Goodrich tires really kept the Roush prepared engine completely hooked up.

Round 12 Again the land rush start is very critical at Bark River. In this round, Scott found himself in 4th place after the first turn. Kevin Probst was right in his bumper, and on lap 2, Probst made a pass which caused Scott's truck to spin. Quickly, Scott gathered up the truck and stayed in the hunt. By lap 4 Scott passed two more competitors and challenged Probst for 3rd place. At the end of the lap Scott won the drag race to the start/finish line and took aim at the 2nd place truck of Vandenhuvel. By the lap7 Scott made an aggressive move and passed Vandenhuevel on a jump , then took the low line through the next corner to make the pass stick. When the white flag came out Scott and his Mobil1, BF Goodrich Tires Ford F-150 ran out of time to run down the leader and finished in 2nd place behind winner Evan Evans.
After 12 of 14 rounds of racing, Scott Taylor is in 1st place 5 points ahead of second place Evan Evans.


Pro-2 "Battle for Supremacy" UP Off-Road 100 presented by the Island Resort & Casino/Bark River Lions Club.
August 10-11, 2002 - Bark River, MI
Rancho Suspension Long Jump Contest Scott was the last contestant, and the jump was worth the wait. Taylor's jump of 191 feet tied Jason Baldwin's Ford F-150 Pro-4 truck for a new record. Once again, Scott proves again that 2WD trucks can compete with the 4wd trucks. Scott can now fly in both his Lancair airplane and his Ford F150. Taylor commented " WOW that was awesome." Round 11 After Saturday morning practice, Scott and the crew are confident. Scott started the downhill land rush start in the 8th position, a tough spot to get a clean line for the first right hand turn. When the flag dropped, Evan Evans and Kevin Probst bumped and rubbed each other enough to give Scott a clean shot to the first turn and into the lead. Scott led wire to wire, with a hard charging Evan Evans finishing second. After the win, Scott commented how well the BF Goodrich tires really kept the Roush prepared engine completely hooked up. Round 12 Again the land rush start is very critical at Bark River. In this round, Scott found himself in 4th place after the first turn. Kevin Probst was right in his bumper, and on lap 2, Probst made a pass which caused Scott's truck to spin. Quickly, Scott gathered up the truck and stayed in the hunt. By lap 4 Scott passed two more competitors and challenged Probst for 3rd place. At the end of the lap Scott won the drag race to the start/finish line and took aim at the 2nd place truck of Vandenhuvel. By the lap7 Scott made an aggressive move and passed Vandenhuevel on a jump , then took the low line through the next corner to make the pass stick. When the white flag came out Scott and his Mobil1, BF Goodrich Tires Ford F-150 ran out of time to run down the leader and finished in 2nd place behind winner Evan Evans.