(Cedar Rapids, IA) Hey Guss fans, the River City Hustler and Roberts Motorsports will be returning to the West Liberty Raceway this Friday and Saturday night, September 24 and 25, 2010 for the Annual Liberty 100. The 58 Team will be participating in qualifying and The Race of Champions (IMCA) on Friday night and then shooting for the win in the IMCA A Main on Saturday night. Ray is a past champion of the Liberty 100 and, as we all know, no stranger to West Liberty Raceay or Victory Lane there. Ray's most recent feature win there was in his only appearance there so far this year on July 31st.

The team has elected to take the new MasterSbilt chassis to West Liberty. This chassis has two wins on it from East Moline this past Sunday, but the Roberts Motorsports crew needs to log many more laps with this new chassis to get it to the tried and true state of the the chassis that won six different championships in the 2010 racing season. So, expect to see the BLACK #58 on the track this Friday and Saturday night. It may not be quite the car of its predecessor yet, but the team has very high hopes for it going into the 2011 racing season. Ray likes the feel of the car and dialing in the set-up will be of utmost importance.

So, Guss fans, head on out to the big half mile this weekend to see the new car if you haven't had an opportunity yet. We'll all hope that Ken, Hershel and all the 58 crew hit on a set-up and that Ray handles the rest all the way to the checkers first!
 

Donnellson, QCR And Looking Ahead

(Cedar Rapids, IA)  Mother Nature has had a pretty good winning percentage in the early part of the 2010 racing season. The racing program at the Davenport Speedway fell to the rains again this past Friday, June 4th. However, the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA appeared to have an edge on dodging the rains so the Roberts Motorsports Team 58 headed south a couple of hours to try their hand at a new track in 2010. Mother Nature still had a say in the outcome as the clouds opened up and the rains fell for a period of about 15 minutes just as the team was pulling through the pit gate.

A promising night can go south pretty quickly when rain immediately before the races makes for a very slick, sloppy, heavy track and the 58 car has no point average to get Ray a decent starting spot in the heat and feature. The long and short of it is that the track conditions combined with starting back in the pack in the feature with a chassis that was "iffy" on set-up at a relatively unfamiliar track resulted in a 14th place finish for Ray and Team 58. Sometimes circumstances just get the best of the evening.

Saturday night at the Jackson County Speedway was rained out, but Sunday night at the Quad Cities Raceway in East  Moline worked out very well through a combination of excellent car, great driver and luck! Ray started the feature from Row 4 and quickly worked his way through the traffic to grab the lead, mostly taking advantage of the high side of the track. As the white flag was falling Ray had the 58 out front by half a lap heading to the checkers. The half lap cushion was quite an advantage in more ways than one. When Ray came out of Turn 4 an oil line had already come off the engine and a fire had started under the hood. The big lead allowed Ray to coast home to Victory Lane and grab another checkered flag for Team 58. Aside from a bit of a scare from the fire and about four quarts of oil lost, there was little to no harm to the engine or car, in general. It should be ready to go at Davenport on Friday night.

Looking ahead to the upcoming racing schedule, Ray and Roberts Motorsports team will be continuing to race at the Davenport Speedway on Fridays, Jackson County Speedway in Maquoketa on Saturday nights and the Quad Cities Raceway in East Moline on Sunday nights. Weekly track points are important in the chase for the track late model championships and the overall quest for the IMCA National Points Championship.

This coming Sunday night, June 13, 2010 the 58 Team will not be at East Moline. They will be traveling to the Quincy Raceway on Quincy, IL for the Deery Brothers Summer Series race. This will be a pretty good test for the team as they go to the home track of both Mark Burgtorf and Jason Frankel, two very competitive drivers anywhere on the Deery tour.

Looking further ahead, mark your calendars for Tuesday, June 29th. The 58 Team plans to  travel west in Iowa to the Hamilton County Speedway at Webster City, IA for the Late Model Summer Spectacular. This race track is a very large half mile, and a track where Ray has won some big races in the past days of the old Busch All Star Series. Follow this link for all the details.   http://www.hamiltoncountyspeedway.com/SummerSpectacular.pdf  The next night, June 30th, the venue switches to the Independence Motor Speedway and stop #9 on the Deery Brothers Summer Series.

The River City Hustler and Roberts Motorsports Team 58, led by Hershel and Ken Roberts, have been on quite a roll. Mark your calendar and head out to the track near you to catch this team on a roll to the checkers!

A Very Fine Month

(Cedar Rapids, IA)  The month of May brings many fine things depending on your perspective - flowers and vegetables to gardeners, generally warm weather for the sun worshipers, the sound of lawnmowers grooming yards, fishermen on lakes, golfers on the course and several great wins for Ray Guss Jr. and the Roberts Motorsports Team 58.

The month of May saw Ray and the Roberts Motorsports Team take the Mullins-powered Mastersbilt by Stuckey #58 Chevy Impala SS to race tracks 15 times. Those 15 nights of racing produced the following results:

7 WINS

2 - 2NDs

1 - 3RD

2 - 4THs

1 - 5TH

1 - 8TH

1 - 16TH

Seven wins and 13 Top 5 finishes in 15 starts in arguably the toughest competitive late model weekly (IMCA) and regional touring series (Deery Brothers Summer Series) in the country speaks of a great deal of competitiveness and consistency on the part of the 58 Team. The seven wins were highlighted by a couple of especially impressive efforts.

One of the wins came on a night that the team didn't think there were even going to race. Mother Nature brought a great deal of rain to the Davenport area on Friday, May 7th, raining out the night of racing on the quarter mile bullring. Looking for a place to race because so many of them had been rained out in the early season, Ray, Hershel and Ken decided to make the long haul to the Iowa State Fairgrounds and the very big half mile dirt oval. It was one extreme to the other in track size. The 58 had not been on a half mile track in quite sometime, so the team was kind of throwing darts at the set-up to see what the Mastersbilt by Stuckey might like on a heavy half mile. The heat race did not produce stellar results leaving Ray with a 5th row start in the feature. The crew wrenched pretty heavily on the chassis between heat and feature and sat back to see what Ray could do with it when the green flag dropped for the A- Main. What they saw were very positive results from the chassis changes and a vintage River City Hustler move to take the lead and win going away. By all accounts of Ray's highside pass for the lead, it made the second place car look like he was almost standing still. Vintage Ray Guss Jr. in a car that he can turn on a dime!

Other wins in the month of May came at all the weekly tracks that Team 58 will be competing at as they attempt to win the IMCA National Points Championship. The team put up two wins at the Jackson County Speedway in Maquoketa, IA, two wins at the Quad Cities Raceway in East Moline, IL, one win at the Davenport Speedway, Davenport, IA and closed out the month on Memorial Day, May 31st by putting up a big win at the famed Boone Speedway in the Deery Brothers Summer Series. The winning ways and consistently high finishes have put Ray and the 58 Team atop both the IMCA National Late Model and Deery Brothers Summer Series points standings. Their 2010 racing season team goals are very much on track but there is a long way to go and the long grind of the hot summer lies ahead. Ray, Hershel, Ken and the entire 58 crew are counting on their off-season homework and stepped-up maintenance program to carry them through the long grind. So far, so good!

The foreseeable future for the 58 Team will see them continuing to pursue the weekly points and track championships at the Davenport Speedway, Jackson County Speedway and Quad Cities Raceway. A track championship at one of those venues is extremely important to their drive for the IMCA Late Model National Championship. The team must win one of those track championships to be in contention for the National Championship. They will also continue to pursue the Deery Brothers points in quest of that championship. The next Deery Brothers race is scheduled for June 13th at the Quincy Raceway in Quincy, IL. For Ray Guss Jr. and Roberts Motorsports fans, there will be plenty of opportunity to get to the track and see them. While you are there, see the team after the races to pick up a new Ray Guss Jr./Roberts Motorsports t-shirt and window decal!

Keep up the great effort Team 58! It sure is fun to watch or read about when you cannot get to the track!

Grading Out Well!

(Cedar Rapids, IA) A winter of doing their racing homework and evaluating their car maintenance procedures and practices has given Ray Guss Jr. and the Roberts Motorsports 58 Team a great start to the 2010 racing season.  The combination of homework and maintenance have provided a MasterSbilt by Stuckey chassis that has had exceptional handling through the first five Deery Brothers Summer Series races of 2010 and resulted in one win and the series points lead.

The first race of the season for the Deery Brothers late models was at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA. The crew was confident in the car and the Ray did not disappoint the crew or the crowd in racing to a heat race win. The redraw for the feature left Ray starting in the fifth row. The cars came to the green flag to start the feature but some hesitation by a car or two in front of Ray allowed several cars to get past the 58 leaving him a tough row to hoe the rest of the evening to work his way back to his final finishing spot of 10^th. The team was not discouraged, though, and loaded the car to head for Quincy Raceway the following night.

Quincy Raceway, located in Quincy, IL, is the home track to two of the toughest IMCA late model drivers competing in the Deery Brothers Summer Series. Mark Burgtorf and Jason Frankel are tough drivers to beat when racing them anywhere. Racing them in their own back yard just adds to the complexity and difficulty of beating them to the feature checkers. Ray, not known for his luck in drawing for starting positions, drew a high number and started the 58 dead last in his heat race. In the end, he would guide the car to a 3^rd place finish in the heat and redraw and 11 for the feature. Starting inside the 6^th row, Ray steadily worked his way through traffic to earn a 3^rd place finish in Quincy. Who finished 1^st and 2^nd? You guessed it, Burgtorf and Frankel!

 The second weekend of Summer Series racing had engines firing at the Davenport Speedway quarter mile in Davenport, IA. The weather was beautiful and the racing results for the River City Hustler and Roberts Motorsports Team 58 was even better. It was a night for checking out on what could be considered one of Ray’s home tracks. He won his heat easily, redrew a 7 to start the feature in the 4^th row and the mission to the checkers was in complete control. Not to anyone’s surprise, the early leader of the race was Burgtorf, but it was very evident to those in attendance that the 58 was going to be the car to beat on this evening. Ray passed cars from the 7^th starting position up to 2^nd in just a few short laps and then began his pursuit of the point. Just a few laps before the crossed flags signaling the halfway mark Ray moved past Burgtorf and planned to put distance between the two cars. Unfortunately for the 7 car, a mechanical failure would end the night for the points leader on the very next lap. Once the green fell again, Ray took off and was not to be challenged the rest of the way. He and Team 58 won their first Deery feature of 2010 by at least half a lap. The 58, on this night, may have been even better than it was at Tipton last fall and that was nearly perfect!

 The Summer Series moved on to the Jackson County Speedway in Maquoketa, IA on Saturday, April 17^th. The “unluck” of the draw (a 90) would give Ray a dead last start in his heat race. The car was handling well but Ray would not drive through cars racing side-by-side in front of him and just simply ran out of laps to get past the 6^th finishing position. He had to run one of the B Mains, starting in the second row and running away with the consi win. Even with a consi win, Ray would still have to start the Roberts wrenched 58 on the inside of the 8^th row. On a night when passing was at a premium on a relatively narrow track, Ray improved 11 positions to grab a 4^th place finish. Now it was on to Dubuque.

 The Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway is a track where Ray Guss Jr. had taken many, many feature wins in years past on his way to track and region championships. It has been a great track for him which leads to heightened anticipation of a good night when he comes to Dubuque in an awesome car like the Roberts-owned 58.  The night had a rather ominous start to it when Ray pulled a 95 out of the hat to determine his heat race starting position. As you might surmise, drawing a number that high earns a shotgun on the field start. However, on this Sunday evening in Dubuque, Ray piloted the 58 from last to first in the heat race by Lap 3 and won the race by half a lap. The Mullins power plant combined with a near perfect MasterSbilt by Stuckey chassis was on a rail! Just like the Davenport race two nights earlier, Ray started the feature from the 7^th position. The difference from Friday to Sunday, though, was that he was leading by Lap 9 and checked out!  Ray had a half lap lead by Lap 30 when the first real misfortune of the season struck in the form of a broken right header. The break sapped the Mullins power enough to allow Burgtorf to close and overtake Ray by Lap 46. Despite the broken header, Ray held on for a 2^nd place finish and maintain a slim points lead in the Series with five races in the books.

 Driver and crew are very optimistic about the piece they are putting on the dirt each night out. The weekly racing grind will start with their next race off the hauler. That would have been tonight at the Davenport Speedway quarter mile, but mother nature took the checkers tonight. The 58 Team will try to get on the track in Maquoketa tomorrow night, weather permitting. Don’t miss an opportunity to see Ray and the Roberts Motorsports team on the track this season.  Doing your home work and paying attention to the details usually earns you good grades. After five races into the 2010 season, you can clearly see that the 58 Team is earning a very high grade!

Guss fans interested in picking up a 58 car decal can do so starting with the races this weekend. If they are not rained out in Maquoketa tomorrow night, head for the pits after the races and decals will be on sale from the team. Guss fans interested in picking up a new Ray Guss Jr./Roberts Motorsports t-shirt will be able to do so by mid-May. The team is working on finalizing the design details for the shirts and will soon have them ready for purchase. Don't miss out!

Roberts Motorsports

Plans Shaping Up For 2010 Racing Season

January 31, 2010

(Cedar Rapids, IA) The snow still covers most of the ground, and race tracks, in the midwestern states, but that doesn't mean that race teams are not in full swing preparing their race cars and working out plans for the tracks they will be competing at over the course of the 2010 racing season. Ray Guss Jr. and the Roberts Motorsports 58 Racing Team are definitely in that mode right now. You can see below that the car is pretty much ready to go. Look over the pictures closely and you will see some new sponsors on the car as well as the many long-time, faithful sponsors of Roberts Motorsports. All of you race fans know that it would be difficult to put the car on the track without the great sponsors you see on the car. They will be featured prominently on the web site in the future.

The car you see in the pictures is a 2008 MasterSbilt by Stuckey with a Mullins powerplant under the hood. Mullins, located in Mt. Olive, IL, will be the power of choice for Roberts Motorsports in 2010. The chassis and engine programs and preparation are done deals heading into the season, which leaves the racing plans as the other important part of the puzzle to be put together. To that end, Ray, Hershel and Ken have already discussed their primary and secondary objectives for the season, which should provide some exciting racing action for racing fans.

Primary among the racing objectives for the 58 Team this year will be pursuing the Deery Brothers Summer Series schedule. Ray and team combined to win five Deery races (most in the series in 2009!) last summer and were leading three more that they were unable to finish due to mechanical problems. By running the Summer Series last year the team was able to assess their relative competitiveness against some of the top IMCA late model teams. That proved positive as they were able to determine a couple of areas where they had weaknesses and turn their focus on improving those weaknesses heading into the 2010 season. So, 58 fans, look for Ray, Hershel, Ken and all the 58 crew to set out to make a run at the Deery Brothers Summer Series championship.

Beyond the Deery Series, the 58 Team will also be focused on running for the IMCA Weekly points championship. The track at which they will run weekly will be the Davenport Speedway on Friday nights as long as there is no conflict with the Deery Brothers Summer Series. Ray won the driver's late model track championship at Davenport in 2009 and will be seeking to repeat that feat in 2010. Davenport is the most competitive IMCA late model track participating in the drivers' run for a sanctioned track championship. Repeating will be a difficult and competitive task for Ray and the 58 Team. Secondarily in the weekly points pursuit will be racing at Maquoketa and possibly West Liberty on Saturday nights. Yes, you read that right. There will be six IMCA dates on the West Liberty schedule in 2010 and there is a strong possibility that you will see Ray Guss Jr. back at the West Liberty Raceway again after what seems to have been a long hiatus! Long time Guss fans know how well Ray handles getting around that big half mile! Also secondarily on the weekly schedule will likely be Sunday nights at the Quad Cities Raceway. Plans for racing at East Moline are still a little cloudy, which means it is possible that race fans could see Ray piloting the Roberts hotrod at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway early in the season. West Liberty and Dubuque...........a potential "back to the future" for championship-winning River City Hustler!

Another article featuring the sponsors of Ray and Roberts Motorsports will be forthcoming. But the closing of this article will give fans just a short re-cap of the success that Ray and the Roberts-owned 58 Team had in 2009 once they joined forces.

38 Night of Racing

14 WINS!

15 2nds

2 3rds

2 4ths

1 9th

3 DNFs

75% of the finishes were either 1st or 2nd

Winner of the Boone Super Nationals (Late Model)

Winner of the IMCA portion - Yankee Dirt Track Classis

Winner of the Iowa Governor's Cup

Winner of the Davenport Speedway Late Model Track Championship

Winner of the All Iowa Points - Late Model

Look for more news in the near future!

GO 58!

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