Scroll down to see more Orbit Press Releases Jason Ruane wins 1st Race at Parker "425" Parker AZ – 2/7/2009 Jason Ruane of Lancaster, CA drove the Team Orbit Motorsports (Palmdale, CA) class 7200-unlimited Ford Ranger to his first class win as driver of record at the Parker “425” sponsored by the Best in the Desert racing association on February 7, 2009. There were over 400 vehicles representing several classes that would start the race. Only 77 finished. Starting 11th in a field of 19 class 7200 trucks, Ruane quickly took control as he roared off the starting line and out in to the desert. By pit number two he had passed all competitors in his class and had taken the lead. Wes Lewis (Hesperia, CA) sat in the second seat and navigated the entire race. Parker is one of the toughest races in the Best in the Desert Series and was particularly hard on the entire 7200 Class. Only Ruane, with a finishing time of 10 hours, 17 minutes and Barry Karakas (Oak Hills, CA) finished. Ruane bested Karakas by over 3 hours. As in all off-road races, not everything went smoothly for the Orbit Team. Heavy rain throughout the race played havoc with the on-board computer. “I had to nurse the truck the last 25 miles because the engine computer got wet,” Ruane commented after the race. “At one point we took on one heck of alot of water. So much, my entire driving suit was wet. Wes and I were chilled to the bone.” “We lost the belt to the oil pump too,” Lewis told the team after the race. “With only 30 miles left in the race.” The hour before the Team finished was the longest of the day. Just two years ago, Team Orbit was on a record pace when the engine blew just 8 miles from the finish. “All we wanted to do today was make sure we finished and finished on top of the class,” Team owner Mike Ruane said after the race. “Our entire team worked hard getting the truck ready and it’s great to see them get the win along with my son. He could not have done it without them” The next race for Orbit Motorsports will be the Terrible’s Town “250” in Primm, NV on April 18th. The team hopes to have another good outing and do well there as well. 2008 Terrible's "250" Mechanical Problems continue to plague Team Orbit To quote the late Yogi Berra , "It ain't over 'til it's over," wraps up the entire season so far for Team Orbit Motorsports. For the second race in a row mechanical problems pulled certain victory from the Palmdale, CA based race team. On Saturday, April 19, the driving duo of Jason Ruane, ( “I could only get 3rd gear,” said Ruane, who is not only trying for the Class Championship but for Rookie of the Year Honors as well. “Nick and I were afraid that if we did not pull off into the pit, that we could have a major failure and not finish the race.” A DNF would have ended the quest for both honors. Nick Cone drove the final 24 miles to the finish. “There is still a lot of racing left this year and in order to win you have to finish each race.” They finished 7th out of 20 vehicles. The Terrible “250” is the second race in the five race Best in the Desert off-road series. Currently, Jason Ruane is in 5th place of a 25 vehicle class and 8th out of 38 vying for the “Rookie of the Year Honors.” In February, after building an impressive 30 minute lead at the Parker “425” a failed wheel bearing put the team down for over an hour. The end result was 4th place. “I am happy that we got the finish. It keeps us in the points hunt going into Vegas to About Team Orbit: Team Orbit Motorsports is an off-road racing team based in For immediate release:
after Vegas “300” Win Larry Roeseler continued his quest toward another class 7200 off-road championship by winning the Las Vegas “300” out near the Jean dry lake bed, Saturday, October 14. Driving the Palmdale, CA based Team Orbit modified Ford Ranger; he turned in a time of 5 hours, 56 minutes to win the class by well over an hour. He was 12th overall according to the officials at the Best in the Desert sanctioned race. Jason Ruane (Lancaster, CA) and Nick Cone (Paso Robles, CA) shared the second seat duties to navigate and assist the entire race. “This day is truly what off road racing is all about,” team owner Mike Ruane stated. “We had one heck of a thunderstorm last night, the course is wet, it is muddy, and it is completely different than it was yesterday.” All of the dry lakes collected water for the first time since March so racers had to re-route themselves. Dry washes were now small rivers and creeks. Even though rain skirted the course throughout the day, a storm blew through during the final 50 miles of the race. “It was really a tough day,” said Roeseler after he finished. “I had to drive through a flash flood. A two foot wall of water rolled down the course, splashed over the hood, and right in our laps.” Soaked to the skin, he and Cone were chilled to the bone at the finish. This was the third class win for Team Orbit in 2006. Currently they are 24 points ahead of Gary Dixon for the class championship. Their next scheduled race is the Terrible’s “400” in Henderson, NV, on Saturday, December 2nd. For immediate release: Team Orbit gets a 2nd at Terrible’s Town Pahrump, NV: Overcoming an incident early in the race, driving duo, Mike Ruane of Palmdale, CA and Larry Roeseler of Hesperia, CA were able pass several competitors and close the gap on the leader to place 2nd at the 2006 Best in the Desert sanctioned Terrible’s Town “250.” Ruane started the race with his son, Jason Ruane of Lancaster, CA, sitting in the second seat. Early in the race, at mile marker “2,” Ruane caught Gary Dixon in the truck that started directly in front of him. At mile marker “8” that Dixon slowed and pulled to the right to let the Orbit truck pass. Just then the Ford Ranger, driven by Shawn Wanzek of Lake Havasu City, AZ drove into the rear of the Team Orbit truck forcing the two Ruanes into the Dixon’s truck causing damage to the radiator and power steering pump. “I don’t know if Wanzek was blinded by the dust or just punted me to get by, but it was early in the race and he could have put us both out,” stated Ruane. He nursed his truck the next 10 miles to Pit #1. “We were down for over an hour while the team replaced the radiator and power steering pump.” Larry Roeseler got into the truck at Pit #3, 77 miles into the race. Nick Cone from Templeton, CA joined him in the second seat. “I didn’t press it hard because we were so far behind the leader,” said Roeseler. “I just wanted to catch some of the teams and finish in a respectable position.” Ruane, owner of Team Orbit Motorsports, praised every member of the support team after the race. “Our pit crews are the reason we even finished the race. These guys are all volunteers and we hope we never need them but when the going gets tough they work hard to put us back on the course.” Terrible’s Town was the second of five races in the Best in the Desert off-road Racing Series. Team Orbit is the current point’s leader in the “Silver State Series.” The next race will be the Las Vegas to Reno race, August 25th and 26th. About Team Orbit: Team Orbit Motorsports is an off-road racing team based in Palmdale, CA. Owned by Mike Ruane, they have been the Best in the Desert Class Champion in 2003 and 2004. Off-road racing icon, Larry Roeseler is the driver of record. Team Orbit is sponsored by B.F. Goodrich Tires; American Racing Wheels; King Shocks, Ford Truck Motorsports; Hot Weyer Performance Engines; Cone Industries, Sunoco Racing Fuels, True Flow Filters, Beard Seats, OMF Performance Products, and Tom’s Transmissions. For more information you can find them on the web at www.team-orbit.com. For immediate release:
Parker AZ – 2/4/2006 Larry Roeseler of Hesperia, CA piloted the Orbit Motorsports (Palmdale, CA) class 7-unlimited Ford Ranger to the class win and an 11th place overall at the Parker “425” sponsored by the Best in the Desert racing association on February 4, 2006. Starting way back in the overall field of 183 trucks and last in his class, Roeseler quickly took control as he roared through the main pit and headed out in to the desert. By pit number two he had passed all competitors in his class and had over taken several trucks whose class had started earlier. Jason Ruane (Lancaster, CA), son of team owner, Mike Ruane, sat in the second seat and navigated the entire race. This was the second time in four years that Roeseler brought a win to Orbit Motorsports at Parker. Finishing in 8 hours and ten minutes, he bested his nearest class competitor by over 3 hours. Stopping just for fuel, the Orbit truck had no downtime due to mechanical failures and experienced no flat tires on its B.F. Goodrich Baja T/A’s. John Herder driving his Class 1 buggy took the overall win just 59 minutes earlier. “The course was really dusty and there was a lot of traffic early,” said Roeseler after the race. “I must have bumped at least 20 trucks today trying to get them to move over and let me by.” Of the 183 trucks that started, only 93 actually finished. “The 425miles of Parker are 425 miles of the toughest desert racing we see all year,” according to Mike Ruane. “I have to thank my team for working hard and getting the truck ready the weeks before the race. These guys are all volunteers and they deserve the win as much as Larry or I.” The next race for Orbit Motorsports will be the Terrible’s Town “250” in Pahrump, NV on April 29th. At that race Mike Ruane will start the race with Roeseler taking over at the mid-way point. About TEAM ORBIT: Team Orbit Motorsports is an off-road racing team based in Palmdale, CA. Owned by Mike Ruane, they were the Best in the Desert Class Champion in 2003 and 2004. Off-road racing icon, Larry Roeseler is the driver of record. Team Orbit is sponsored by B.F. Goodrich Tires; American Racing Wheels; Ford Truck Motorsports; Hot Weyer Performance Engines; OMF Performance, Johnsons High Tech, Sunoco Racing Fuels, Cone Industries, and Tom’s Transmissions. For more information you can find them on the web at www.team-orbit.com.
Team Orbit wins Nevada "1000" Tonopah, NV: After 4 days of tough racing and 1000 miles of Nevada desert, Larry Roeseler of Hesperia, CA piloted Team Orbit, a Palmdale, CA based off-road race team, unlimited Ford Ranger to a class win on Sunday July 10. Starting on Thursday, July 7 in the small town of Beatty, NV, Roeseler drove the first 220 miles to put the team in contention to not only win the class but win the race overall. "The team did a great job of prepping the truck. I just cruised and let the other teams break and fall out of contention." Day two was another flawless day. With co-driver / team owner Mike Ruane in the right seat beside him, Roeseler, drove a 330 mile loop that started and finished in Tonopah, NV. "Larry gets in a groove and there is no stopping him," said Ruane and the end of the day. "He placed our little truck right there with the big boys." After Ryan Staats of Canyon Country, CA spun out his Ford F-150 Pro Truck and a Class 1 buggy hit him in the dust, both were buried in a berm. Roeseler was able to pick up time and finished the day in 8th place overall. Still in 8th place after day three, Orbit was just 6 minutes behind the Curt LeDuc’s V-8 powered F-150. With less than 30 miles left, Roeseler had cut the difference in half and planned to pass the LeDuc truck as he took on fuel in the last pit. But the plan would not unfold as mechanical problems put Orbit out of the race until the problem was fixed. "We had transmission problems and were down for 50 minutes while the crew got us up and running," said Roeseler after the race. "We were still 13th overall, the 6th truck across the finish, and top in our class." This is the second major win for Team Orbit in 2006 putting them in contention for the 2005 class 7200 championship. They were class champions in 2003 and 2004. Their next race Best in the Desert Race is the Las Vegas to Reno race on October 7 and 8. About Team Orbit: Team Orbit Motorsports is an off-road racing team based in Palmdale, CA. Owned by Mike Ruane, they have been the Best in the Desert Class Champion in 2003 and 2004. Off-road icon, Larry Roeseler is the driver of record. Team Orbit is sponsored by B.F.Goodrich Tires, American Racing Wheels, Hot Weyer Performance Engines, and Tom's Transmissions. For more information you can find them on the web at www.team-orbit.com. |