VMS Motorsports

Dan Troyan, Jim Bucher, and Jeff Steenberden were on hand at Beaver Dam Raceway Saturday night.

The night started well for VMS Motorsports, with Steenbergen easily winning his heat race in the VMS Motorsports, Vari-Tech Metal Fabricating #62 Sport Mod.

Bucher was in the 1st of 3 heat races, and entering turn one lost his brakes. He still managed to drive the Homes.com, DL Home Inspections #17 to the 4th and final transfer spot.

Troyan also finished 4th in his heat race in the Homes.com, The Agency Real Estate #01.

Next up was the Sport Mod feature. Jeff Steenbergen was again the class of the field, winning his 4th straight A Main of the season, and putting the VMS Motorsports carsolidly in the Points lead with just 2 nights to go.

In the Legends A Main, Troyan broke an axle shaft on lap 2, and just drove around for the race staying out of trouble, netting a 16th place finish.

Bucher had a frustrating but promising night. He was running the VMS Motorsports, AirStream Mechanical car in the top 5 for the first half of the night before spinning on lap 12, sending him to the back of the 21 car field. He powered his way all the way back up to 8th and was attempting to pass for 7th when he lost control again and spun on lap 19 of the 20 lap feature event. No caution was thrown, and Bucher ended up being scored 17th, one lap down. It seems that the bugs, gremlins, and crashes that have plagued the 17 all season long may finally be gone, and the team can start building for a phenomenal 2011 season

Jim Bucher and Dan Troyan took the VMS Motorsports Legends cars to Angell Park in Sun Prairie Sunday Night for some racing action along with the Illini Midets and the MSA Sprint Cars.

Bucher and Troyan were lined up in the same heat race, with Bucher on the pole and Troyan right behind him. Bucher took the lead in the DL Home Inspections, AirStream Mechanical #17 and Troyan fell in behind him in the Homes.com, The Agency Real Estate #01. They would run 1-2 for 7 1/2 of the 8 lap heat race until Bucher slid to the high side in turn 1 of the last lap, giving Troyan the space he needed to get by. Dan won the race with Jim on his rear bumper at the finish line, giving Dan Troyan his first win of the year, and VMS Motorsports their first 1-2 finish.

The pair started back in the pack for the A-main on the narrow track, and didn't make much progress, with Troyan finishing 9th, and Bucher finishing 11th on the night.

All in all, a good weekend for VMS Motorsports

Jeff Steenbergen, Dan Troyan, and Jim Bucher were all on hand for racing action on Saturday night at Beaver Dam Raceway.

Steenbergen started the VMS Motorsports night off right with a win in his Heat race.

Dan Troyan was up next in the first Legends Heat. Dan Jumped to the lead and led for 7 of the 8 laps before finally being overtaken by Joel Wyttenbach. Dan finished 2nd in The Homes.com, The Agency Real Estate #01.

Jim Bucher was lined up in the 2nd Legends Heat Race, and finished 4th.

Next up was the Sport Mod Heat, with Jeff Steenbergen coming out on top again, making it 3 A Main wins in a row for the VMS Motorsports driver, putting him in a tie for the points lead with only 3 races left to go.

The Legend heat was next. Bucher and Troyan both had good runs going, until Bucher had an exhaust system problem on lap 16, dropping him back to a 10th place finish. Troyan held on for his first A-Main top 5 of the season.

Jim Bucher, Dan Troyan, and Jeff Steenbergen were all in attendance at Beaver Dam Raceway on Saturday night.

Bucher and Troyan both placed 4th in their VMS Motorsports, The Agency Real Estate, Homes.com Legends Cars in their respective heat races.

Jeff Steenbergen finished 2nd in his heat race.

Bucher and Troyan both had solid runs in the A Main until a lap 18 caution. Neither VMS Motorsports driver was involved, but both had a bad restart, each losing a position, with Troyan finishing 6th and Bucher ending up 11th in the 20 car field.

Jeff Steenbergen took the lead on lap 2 and never looked back in the Sport Mod A Main, scoring his second A Main win in a row, putting him just 2 points out of the track points lead.

Friday nights races were rained out at Oshkosh, the 4th rainout of the year.

Just the VMS Motorsports Legends cars were in action this weekend, at a special event with the IRA 410 Sprint Cars and the Wisconsin-Illinois Mini Sprints.

The VMS team got Buchers car back together mid Saturday afternoon just in time for the races. It's not pretty, but should have gotten the job done.

Bucher used the heat as a shake down session to make sure everything was set up correctly, and finished 8th out of 10 cars in his heat. Dan Troyan started 5th in the second heat, and moved the VMS Motorsports , Homes.com, The Agency Real Estate #01 up to a respectable 3rd place finish.

After making some adjustments to Buchers DL Home Inspections, Air Stream # 17, the team headed out for the A Main, with Troyan lined up 6th, and Bucher starting 15th. Troyan was hit and spun in turn one of the first lap, causing a caution. As everyone was checking up, an inattentive driver tried flying by on the outside and clipped Buchers right front, breaking the shock, spindle, lower ball joint, and more off of his car right as the yellow flag was flying, ending The Homes.com, The Agency Real Estate, VMS Motorsports Drivers night early.

Troyan had to restart the race in 17th after being spun, and worked his way through the field back up to a 7th place finish. Great Job Dan!

 A top 10, A couple wins, and a pile of scrap. That pretty much sums up the night for the VMS Motorsports team Saturday night at Beaver Dam Raceway.

Jeff Steenbergen started the night off right by passing the entire field in his heat race to cruise to an easy victory in the VMS Motorsports #62 Sport Mod.

Jim Bucher and Dan Troyan were lined up in the same heat race, Bucher starting 3rd, and Troyan starting 6th. Bucher was up to second and battling for the lead in the VMS Motorsports, The Agency Real Estate car, when he and the leader tangled, and they were both hit from behind by the 3rd place car. Buchers AirStream Mechanical, Homes.com, DL Home inspections car lined up at the back of the field with a bent steering arm and just cruised around to finish last. Troyan fought in the top 3 through the race before being spun into the infield in turn 4 of the final lap. Dan managed to still hold onto a sixth place result

In the Legends A Main, with both of their poor results, Bucher and Troyan had less than desireable starting spots, Bucher starting in 15th, Troyan in 11th in the 19 car field. Both cars were moving up, Buchers electrical problem finally exorcized from his #17, and Troyan working the low groove, until a 2 car crash on lap 9 bunched the field back up, with Troyan up to 9th, and Bucher in 12th.

Things got dicey on the restart, with the 5th place car losing control and spinning. Troyan dove low to avoid him and made it past without contact. Bucher wasn't so lucky. A chain reaction started, heavily damaging 4 cars in all.  Video can be seen by clicking on the link on the VMS Motorsports homepage.

The evening ended with another victory for Jeff Steenbergen in the Sport Mod A Main, bringing him to within 2 points of the points leader

Bucher is bruised and sore, but OK, and the team hopes to get the car rebuilt in time to race Saturday,

With a 70% chance of rain predicted, and a 10 hour round trip, Jim Bucher and the VMS Motorsports #17 Legends car did not make the trip to Tipton, Iowa, on Friday Night

Due to torrential downpouurs Thursday, and steady rainfall Friday with more thunderstorms predicted, Beaver Dam cancelled the racing program for Saturday.

The VMS Motorsports Legends Drivers were on hand for a Tuesday night special at the Oshkosh Speedzone.

The track was very rough, and Bucher was able to move his DL Home Inspections, Homes.com #17 from 5th to 2nd place to finish the heat race, even with the still mysterious missfire. Troyan had a rough time on the rough track, as his car was set up for the traditionally dry-slick surface, and he fell back to 8th in his heat race with the Homes.com, The Agency Real Estate #01.

The Track crew re-graded the racing surface during intermission, which opened the field up for more passing. Buchers Ill running AirStream Mechanical, The Agency Real Estate car could only muster an 11th place finish, but Troyan was up front battling with the lead pack, bringing his VMS Motorsports car home in 6th.

Jeff Steenbergen, Jim Bucher, and Dan Troyan were on hand at Beaver Dam Saturday Night. Chris Johnson was scheduled to race, but a trailer malfunction kept him out of competition.

Jeff had the VMS Motorsports car hooked up and finished the night with a 2nd place in his heat race and a 3rd place in the A-Main.

Jim Bucher and Dan Troyan both had contact with other cars in their heat races, causing Buche'rs AirStream Mechanical, DL Home Inspections, The Agency Real Estate, Homes.com #17 to exit after 2 laps, and Troyan's The Agency Real Estate, Homes.com #01 to be unraceable but driveable, as he stayed on the track for a last place finish

During the Legends A main, after moving up into 7th from his 19th place starting spot, Troyan lost control and spun, and was hit hard by Bucher, who had nowhere to go. Both VMS Motorsports cars sustained heavy damage.

The VMS Motorsports team did an engine change, carburator change, replaced the entire electrical system, and built a completely new wiring harness to try to eliminate the missfire that has plagued Bucher's #17 for the past month and a half.

With less than half the season left to go, it will take nothing short of a miracle for Jim Bucher to make up the lost ground in the INEX National Points chase in the quest to have both VMS Motorsports drivers recognized in North Carolina at the awards banquet honoring the top 10 drivers in the country...but we won't stop fighting.

Dan Troyan has himself firmly entrenched in the battle in his rookie season, at last calculation he is in the top 12, and moving up.

After frantically working to rebuild Jim Bucher's car from the Iowa demolition derby the night before, the VMS Motorsports Legends drivers made their way to Beaver Dam as the support class to the World of Outlaws Sprint Car tour.

Intermittant rain showers delayed the start of racing by over 4 hours, eliminating the heat races and forcing a random draw for starting position. VMS Motorsports couldn't have fared much worse, with Dan Troyan's The Agency Real Estate, Homes.com #01 starting 18th, and Jim Bucher's AirStream Mechanical, Homes.com, The Agency Real Estate, DL Home Inspections #17 starting 22nd out of the 25 car field.

Bucher's car is still suffering from the intermittant missfire, as rebuilding took priority over diagnosing after last night, and he was only able to move up a few spots to 18th in the caution free 20 lap main event.

Dan Troyan faired better, passing 10 cars in 20 laps and finishing inside the top 10, scoring an 8th place.

Jim Bucher made the trip down to Cedar County raceway in Tipton Iowa to race on Friday night.

Bucher spun in the heat race and was black-flagged for violating the "1 spin" rule.

We should have packed up and left at that point because things got worse.

Bucher was placed at the back of the field for the crash filled A main, where he was able to avoid the carnage for most of the race, until a driver lost control and Bucher had nowhere to go. Buchers VMS Motorsports, The Agency Real Estate, Homes.com, DL Home Inspections, AirStream, # 17 sustained chassis, steering, and suspension damage and was unable to finish the race, which was shortened due to reaching the time limit caused by the multitude of caution flags.

Jim Bucher, Dan Troyan, and Jeff Steenbergen were on the card Saturday in Beaver Dam.

Steenbergen started the night off nicely putting his VMS Motorsports #62 in victory lane in his heat race.

Bucher was up next in the 1st Legends heat race. He jumped out to an early lead until the driveability problem that has been plaguing his car for the past month reared its ugly head, causing the Homes.com, DL Home Inspections car to fall back to a 4th place finish.

Troyans heat was next, and the adjustments from last nights race in OshKosh didn't carry over well, with Dan finishing the Homes.com, The Agency Real Estate car in 5th.

Jeff Steenbergen had a whale of a battle on his hands in the Sport Mod A Main, swapping the lead back and forth, before falling at the checkers. Steenbergen brought his VMS Motorsports #62 home in 2nd place.

The Legends A Main had some serious action. While running in 2nd place on lap 4, Bucher got loose and over-corrected the VMS Motorsports, The Agency Real Estate car, causing him to fishtail coming out of turn 4. Warren Ropp of Iowa tried to clear Bucher on the high side, but was unable to, clipping the AirStream, DL Home Inspections # 17 cars right rear tire, causing Ropp to go end over end and land on his roof. Ropp walked away from the incident OK, and Bucher was put to the back of the 19 car field for being a part of the incident.

After the re-start, Troyan had a strong run in the top 5 going, before being hit and spun into the infield by the same driver that took out his VMS Motorsports teammate, Bucher, on June 12th. With the car safely on the infield, no caution flag was thrown and Troyan was left almost a full lap down after getting re-started.

Bucher ended the race moving up to 11th with his still mis-firing car, with Troyan catching the field but running out of laps, finishing a disappointing 14th.

The #17 of Bucher will have the complete fuel system replaced this week before his trip to Iowa Friday night in hopes that it will finally put to rest the driveability issues that have plagued him this past month.

Jim Bucher and Dan Troyan made the 2nd trip to OshKosh Friday, with another poor showing for the VMS Motorsports drivers.

Buchers car was still having the missfire problem after working on it all week, and Troyans car just wouldn't handle on the dry-slick track. Troyan managed to put the Homes.com, The Agency Real Estate  #01 in 10th, and all Bucher could muster was a 12th for his The Agency Real Estate, Homes.com, AirStream, DL Home Inspections #17 car.

A fitting end to the weekend.

Mark Ritger was hit hard in the "X" in the figure 8 race Sunday and his season is over.

Mark is OK. Too bad we didn't have a camera in the car for that one.

A bad night for VMS Motorsports, with one very bright exception.

The evening started with Chris Johnson up first in his VMS Modified heat race. Chris jumped out to a big lead quickly, before a caution bunched the cars back up. Chris lost the lead and eventually hit the wall relgating him to one of the 3 B-Mains.

Jeff Steenbergen had another strong run in his VMS Motorsports Sport Mod, finishing 2nd in his heat race.

Jim Bucher and Dan Troyan were placed in seperate heat races for only the second time this year, but the results were the same, Bucher finished 4th and Troyan 5th. The disappointing news came on lap one of Buchers heat race when it was discovered that the engine miss on acceleration was still present.

Chris Johnson didnt have enough in the B-Main to transfer to the $1000 to win A-main, finishing 6th.

Steenbergens car was hit from behind early in his A-main and broke the bumper off, earning him a black flag and an early end to the night.

Buchers Homes.com, The Agency Real Estate car was missfiring badly in the A main, but he managed to get to 2nd position before losing control and spinning in front of the field of 19 cars. Luckily for all, no contact was made. Bucher re-started the race in 19th, and was only able to make it back up to the 13th position with the driveability problem in the AirStream, The Agency Real Estate #17. With all of the ignition and electrical components replaced during the week, all it leaves is the carburators as the culprit, which will be rebuilt this week and ready to race on Friday.

The highlight of the evening was Dan Troyans performance in the VMS Motorsports #17. Troyan Started the A-main in 5th, but was shuffled back to 8th avoiding Buchers spin, but Dan kept a cool head and a heavy right foot, powering his way up to a 3rd place finish, the best VMS Motorsports Legends finish to date.

Congratulations Dan!

Jim Bucher, Dan Troyan, and Jeff Steenbergen all took to the dirt at Beaver Dam Raceway Saturday Night.

Steenbergen started the night off right with a heat race win in his Sport Mod.

Bucher and Troyan lined up in the same heat race once again. Bucher was still struggling with the intermittant electrical issue that popped up last night, and managed only a 5th in his heat race after starting on the front row, with Troyan bringing his VMS Motorsports #01 in 3rd.

The sport Mod A Main was a fierce battle, with Steenbergen bringing home a solid 4th place in the VMS Motorsports #62, keeping him solidly in 3rd place in the Beaver Dam Raceway points.

In the Legends A Main,  Buchers AirStream Mechanical, DL Home Services car was still missfiring on acceleration, and he fell fast to the rear. Troyan and the Homes.com, The Agency Real Estate car had another solid finish with another 6th place. Bucher lost his brakes with about 5 laps to go, forcing him to run the far outside groove. With the pedal to the floor, the missfire on acceleration was not an issue, and he managed to bring the #17 back through the field for 9th place at the the checkers.

 Troyan and Buchers consistent top 10 finishes have kept them moving forward in Wisconsin legends Racing Dirt Series tour points, with Troyan up to 5th and Bucher in 10th after a rough start to the season

Jim Bucher and Dan Troyan made the first trip to OshKosh Speedzone Friday Night.

Once again both VMS Motorsports, The Agency Real Estate drivers were lined up in the same heat, but both with different results. Troyan led most of the heat before being overtaken by Joey Johnson, finishing with a strong 2nd place.

Bucher developed an engine miss off the corners and fell fast to the back of the pack, coming in 7th in his heat race.

With little time between the heat races and the A main, there was little that could be done to diagnose Buchers ill running race car.

Troyans #01 was loose on the dry slick track, but he had another strong run with a 6th place finish in the A main, and Bucher managed a 10th place position with his #17 Homes.com, AirStream Mechanical Ride even with the ignition problem.