ROBBY GORDON WINS ROUND 1 AT DETROIT BELLE ISLE GRAND PRIX

June 1, 2015 by Stadium SUPER Trucks

DETROIT, Michigan (May 29, 2015) – Robby Gordon won his first SPEED Energy Stadium Super Truck Series Presented by TRAXXAS race of the 2015 season by overtaking E.J. Viso at the end of the back straight on the final lap in the first of three rounds of racing at the Belle Isle Detroit Grand Prix.

The race on the beautiful Belle Isle course was the seventh event of the SST season which is an uncharacteristically long period for Gordon to go winless. Gordon's last SST race win was Nov. 1, 2014 at Las Vegas.

Viso took the lead from eventual third-place finisher Burt Jenner on lap four of the event and led until half way through the last lap, when Viso moved to the inside of the track heading into turn 7 and Gordon moved to the outside of the Venezuelan driver forcing Viso through a puddle on the inside. Knowing that Viso would lose grip in the wet patch, Gordon stayed wide and cut to the inside of the corner leaving Viso to spin his tires. From there the drive to the win around the 2.35-mile street circuit was uneventful for Gordon.

'I don't believe I would have gotten to him and been able to pass for the win without forcing him to make a small mistake,' Gordon said. 'The competition in this series has gotten so much stronger in the last year, which I am happy for, but it means I've got to work that much harder for race wins. It's great that the SST series has gotten so much more competitive and the wins aren't as easy to come by.'

Gordon's SPEED Energy/TRAXXAS sponsored truck beat Viso's LIVE/Think Loud Entertainment truck to the line by four-tenths of a second, followed by Jenner's Gladiator truck in third, the TRAXXAS truck of Keegan Kincaid fourth, 3Dimensional.com's Aaron Bambach of Detroit finishing fifth, Scotty Steele in the LIVE/Think Loud Entertainment truck sixth, P.J. Jones' Traxxas truck in seventh, Bill Hynes in a third LIVE/Think Loud Entertainment entry eighth, Larry Job in 3 Bears Motorsports truck was ninth and Arie Luyendyk Jr. in the Quicken Loans truck finished 10th.

The Stadium Super Trucks will race Saturday on Belle Isle at 2:25 p.m. and again on Sunday at 2:15 p.m.

SPEED Energy Stadium Super Trucks Presented by TRAXXAS Fact Sheet

- 2015 is the third season of SPEED Energy Stadium Super Trucks by TRAXXAS.

- The first SST race was held at University of Phoenix Stadium on April 6, 2013 and was won by off-road racing veteran Rob MacCachren.

- The first event of the 2015 SST season featured three races in Adelaide, Australia with E.J. Viso, Sheldon Creed and Keegan Kincaid taking victories.

- Rounds 4 and 5 of the 2015 season took place at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix in Florida and were won by Sheldon Creed and Burt Jenner.

- Round 6 of 2015 was raced at the Long Beach Grand Prix and won by E.J. Viso

- The SST by Traxxas series will race with the Verizon IndyCar series four times in 2015 – the St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Belle Isle Detroit and Toronto Grand Prixs.

- The SST by Traxxas series also races at venues including sites along the Las Vegas Strip, in stadiums and at purpose-built courses held in conjunction with large festival-style activities.

- The Stadium Super Trucks raced in Barbados in December 2014 as part of the International Race of Champions.

- The Stadium Super Trucks made their X Games debut with overwhelming popularity in 2014 and were featured live on ESPN and ABC.

- The SST trucks will race again at X Games Austin live on ABC Sports on June 7, 2015

- The SSTs are identically prepared 600 horsepower purpose-built race vehicles, modeled after their Traxxas radio control namesake.

- At every SST event, fans can test and purchase Traxxas RC cars and trucks at the Traxxas display. At Belle Isle the Traxxas display and 'Try Me Track' is located in the paddock which like the SST paddock is open to general admission ticket holders.

- Every SST truck competes on unmodified DOT-approved Toyo Tires. A fan can purchase the same Toyo A/T Open Country 35x12.5xR17 tires for their truck or SUV.

- Various SST by Traxxas videos, which have generated more than 10 million views since Dec. 1, 2014, can be seen at www.facebook.com/stadiumsupertrucks.

Influenced by the former Mickey Thompson Stadium Off-Road Racing Series, where drivers such as Gordon, Casey Mears and six-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson got their start, Gordon created SST in response to the public's overwhelming interest in trucks and off-road racing. His plan to re-launch the former stadium series has led to exciting racing on both asphalt and dirt, while producing one of the most extreme forms of action sports today.

Other than the trucks launching 20 feet in the air covering distances more than 150 feet, what sets the SST program apart from other series is the fact that all the SST trucks are identically prepared and delivered to drivers in race-ready condition. Race winners are decided by driver skill rather than individual team engineering and budgets. Drivers and their personal mechanics are assigned specific SST mechanics who together tune and make minor adjustments to the 600-horsepower trucks.

Photo credit: Stadium SUPER Trucks
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