As Sunday morning arrived, the Primm Valley Motorsports Complex came alive with the familiar sounds of busy teams making final preparations for the races to come. A long day of Saturday racing left some teams scrambling in the pits to assure that their equipment would be ready while others were fine tuning their machines in the hopes of duplicating the previous day’s results.

By days end, the teams and crowd were treated to another fantastic day of racing while emerging stars such as Unlimited 4’s Jerry Daugherty and Unlimited 2’s Rodrigo Ampudia showed their mettle to set themselves from the pack while experienced veteran Robert Naughton, while broken (foot), did not bend in taking his second Unlimited Lite win of the weekend.

The Unlimited 4 class once again took the checkered flag with a $60,000 purse presented by K&N Filters on the line. With a $15,000 check going to the winner, a group of U-2 drivers including Ampudia, Hart&Huntington’s Carey Hart, Jeff Ward and Danny Ebberts were invited to join the U-4 stars Carl Renezeder, Kent Brascho Jerry Daugherty, Travis Coyne and class newcomer Alan Pflueger with an additional $1,000 offered to the top U-2 finisher. While the U-4 class is assumed to have a distinct advantage over the two wheel drive Unlimited 2 class, Unlimited truck off road racing is also a battle of attrition and Sunday’s weekend finale was no exception.

Kent Brascho in the E3 Chevy set the pace as the green flag dropped staying just ahead of the K&N supported Pflueger, and Racin’ Dirty’s Daugherty. Coyne worked hard to hold off the Lucas/General Tire Renezeder in his Pro Comp Chevy. While the U-4 trucks appeared to be running the table, a trio of hard driving U-2 men stayed within sight of the lead. As the competition yellow was shown, Pflueger, a quick study in a truck and a class that he had been just introduced to this weekend, was sitting just behind Brascho while running strong the entire race to this point. Solidly running with the pack were the U-2 trucks of Ampudia, Ward, and Danny Ebberts. Lap after lap of door to door racing action led to Pflueger finally taking the lead from Brascho with Daugherty setting his sights on the front. With Coyne retired and Renezeder off the pace with mechanical issues, the U-2 class was making its presence known as Ampudia and Jeff Ward saw the podium within reach. A surprised crowd witnessed Pflueger suddenly lose traction and the lead as a front axle, damaged while battling with Brascho, gave way. Pflueger relinquished the lead to Daugherty as Ampudia landed firmly in second place. A final push by Ampudia for the win saw him running with the seasoned veteran Daugherty as the two diced for the final laps. Ultimately the superior Goodyear Tire shod U-4 machine proved too strong as Daugherty took the checkered flag and the big payday. Ampudia in a fantastic showing was presented his $10,000 award with the additional $1,000 prize with Bully Dog/Speed Technologies’ Jeff Ward, receiving $5,000 for his first podium finish ever in short course off road racing.

The Unlimited 2 field was packed with talent including Saturday’s winner Carl Renezeder, having provided General Tire with their first short course win in the Lucas Off Road Racing Series, now seeking a repeat of the prior days performance. Renezeder took home $15,000 for his Saturday win and once again, K&N was presenting the $60,000 purse to the top finishers. The field inversion put rookie Jeff Ward in his Speed Technologies/Bully Dog U-2 seeking a strong start. Unfortunately, it was not to be as he lost the lead due to a spinout midway through the first lap. Rodrigo Ampudia assumed the lead and showed the strength of his Pro Power motor by holding off both Renezeder and Jerry Welchel. While looking to hold his position in the front, Ampudia’s throttle cable gave way allowing Renezeder to take the point with Welchel closely in tow. The two veterans showed why they are both past champions while dicing for the lead until Welchel spun finally allowing Renezeder to race to victory. Scott Schovajsa slipped into second place for his first podium ever in the class and the $10,000 prize with Welchel recovering to round out the podium in third.

The story in Unlimited Lite was Lucas Oil/ReadyLift star Robert “Fig” Naughton. Arriving at the track on Thursday with a broken right (driving) foot, Naughton spent the weekend driving with his left foot … at the front of the pack. Sunday, it took Naughton eight laps to find the front and once he was there, he was there to stay. Hart&Huntington’s Chris Brandt and Metal Mulisha/Rockstar freestyle star Brian Deegan spent the remaining laps fighting for second position with Brandt finally taking the spot forcing Deegan to be satisfied for a hard fought third position.

In the Bully Dog SuperLite Trucks, David Reyes was involved in a spectacular crash that stunned the crowd as Reyes and his co-driver were passengers while their SuperLite withstood three barrel rolls and came to a stop on the infield. After the safety crew cleared the course and racing resumed the father son Speed Technologies Team of Johnny and John Harrah took the two top spots with Kris Hansen claiming third.

Chuck Cheek took the win in Unlimited Buggy to compliment his second place finish from the previous day while Mike Porter who had relinquished the lead to Cheek held on to second. Larry Foddrill rounded out the podium in third.

A swarm of Limited Buggy action saw race leader Bryce Menzies spin while holding the lead, lose position and again make his way through the pack and back into a battle with leader Curt Geer. Unfortunately a missed shift cut the battle short and Geer went on for his second win of the weekend as Bruce Fraley and Reno Navara took second and third respectively.

The youthful enthusiasm and no holds barred racing in the Kart classes put on a great show for the fans in the stands. In the modified class Trenton Briley took first on Sunday along with his second place Saturday showing, Dave Mason and Mitchell DeJong were second and third. Junior 1 (Ages 8-11) winner Miles Cheek outlasted Brock Heger and Sheldon Creed who finished in second and third. Junior 2 (Ages12-15) was won by Trent Williams followed by Dustin Grabowski and Zachary Hunter.

Standing looking out over the Primm track after a day of racing, Lucas Oil’s Bob Patison and Tony Vanillo together reflected on the weekend of racing action now in the books. Said Vanillo, “Everything just came together so well. We had great racers, great races and we couldn’t be happier. Now it’s time for us to carry this momentum on to Speedworld in Surprise, Arizona. The short course off road racing season has begun.”

With the bright lights and big promises of Las Vegas shining off in the distance, Lucas Oil with the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Presented by Geico delivered on their promise of huge purses and fantastic tight racing.