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Off Road Stars and New Venues Shine with The Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Inaugural Year |
October 01, 2009 |
By Patrick Wagenbrenner
April 4th marked the first event of the inaugural season of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series in Primm, Nevada. While the off season developments that saw the series emerge with the support of Lucas Oil were now in the rear view mirror, the Primm event marked the beginning of a new chapter in short course off road racing. The teams that comprised the Lucas Oil Off Road Series were now focused on a new season with the opportunity to face old rivals, develop new ones and look towards the season with the optimism that comes before the first race of each year.
By providing a $60,000 purse, K&N Filters insured that the drivers of the featured truck classes would be coming out of the gate firing on all cylinders to gain class supremacy along with the big payday. The story of Primm though was Unlimited Lite driver Rob Naughton. Arriving with a broken right driving foot, Naughton, who had positioned himself as the man to beat in the previous short course off road racing season, swept both rounds of Unlimited Lite Racing on Saturday and Sunday. Naughton held off challenges by Chris Brandt and second year driver Brian Deegan to set the pace for what would develop into a three driver chase for the championship. Carl Renezeder’s dominance in taking back to back wins in Unlimited 2 surprised few but what did grab the attention of racers and fans alike was the aggressive driving style of Rodrigo Ampudia. Ampudia, now in his second season of Unlimited 2 competition, raced to the front of the pack in the Unlimited Open weekend finale where he challenged the superior Unlimited 4 machine of Jerry Daugherty for the win. After fighting off the relentless Ampudia, Daugherty would take the checkered flag but Ampudia had set himself apart in Primm for his talent and gutsy driving style.
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing’s Tony Vanillo, whose continued hard work and dedication to the success of the series shone with the successful event, reflected on the completion of the inaugural weekend, “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.”
A number of exciting announcements preceded the second Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series event in Surprise, Arizona. With the support of UTV aftermarket supplier Dragon Fire Racing, the popular UTV class would return to the short course racing arena. Shortly after E3 Sparkplugs was named a broadcast partner of the series, Toyota and Lucas Oil announced that Toyota had become The Official Truck of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. Toyota’s Ed Laukes commented on the newly formed alliance, “The Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series is an ideal platform for us to reach our target demographic and feature the Toyota Tundra.” These announcements further strengthened the roster of supporters that insured the long term viability of the series even as final preparations for the event at the untested venue at Speedworld were underway.
Although rich with a myriad of off road racing enthusiasts and the home to many top tier desert and short course racing teams, the inaugural race at Speedworld Off Road Park in Surprise Arizona, on the outskirts of Phoenix, was a new venue in an untested location that had never before hosted a short course off road race. On the same day that saw the series make its SPEED debut on television, the raucous, sold out, standing room only crowds that filled the venue more than answered the question of how the Phoenix area would receive short course off road racing. Many teams arrived May 1st at Speedworld having only heard about the facility and of the track that itself was to become one of the stars of the weekend. The track, a 9/10th mile rollercoaster ride featured technical turns, high speed banks and a jolting part of the course simply referred to as “moguls.” This long mogul section, with its three foot high, off centered and staggered hills, challenged drivers and crews alike as they prepared their vehicles for the race weekend.
The Surprise race weekend saw the return of Bryce Menzies to short course off road racing as he made his Unlimited 2 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series debut. Menzies thrilled the crowd on Sunday while battling with Rodrigo Ampudia in side by side action that saw Menzies taking the top spot and Ampudia settling for third, having spun on the final lap and being overtaken by yet another young up and comer, Robby Woods. Menzies win, complimenting his third place finish on Saturday, joined by young guns Woods and Ampudia on the podium, left the Unlimited 2 class wide open for a rapidly emerging youth movement despite the Saturday win by seasoned veteran Jerry Welchel and the consistency of Greg Adler.
Robert Naughton was also a star of the Surprise, Arizona rounds 3&4 in the Unlimited Lite class. Naughton, having swept rounds 1&2 in Primm left Speedworld with two more class wins and an undefeated record. Looking toward rounds 5&6 in Lake Elsinore, it remained to be seen if challengers such as Chris Brandt and Brian Deegan could mount a charge to unseat Naughton.
Lake Elsinore proved to be the location that brought together all of the elements of the exciting and sometimes edgy connection between the off road racing lifestyle and action sports and music. With the support of Mayor Bob Magee and the City of Lake Elsinore, California, the brand new short course off road track at The Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park, was poised to show great promise. With a pre-event party sponsored by Rockstar Energy Drink, the Metal Mulisha Freestyle show and weekend rock concerts featuring headliners MXPX and Alien Ant Farm there was plenty of entertainment in the pits to compliment the action on the track. With an enhanced purse up for grabs courtesy of E3 Sparkplugs, the story of the weekend was about the racing. Despite the sweltering midsummer triple digit heat the action on the track proved to be even hotter. Carl Renezeder held off challenges by Travis Coyne and series newcomer Tim Herbst to sweep both rounds of Unlimited 4 competition and keep himself at the top of the season class standings. In Unlimited 2, fans saw Renezeder take the win on Saturday with Rookie Jeff Ward capturing his first win ever on Sunday in a down to the wire finish. But by far, the most exuberant celebration came from local freestyle motorcross legend Brian Deegan (See Sidebar). Deegan, now returning to his old motocross stomping grounds of Lake Elsinore as a competitor on four wheels, was the victor in his first Unlimited Lite win of the season and triumphantly climbed on the roof of his truck and shared his enthusiasm with the boisterous crowd. The heat notwithstanding, the appearance of short course racing in Lake Elsinore provided exciting moments and the promise that the August event would be even hotter both on and off the track.
As the Lucas Oil Off Road racing series reached the halfway point in the season, Carl Renezeder was firmly dominating the Unlimited 4 standings while the battle in Unlimited 2 was up for grabs with Greg Adler quietly sitting in the top spot with Renezeder and Jerry Whelchel challenging. While not taking a round win, Alder had establish his lead with a quiet consistency from a well prepared vehicle and regular top five finishes. In Unlimited Lite, the continuing battle between Rob Naughton, Chris Brandt and Brian Deegan clearly separated the three from the pack. Naughton, having tasted defeat for the first time of the season in round five returned to Lake Elsinore having won five of the six rounds of Unlimited Lite racing.
As another first for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, Rounds 7&8 presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, were held in the evening to combat the extreme August heat. The Lake Elsinore crowd came alive under the lights as the heat of the day turned to cooler evening temperatures and the action on the track proved to be the most exciting of the season. The team of Kyle, Todd and Curt LeDuc were prepared to make their presence felt in this, their first appearance in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. With Kyle and Curt LeDuc added to a field that included Unlimited 2 driver Mike Johnson, trying his hand at the class, the Unlimited 4 field was the largest of the season. In spectacular Unlimited 4 action, Kyle LeDuc took the top podium spot while Todd swept the Unlimited 2 field. The Unlimited Lites continued to provide the tightest racing of the season as Saturday night saw Robert Naughton snatching victory from Brian Deegan in the last turn of the race. Then on Sunday, a jubilant Chris Brandt achieved his first victory of the season, tightening the narrowing championship battle with Naughton.
With 8 rounds of racing completed, Carl Renezeder sits atop the standings as the leader in both the Unlimited 4 and 2 classes. Alan Pflueger is second in Unlimited 4 while Jeff Ward is continuing his outstanding rookie season in the number two spot in Unlimited 2. Rob Naughton and Chris Brandt are in the top two spots in Unlimited Lite while Brian Deegan is staying in the hunt with the third spot. Other Class leaders at the midway point are John Harrah in Superlite, Chuck Cheek in Unlimited Buggy and Bruce Fraley in Limited Buggy. Currently leaders in the UTV Classes are Chad George in Unlimited UTV, Hanz Waage in Limited UTV and Dan Kelly in Modified UTV. Sheldon Creed is at the top of the standings in both Jr.1 and Modified Karts while Trent Williams is pacing field in Jr.2 Karts.
The Lucas Oil Off Road racing series continues it’s inaugural season with return stops to Surprise, Arizona October 17th and 18th and Primm, Nevada November 14th and 15th. The season will conclude with the Lucas Oil Challenge Cup on December 11th and 12th in Lake Elsinore.
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