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Qualifying: Clean and Fast |
October 17, 2009 |
As the sun shone brightly over beautiful clear blue skies here in Surprise, AZ, the drivers of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by Geico Powersports took to the track for qualifying for round 9 of competition. Action was relatively quiet, with very few incidents on track, perhaps as homage to this weekend’s race sponsor, Mastercraft Safety. Competition was therefore good and clean for the most part, and drivers used this to great advantage as the tore up the track in their quest to grab pole for Saturday’s races.
Unlimited 2
The first class to hit the track for qualifying today was Unlimited 2, and the usual frontrunners were once again at the sharp end of the field once qualifying was over. Rodrigo Ampudia was the early leader in his #36 Tecate/Papas & Beer Ford, posting a time of 57.188 seconds on the first lap. Carl Renezeder then took over the top spot, posting a time of 56.514 in his #17 Lucas Oil/General Tires Ford on lap two. Greg Adler then posted his personal best lap on lap three, flying around the course in 56.070 seconds in his #10 4 Wheel Parts/Magnaflow Performance Ford. This time was good enough to grab the pole position, while both Ampudia and Renezeder bettered their times to take spots two and three with times of 56.185 and 56.510, respectively. Both Renezeder and Jeff Ward saved their best laps for last, and Ward took fourth place with a time of 56.653 in his Speed Technologies/Bully Dog Chevrolet, while fifth went to the Super Clean/Fox Racing Shox Ford of Bryce Menzies, who ran a best lap of 56.730.
Unlimited 4
The thundering beasts of the Unlimited 4 division were next out on track, and Troy Herbst was the surprise of the day (no pun intended). Herbst came roaring out of the blocks, posting the fastest first lap with a time of 55.177 seconds in his Terrible Herbst/Coors Light Chevrolet. Herbst then bettered his time on lap two, scorching the track to set the pole-winning time of 54.670. Close behind came Carl Renezeder in his #1 General Tires/Team Associated Ford, who set his personal best at 54.722 to take second place. Third went to first-time Lucas Oil competitor Adrian Cenni, who’s bright orange Atrium-sponsored Chevrolet had a best time of 55.055. Renezeder’s teammate Alan Pflueger took fourth with a time of 55.462 in his ex-Renezeder K&N Filters/KMC Wheels Chevrolet, and Tim Herbst rounded out the top five in his Terrible Herbst/Lucas Oil Chevrolet with a best lap of 55.471.
Unlimited Lite
Once the track had been re-watered and re-graded following the running of the two full-size truck classes, qualifying resumed with the Unlimited Lites taking to the track next. Robert Naughton has been the class of the field this year, and he continued his frontrunning early, setting the lap one benchmark at 1:01.062 in his Maxxis Tires-shod Readylift Ford. Naughton then dropped his time to 1:00.735 on lap two, and then went even better on lap three, taking the leading time down to 1:00.335. Lap four finally saw a new leader, as Brian Deegan took over the top of the time sheets with a lap of 1:00.278. However, it was Jimmy Stephenson in the Lucas Oil/JS Pest Control Nissan who had the final say, setting the pole-winning time of 59.567 seconds on his final lap. Todd Cuffaro also broke the 1 minute barrier on his final lap, taking second with a time of 59.840 in his Rockstar/Metal Mulisha Nissan. Third went to Deegan in his Rockstar/Lucas Oil Ford, who wasn’t able to better his 1:00.278 from lap four. Naughton had to settle for fourth with his 1:00.335, while Matt Loiodice snuck into the top five, posting a 1:00.412 in his Mastercraft/Competitive Metals Ford.
Super Lite
The boys of Super Lite were next out on track, and the addition of UTV frontrunner Chad George made for an exciting addition to the sharp end of competition in this class. George was quick straight away in his #42 machine, as was Ricky James, winner of the last two rounds at Lake Elsinore back in July. James set the early quick time at 1:03.439 in his So Cal Supertrucks #24 on lap one, only to have George beat that time by one tenth of a second on lap two. James responded on lap three, setting his personal best lap of 1:02.807. George wasn’t able to answer back until the final lap, when he finally stole the pole back with a session-best time of 1:02.782. James had to settle for second, just 25 thousandths of a second out of first with his 1:02.807, while Chad Leising claimed third in his #17 Geico Powersports/Hart & Huntington machine with a personal best time of 1:03.601. Dawson Kirchner came in fourth in his #16, with a best time of 1:05.303 despite only being able to run two laps. Rounding out the top five was Brandon Ward in the #92 NOS Energy Drink-backed truck, whose best lap was a 1:05.712.
Unlimited Buggy
Full-fledged open wheel action consumed the track next, with the stars of Unlimited Buggy setting the track alive with the high-pitched screams of their engines piercing the ears of all those in attendance. Rich Ronco came out fighting in his #999 Tatum Motorsports buggy, setting the early best time of 59.071 on lap one. Bobby PeCoy took over the top spot on lap two, posting a 58.266 in his #973 Makita/Alumicraft. Ronco re-set his personal best to 58.430 on lap four, but he only managed to move past PeCoy to take the pole on his final lap, taking the top spot with a time of 58.126. PeCoy took second with his 58.266, and was followed by the #904 Green Army Alumicraft of Mike Halliday, who took third in 58.338 seconds. Mike Dondel (not his brother Dale- apologies from this reporter for mis-naming him in coverage of the last rounds at Lake Elsinore) took fourth with a time of 58.525 in his Racer Engineering/Fox Racing Shox buggy. The fifth and final place was a tie on time, as both Chuck Cheek in the #957 CMI/Lucas Oil Alumicraft and Eric Barron in the #910 K&N machine had a best lap of 58.582. Competition was close in this class, as the top ten places were all covered by less than one second!
Limited Buggy
After the Unlimited Buggies came their smaller cousins, the Limited Buggies. Bryan Freeman was the driver to beat early on, and he put his #318 Patrick’s High Performance Graphix buggy on top of the time sheets early on, running a 1:03.492 on lap one. Freeman, a past champion in this class, then improved his time on laps two and three, dropping to 1:02.798 with three of five qualifying laps gone by. Curt Geer then stole the pole away, setting the top time of the session at 1:02.343 on lap four in his #392 BDI Bowden Lothringer. Freeman was able to improve slightly on the final lap, dropping his time to 1:02.681, but he had to settle for second. John Fitzgerald and Bruce Fraley, winners of rounds 8 and 7, respectively, took third and fourth today. Fitzgerald ran a 1:03.233 in his #314 Hart and Huntington/Lucas Oil buggy, while Fraley took fourth with a time of 1:03.387 in his BFGoodrich Tires/Freeman Carpet Service machine. Sean Geiser’s new paint scheme looked sharp, and despite only running three laps today, he rounded out the top five in his #351 General Tires/Geiser Bros buggy with a time of 1:04.600.
UTV
The final class on the track for qualifying was the UTV class. Chad George only needed three laps in his Funco/King Shocks Kawasaki to take the pole position, and he bettered his personal best time in each of these three laps. George eventually ended up with a best time of 1:03.213, taking his second pole of the day! Austin Kimbrell took second place today in his #607 machine, setting a personal best time of 1:03.900, while young RJ Anderson took third with a best time of 1:04.083 in his #637 Walker Evans Racing Polaris. Robert Vanbeekum wound up fourth in his #664 with a time of 1:04.859, and Mark Holtz rounded out the top five in his #673 Holz Racing Products machine, setting a time of 1:04.950.
Written by Scott Neth for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series
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