After a fantastic inaugural season filled with action, drama, and fun, the first year of regular season competition has drawn to a close here in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by Geico Powersports. Having started life here at the Primm Valley Motorsports Complex back in April, things have come full circle as the drivers and crews returned to this challenging track in Primm, NV to close out the year. In the 12 classes of competition here in the Lucas Oil series, nine still had their championships up for grabs today, and drivers gave the hearty fans who braved bone-chilling winds plenty to talk about on the ride home as they drove their hearts out in pursuit of race wins and championship titles.

Modified Kart
After taking the win yesterday, Sheldon Creed came into today with a very narrow lead in the points over Connor Hart. Though Dave Mason Jr. and Bradley Morris were also still alive mathematically speaking, it was really down to Creed and Hart for the championship, and Hart put his best foot forward by taking the pole in this morning’s qualifying session. Creed took third there, and as the race got underway, Hart put his top starting spot to good use, taking the early lead in his #550 Addicted 2 Riding/Bad Seed machine. Mitchell DeJong sat in second, with Creed third, Zac Hunt fourth, and Jerett Brooks fifth in the #527 Synergy Electric Racing kart. Hart then dropped to fifth after an incident unseen by this reporter, allowing DeJong to take the lead in his #524 Speed Technologies/Bully Dog kart. Once out front, DeJong soon opened a small gap over the rest of the field, which second placed Creed then closed down once the two got into lapped traffic. Behind them, Brooks out-dragged Hunt out of turn three to take over third place. From there on, the action continued clean and fast as the top five drivers held their positions, until the final lap when, again, Hart hit trouble, this time in a crash that would unfortunately take him out of the race, and end his bid for the title. Up front, DeJong and Creed flew across the final jump, ending the race in a photo finish in which DeJong came out on top. Creed took second in his #522 Team Associated/Fox Racing Shox machine, and in an act of great sportsmanship, pushed his fellow title contender Hart across the finish line on his cool down lap. Third place went to Brooks, fourth to Hunt in the #534 Creative Fabrication and Design/Makita kart, and fifth to #585 Brandon Vermillion in the Rockstar/Hart & Huntington machine. Creed took a well-deserved championship home in this class, and still had another championship to shoot for in the Junior 1 Kart division later in the morning.

Junior 2 Kart
Coming in to today’s Junior 2 Kart race, Dustin Grabowski had won the last three races in a row and had built a big lead in the championship, but Trent Williams and Maxwell Ries were still in with a chance to sneak the championship away, so there was still plenty to fight for in today’s season finale. Grabowski jumped out to the early lead in his #472 ProAm/Stronghold Motorsports kart, ahead of Jerett Brooks in the #477 Synergy Electric Racing/San Diego TShirts Online machine, Chad Graham in the #410 Bulletproof Suspensions/Cornwell Tools Racing kart, Ries’ #474 ProAm/Kartek machine, and Chad Winkler’s #460 Arizona Iced Tea/Metal Mulisha kart. Once out front, Grabowski set a pace that nobody could follow, forcing the rest of the field to battle amongst itself for the other finishing positions. Graham and Ries had a good battle going for a while, exchanging third place several times before Graham finally pulled away from Ries to maintain the position. Winkler had a similar battle for fifth place with the #451 Victory Race Cars/Specialty Fasteners machine of Eddie Tafoya Jr., with the position eventually going to Tafoya Jr. All the while, nobody had anything for Grabowski, who led wire to wire to take the win and the championship. Brooks took second, Graham prevailed over Ries for third, leaving Ries to take fourth and Tafoya Jr. to take fifth.

Junior 1 Kart
With a comfortable lead in the Junior 1 Kart championship, Sheldon Creed had all but wrapped up the championship before the start of today’s race, but with Brock Heger still in with a shout of the title and a still-prestigious race win on the line, the biggest field of the day (27 karts) lined up for the final Junior 1 Kart race of the season. CMI Precision Machining Teammates Heger and Myles Cheek jumped out to an early one-two, with Jack Grabowski close behind in third and Cole Mamer and Parker Porter in fourth and fifth. Yesterday’s winner Cheek then took the lead in his #257 Lucas Oil/Hoosier kart, with #212 Heger dropping to second. Further back, Riley Herbst had moved his #219 Terrible Herbst/Lucas Oil kart into fifth place, as a four-way battle that included Creed was going on for sixth place just behind. Up front, Cheek pulled a repeat of yesterday’s performance as he set the fastest lap and “checked out,” leaving the rest of the field behind as he took back-to-back wins this weekend. Heger took second, with Grabowski third in the #272 ProAm/Team Associated machine, Mamer fourth in the #235 King Shocks kart, and Herbst fifth. Creed finished an uncharacteristic ninth today, but it was enough to take the championship, which along with his Modified Kart championship, makes him the first driver to take two LOORRS championships in the same year.

UTV
The three kids classes were now in the books for 2009, and it was time for the UTVs to come out on the track. With three classes actually out on the track in each UTV race (Unlimited UTV, Limited UTV, and Modified UTV), there are three different UTV championships, two of which had already been decided. Hans Waage is this year’s Limited UTV champion, and Dan Kelly is the Modified UTV Champion, so the only title left in today’s UTV race was the big one: the Unlimited UTV championship.

Austin Kimbrell jumped out to the early lead in his #607 UTVUnderground.com/Weller Racing Kawasaki, ahead of Robert Vanbeekum in the #664 Xtreme Machine and Fabrication/LorenzStudio.com Kawasaki. By the competition yellow, RJ Anderson was up to third in the #637 Walker Evans Racing/K&N Polaris, with Roger Stokes fourth in the #657 HRT Motorsports machine and Kelly fifth in the #800 Muzzys Performance Products Kawasaki. After green flag racing had resumed, a spin by Stokes allowed the #694 Beard Seats/C&G Motors Kawasaki of Tyler Winbury into the top five. Soon afterwards, Anderson pulled off the track and out of the race, and with one lap to go, Kimbrell was having a field day, leading the field by a long ways. On the final lap, Kelly dropped one spot to the #655 COD machine of John Dempsey after incurring a right rear flat tire, while the other positions remained unchanged. Kimbrell took a dominating win, followed by Vanbeekum, Winbury, Dempsey, and Kelly. Having crashed heavily in the Super Lite race yesterday, it was fortunate for points leader Chad George that he only needed to start today’s race to secure the title, which he did. A very sore and visibly limping George finished seventh in his #624 Funco/King Shocks Kawasaki today, giving him the ’09 Unlimited UTV Championship. Kelly won the Modified UTV race, and Pierre Perret won the Limited UTV race in his #709 Perret Motorsports machine.

Limited Buggy
Bruce Fraley had wrapped up the Limited Buggy championship with his second place finish yesterday, so today’s race was all about the individual glory of taking the final race win of the season. Sean Geiser took the early lead in his #351 General Tires/Slednecks Geiser Bros buggy, followed by John Fitzgerald, Kenny Freeman, Bryan Freeman, and Kyle Quinn. Fraley moved his #312 BFGoodrich Tires/DFT Fraley up two spots to fourth on lap two, while up front, Geiser and Fitzgerald were pulling away from the field in a close battle for the lead. Fraley and Bryan Freeman then got by Kenny Freeman, just before Fraley got spun out in turn four and fell back to sixth. As the competition yellow waved, it was still Geiser up front, followed by Fitzgerald in the #314 Geico Powersports/Lucas Oil machine, Bryan Freeman in the #318 Lone Kid Racing/Patrick’s High Performance Graphix buggy, Kenny Freeman in the #302 Freeman’s Carpet Service buggy, and Quinn’s #311 Bugpack Products/McKenzie’s machine. On the restart lap, Fitzgerald lost it in the rhythm section and fell back to last place, while Fraley jumped from sixth to third. Bryan Freeman benefitted from Fitzgerald’s off, and was now on Geiser’s back bumper and challenging for the lead. After closely following Geiser for several laps, Freeman used a great run in the rhythm section to pass Geiser in turn two on the final lap. Freeman then seemed to find another gear, and pulled clear of the field to take the win. Geiser came home second, with Fraley rounding out the podium. Kenny Freeman took fourth and Ricky Gutierrez was fifth in the #393 G Brothers/Wicked Creations buggy. As both the driver and builder of his buggy, Fraley is a rare and dangerous combination in the racing world, and he was a happy man after being crowned as this year’s Limited Buggy champion.

Super Lite
The Bully Dog Super Lite class was up next, and the title fight had come down to a two-way battle between John Harrah and Chad Leising. With Harrah flying off the track on the opening lap, Leising’s chances were looking up, and he sat second behind Dawson Kirchner in the early going. Ricky James ran third in his #24 So Cal Super Trucks/Icon Vehicle Dynamics machine, followed by Joe Granatelli in the #40 XDP/Skin truck in fourth and Brandon Bailey in the #72 Lamb Energy machine in fifth. James soon assumed the lead, and quickly pulled out a big gap over the competition. Behind him, Kirchner spun his #16 NOS Energy Drink machine and dropped out of the top five, allowing Joey Granatelli to move up to fifth in his #20 Granatelli Motorsports/Verve! truck. At the drop of the competition yellow, James still led, with Leising second in the #17 Lucas Oil/Hart and Huntington machine, Joe Granatelli third, Bailey fourth, and Joey Granatelli fifth. After the restart, Harrah re-emerged in the #13 Speed Technologies truck, and a big crash by Joe Granatelli brought out a brief full course caution. On the restart, lots of shuffling occurred behind the leader James, leaving Kirchner second, Leising third, Bailey fourth and Joey Granatelli fifth with one lap to go. Leising and Kirchner had a good battle for second on the final lap, with the position going to Leising in the end. Up front, James took his fifth win in six career LOORRS starts. Joey Granatelli wound up fourth, and Bailey rounded out the top five. Despite missing several laps, Harrah had enough of a points cushion to take the championship, and said that as his first championship in any form of racing, “this is very very special.”

Unlimited Lite
With just six points separating Chris Brandt and Brian Deegan, the Unlimited Lite championship had come right down to the wire. Deegan assumed the early lead, followed by Robert Naughton in the #54 PosterHanger.com/Lucas Oil Ford, Brandt, Jimmy Stephenson in the #33 JS Pest Control/VP Racing Fuels Nissan, and Heath Carpenter. With the entire field running clean and very fast, drivers were holding their positions for the most part, with Todd Cuffaro, who moved up to fourth, being the only other driver to make it into the top five before the competition yellow. At this point, Deegan still led in the #38 Metal Mulisha/Makita Ford, with Naughton second, Brandt third in the #82 Rockstar/Hart and Huntington Toyota, Cuffaro fourth in the #46 Lucas Oil/BFGoodrich Tires Mazda, and Stephenson in fifth. Deegan picked up one bonus point for leading at the halfway point, but still needed one more truck between himself and Brandt to leapfrog Brandt and take the title. After the restart, Cuffaro and Stephenson got into each other in turn two, for which both drivers were black flagged. This allowed Matt Loiodice and Aaron Daugherty to move up into fourth and fifth. Up front, Naughton was now right on Deegan’s back bumper, and finally made a pass for the lead in turn one and made it stick. With one lap to go, Naughton, Deegan, and Brandt were very close in the top three spots, followed by Loiodice and Daugherty in fourth and fifth. Deegan passed Naughton to re-take the lead in turn two on the final lap, but Naughton got him back in the very next turn, and was able to hold on to take his seventh win of the season. Deegan came home second, Brandt took third, Loiodice finished fourth in his best race of the season, and Daugherty made it a fine return to competition with a fifth place finish. With his third place, it appeared as though Brandt had done enough to secure the title, but in a bizarre incident, post-race technical inspection found that his wheelbase was too long. Brandt was subsequently disqualified, and the championship now belonged to Deegan. Race winner Naughton bid a fond farewell to Unlimited Lite, as he will move on to Unlimited 2 full time next year, and thanked the fans for braving such frigid conditions to cheer the drivers on. Deegan, who, before finding out he was champion, said he was happy just to be able to run at Naughton’s pace at the end of his first full season of short course racing, built momentum all season and drove very well in the second half of the year to take the title. He is now a real threat in all races, and will have a target on his back bumper in 2010.

Unlimited 2
In yet another incredibly close points battle, Carl Renezeder and Jeff Ward came into the final Unlimited 2 race of the season with just five points separating them. At the end of the first lap, it was newly-crowned TORC Pro 2 champion Rob MacCachren holding the top spot in his #21 Rockstar/Mastercraft Ford, followed by Ward in the #3X Speed Technologies/Bully Dog Chevrolet, Todd LeDuc in the #8 Makita/Toyo Tires Ford, Robert Naughton in his new #54 Canidae/Ready Lift Ford, and Evan Evans in the #5 Speedco Truck Lube and Tires/Walker Evans Racing Chevrolet. A crash by Bryce Menzies in turn four brought out a full course caution, and on the restart, Renezeder jumped up to fifth in his #17 Lucas Oil/General Tires Ford when Evans looped it in turn two. With the competition yellow now out, it was still MacCachren, Ward, LeDuc, Naughton, and Renezeder in the top five spots. Renezeder moved up to fourth on the restart, but dropped back to fifth when he slid way wide in turn two, allowing Rodrigo Ampudia, who’d charged through the field after receiving a black flag early on, to move up to fourth. Ampudia and LeDuc then had a good scrap, with the two swapping third place several times before LeDuc used a new, very wide outside line in turn four to get a run on Ampudia and pass him for good. Up front, MacCachren was blitzing the field, and held a huge margin over Ward, LeDuc, Ampudia, and Renezeder with one lap to go. At this point, Ward had enough trucks between himself and Renezeder to snag the title by one point, but in the final lap, LeDuc became the true spoiler, using his outside line in the fourth and final turn to pass Ward and take second spot behind the winner MacCachren. Ward took third, with Ampudia fourth in the #36 Papas & Beer/Lucas Oil Ford, and Renezeder finishing fifth. Having been thwarted by LeDuc, Ward lost out on two points in the championship, giving Renezeder the title by just a single point!

Unlimited 4
Having just won the Unlimited 2 championship, Carl Renezeder had to re-focus and set his sights on holding off teammate Alan Pflueger for the Unlimited 4 title. The two would start side-by-side on row three, while up front, it was the father-son duo of Curt and Kyle LeDuc starting from the front row. After a roll by Pflueger in turn one, a full restart of the race was called for, and with Pflueger’s #71 K&N/KMC Wheels Chevrolet still intact enough to run hard, the green flag dropped again. Adrian Cenni nosed out to the lead in the first two turns, but the LeDucs managed to get on either side of him and squeeze him back to fourth place by the end of the first lap. Curt LeDuc held the lead early, but son Kyle took over the position in his #99 Rockstar/Go Pro Ford soon afterwards. Cenni moved up to second in his #11 Atrium Staffing Services/BFGoodrich Tires Chevrolet, and set his sights on the leading LeDuc. Further back, the two title chasers were further back than usual, and the early roll by Pflueger must’ve done some damage, because he pulled off the track and out of the race before the halfway point. As the competition yellow came out, it was still Kyle LeDuc and Cenni in the top two spots, followed by Curt LeDuc in the #43 Skyjacker Suspensions/Kal-Gard, and the two Herbst brothers, Troy and Tim, in fourth and fifth. On the restart lap, Troy Herbst pushed Curt LeDuc wide in turn two, causing LeDuc to fall back in the field. Meanwhile Renezeder, who’d been thinking his suspension might be damaged, was now finding the truck to be driving fine, which allowed him to move from seventh to third in one lap. Travis Coyne was also on the move, climbing up to fourth as Troy Herbst pulled off the track, before Herbst’s brother Tim got back around Coyne to re-take fourth. Up front, Kyle LeDuc now had some breathing room thanks to a near-spin by Cenni, and he went on to take a convincing win. Cenni came in second, with Renezeder third in the #1 Lucas Oil/Team Associated Ford. Tim Herbst took fourth in the #18 Terrible Herbst/Lucas Oil Chevrolet, and Coyne wound up fifth in the #5 ProComp/Team Associated Ford. Renezeder made it a clean sweep in his two championship chases, taking the Unlimited 4 title to match his Unlimited 2 title from the race before. Renezeder once again dedicated his success to 7-year-old leukemia patient Derek, who he was able to drive around the racetrack in a two seat race truck earlier this weekend.

Unlimited Buggy
The final regular season race of the year was here: the Unlimited Buggy race. With just five points separating points leader Chuck Cheek from second placed Mike Halliday, it looked to be a good fight after Halliday’s win in yesterday’s race. However, Halliday noticed damage to his engine after that win, and decided to change engines. Upon firing the new engine for the first time, it promptly blew up, forcing he and his team to try and fix the first engine. As a result, Halliday missed qualifying, and with a less than perfect engine behind him, was forced to start dead last, while title rival Cheek would start from the pole.

Cheek jumped out to the early lead and quickly opened up a gap over the rest of the field in his #957 CMI Precision Machining/Lucas Oil Alumicraft. Cameron Steele ran second in his #916 Menzies Motorsports/Metal Mulisha Alumicraft, with Bobby PeCoy third in the #973 Earth Basics/Makita Alumicraft, Rich Ronco fourth in the #999 Goodyear Tatum, and Phil Bollman fifth in the #965 PB Racing Alumicraft. A small fire by Byron Ashley brought out a full course yellow, which doubled as the competition yellow, and confusion approaching the incident caused a couple of incidents, including Bollman’s getting high-centered on a burm and dropping well back in the field. This, along with Ronco breaking his rear suspension on the restart and dropping out of the race, moved #901 Larry Foddrill in the Goodyear/Toyota Foddrill up to fourth, and #924 Aaron Hawley in the Rakeman Plumbing/Kartek buggy up to fifth. Halliday was doing well despite his wounded engine, and had picked up 11 spots to find himself sixth in the #904 Green Army/Delmar Commercial Real Estate Services Alumicraft. Halliday’s luck only got him so far, however, as he soon slowed, gradually falling back down the order with an unknown issue. Up front, his rival Cheek was flying, and had amassed a huge lead, which he held all the way to the checkered flag as the sun dipped behind the mountains to the west. Foddrill continued to march forward as well, and wound up second at race’s end, followed by Steele, Hawley, and PeCoy. Halliday wound up eighth, and had to settle for second in the championship. Cheek ended the weekend on a total high: he took the pole, the fastest lap of the race, the race win, and the championship. What a way to end the LOORRS regular season!

Now it’s off to Lake Elsinore for the big money shootout races in December… see you there!

Written by Scott Neth for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by Geico Powersports.