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Shootouts Thrill in Lake Elsinore |
December 20, 2009 |
The final day of racing for the inaugural season of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by Geico Powersports was one that fans will never forget. The Rockstar Energy Lucas Oil Challenge Cup was the stage for the largest purse in short course off-road racing history, and drivers took to the track in four races to try and snag their share of the $181,000 in prize money. For this final racing day of the season, the Super Lites and Limited Buggies would have their own separate races, while the other two races would be held in a unique, once-a-year “shootout” format. The first of these races would, for the first time ever, pit the Unlimited Lite trucks against the Unlimited Buggies, while the second would be the ever-popular Unlimited 2 vs. Unlimited 4 race that has become a highly anticipated annual showdown in the short course world. Many must have wondered whether the races could possibly live up to the hype, but all those who saw the action headed home with memories of some of the greatest racing in short course history.
Super Lite
The Bully Dog Super Lite class was the first out on track, and a strong field featuring short course veterans Rob Naughton and Todd LeDuc, series rising stars Ricky James, Chad George, and Chad Leising, class champion John Harrah, and freestyle motorcycle superstar Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg, made this the best Super Lite race all season. Stenberg and George started on the front row, but it was James in his #24 SoCal Super Trucks/Icon Vehicle Dynamics machine who jumped out to the early lead, followed by Stenberg in the #88 Rockstar/Metal Mulisha truck, Leising in the #17 mav tv/Hart and Huntington truck, George in the Independent/Funco Motorsports #42, and LeDuc in the Granatelli Motor Sports/Verve! #40. Behind the leaders, Brandon Ward had a huge crash that saw him roll over the outside burm of turn four, which led to a red flag and complete re-start of the race. Ward was ok but out of the race, and once racing action resumed, James again surged into the lead, ahead of George, Stenberg, Naughton in the #72 Lamb Energy/ProAm machine, and Leising. James, George, and Stenberg then got stacked up in turn three, which allowed for some substantial re-shuffling of the running order. Stenberg was now leading, with Naughton, Leising, James, and LeDuc in hot pursuit. Naughton was putting the pressure on Stenberg, and soared over the two big table top jumps on the back straight and into the lead. Leising tried the same move on the following lap, but with much less success. Air got under Leising’s truck, lifted him out of control, and sent him careening into the infield and out of the race. Leising was alright, but his truck was rendered undriveable.
Racing continued, and up front, Naughton was now stretching out a small lead over the competition. Behind him, George was charging through the field after his earlier tangle with James and Stenberg, and as the competition yellow came out, George ran in second behind Naughton. LeDuc was third, James fourth, and Harrah fifth in the #1 Speed Technologies truck. As the green came out again, LeDuc pulled off the track and out of the race, while Naughton and George pulled away in a race of their own for the lead. George was giving it all he had to try and catch his vastly more experienced rival Naughton, but Naughton was simply too strong, as he went on to take the win and claim the $20,000 first place prize. George had his best run since joining the Super Lite ranks earlier this season, picking up $10,000 and a second place finish. Rounding out the podium was young Dawson Kirchner in the #16 NOS Energy/Troy Lee Designs machine, who took home $5,000. Fourth went to Joey Granatelli in the #20 Granatelli Motor Sports/Red Line Synthetic Oil truck, and fifth went to class champion Harrah.
Limited Buggy
Next out on track were the Limited Buggy drivers, and with a full inversion of the field after yesterday’s qualifying, the quick drivers had their work cut out to try and get a win. Jeff Richards and Gary Williams started on the front row, but it was Kyle Quinn in the #311 Lone Kid Racing/Bugpack buggy who took the early lead. John Fitzgerald ran second, with Williams third, Bruce Fraley fourth, and Curt Geer fifth. Fitzgerald, Fraley, and Geer each moved up a position on the second lap, and Fraley picked up another on the third lap. Fitzgerald was now the leader in his #314 mav tv/Lucas Oil buggy, ahead of Fraley in the #312 Papas & Beer/Freeman’s Carpet Service Fraley, Quinn, desert speedster and first-time short course racer Justin “Bean” Smith, and Geer, who’d dropped back to fifth. Smith then moved up to third on lap five, and with Geer pulling off track and out of the race, Williams was again up to fifth in his #348 Gibson Performance Exhaust/Kar Tek buggy. The competition yellow then came out, with Fitzgerald and Fraley in a close battle for the lead, followed by Smith, Quinn, and Williams.
After the restart, Quinn slowed briefly and dropped well back, allowing Williams to move up to fourth and Justin Davis into fifth in the #385 Green Army/Gatorwraps.com Alumicraft. With only a few laps left, Fraley made a desperate bid to pass Fitzgerald on the inside of turn two, only to slide wide and get locked together with Fitzgerald’s car. The two were stuck, and were stopped long enough to allow four cars to get past them. Smith now led, with Williams second, Davis third, Quinn fourth, and Fraley fifth. Fraley and Fitzgerald’s collision must’ve caused damage to both cars, as they both pulled off the track just before the end, while up front, Smith took a great debut win in his #319 Menzies Motorsports/Metal Mulisha Fraley, along with the $3,000 first place check. Williams took second and $2,000, and Quinn got third and a $1,000 check. Davis came home fourth, and Richards rounded out the top five in his #315 ABC Muffler and Hitch, Inc./AB Trucking buggy.
Unlimited Lite vs. Unlimited Buggy
With just two races left, it was now time for the first of two shootout races. For the first time ever, Unlimited Lites would go head to head with Unlimited Buggies. After Friday’s qualifying sessions, those drivers trying to make the grid had two more chances to get into today’s main event. The first was the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) race for each class, where the top four finishers in the Unlimited Lite LCQ race and the top four finishers in the Unlimited Buggy LCQ race would all make it to the main event. The second was the Promoter’s Choice, which allowed LOORRS officials to pick two more drivers, from both classes combined, to move on to the main event. These could be two from Unlimited Lite, two from Unlimited Buggy, or one of each. In the end, Unlimited Lites Jacob Person, Matt Loiodice, Leroy Loerwald, John Fitzgerald, and Chuck Dempsey made the main event along with the top eight from Friday’s Unlimited Lite qualifying (check out the recap of Friday qualifying for those names), as did Unlimited Buggies Troy Herbst, Bobby PeCoy, Shawn Gibson, John Holmes, Chuck Cheek, and the top eight from Friday’s Unlimited Buggy qualifying.
With all 13 Unlimited Lites starting ahead of the 13 Unlimited Buggies, it was #46 Todd Cuffaro and #33 Jimmy Stephenson who started on the front row. Cuffaro took the early lead in his Rockstar/BFGoodrich Tires Mazda, ahead of Chris Brandt in the #82 mav tv/Lucas Oil Toyota, Rob Naughton in the #54 Readylift/Maxxis Tires Ford, Brian Deegan in the #38 Metal Mulisha/Makita Ford, and Rodrigo Ampudia in the #36 Papas & Beer/Tecate Ford. Greg George was the first Unlimited Buggy, running in twelfth, just ahead of #907 Larry Job in thirteenth. Cuffaro pulled off the track on lap two, the first of many casualties to come, and Brandt inherited the lead. Naughton was second, Deegan third, Ampudia fourth, and Matt Loiodice was now fifth in the #20 Mastercraft Safety/Jimco Ford. The buggies were charging through the field, with George up five more spots to seventh in a single lap in the #933 Goodyear Tires/King Racing Shocks Funco, Job ninth in the Menzies Motorsports/BFGoodrich Tires Alumicraft, and Malcolm Pointon tenth in the #978 Southwest Processors/K&N buggy.
Just as Brandt and Naughton began to pull away up front, a rollover by Parker Grabowski brought out a full course yellow. On the restart, Deegan moved up to second place, while George was now up to sixth. George then got around Loiodice for fifth, and with Ampudia pulling off with a broken transmission, George’s leading Unlimited Buggy was up to fourth. The competition yellow came out, and as the field closed up into a single file line, it was Brandt, Deegan, Naughton, George, #916 Cameron Steele in the Menzies Motorsports/Metal Mulisha Alumicraft, and #999 Rich Ronco in the Goodyear/Tatum. Deegan took a brief lead on the restart before pulling off track, the sixth Unlimited Lite and seventh vehicle in all to do so thus far. Brandt re-assumed the lead, with Naughton waiting to pounce in second. Naughton’s chance came out of turn two, where he moved past Brandt and into the lead. George quickly followed suit, emerging from the turn four bowl in second place. Steele also passed Brandt, and the buggies were now dominating the trucks, occupying seven of the top nine spots.
With Brandt now slowing, Naughton was the only truck left to try and preserve some honor for the trucks, but George was simply too fast and too nimble, diving inside Naughton to take the lead in same turn where Naughton had made his pass on Brandt just moments earlier. Naughton fought desperately to regain the lead, at one point slamming squarely sideways into George as they braked hard into turn five, but George’s buggy somehow remained unscathed and held the lead. Behind these two, some quick buggies were charging hard, with class champion Chuck Cheek and top buggy qualifier Mike Dondel moving up to fourth and fifth behind third place Steele. Dondel, who’d moved into the top ten in the first half a lap before dropping to last with an unknown problem, now moved up two more spots to third with one lap to go, and with a few more laps, would’ve been a real challenger to George and Naughton. This wasn’t to be however, as Greg George, who had crashed heavily in this morning’s open track shakedown session and nearly written off his chances of even racing the main event this afternoon, kept a level head amongst the tremendous pressure and chaos to come home the winner, picking up a nice $20,000 check to boot. Naughton was the only truck still running clean at the end, and took home $10,000 for his second place finish. Both George and Naughton made similar comments after the race, proclaiming this to be one of the most exciting races of their careers. Dondel had to settle for third and $5,000 in his #998 Racer Engineering/Pro Am buggy, while Cheek was fourth in the #957 CMI Precision Machining/Kronik Energy Alumicraft, and fifth went to Job. In all, Only 13 of the 26 starters made all 15 laps, with buggies taking nine of the top ten spots. Fitzgerald and Brandt were the only other truck finishers besides Naughton. Bent and broken vehicles were strewn about the infield, but fans had just witnessed what this reporter believes was one of the greatest races, if not the greatest race, in short course off-road history.
Unlimited 2 vs. Unlimited 4
With a single Unlimited 2 and Unlimited 4 combined LCQ race and the Promoter’s Choice picks still up for grabs, many U2 and U4 drivers had to try and make a last ditch effort to get into this afternoon’s final race of the day. In the end, U2s Dan Vandenheuvel, Justin Davis, Nick Tyree, Gerardo Iribe, Evan Evans, and Jeff Geiser joined the top ten U2 Friday qualifiers in the main event. From U4, Travis Coyne, Ed Herbst, Chris Brandt, and Jerry Daugherty also joined the top eight Friday U4 qualifiers, and a field of 28 trucks took to the track in pursuit of $105,000 available prize money.
With the U2s starting in front of the U4s, it was #54 Rob Naughton in the Stronghold Motorsports/Team Associated Ford and Todd LeDuc in the #8 Makita/Kal Gard Ford on the front row. Todd LeDuc (U2) took the lead on the first lap, followed by Rob MacCachren (U2) in the #21 Rockstar/Mastercraft Safety Ford, Bryce Menzies (U2) in the #7 Super Clean/O’Neill Ford, Naughton (U2), and Rodrigo Ampudia (U2) in the #36 Lucas Oil/BFGoodrich Ford. Curt LeDuc was the first Unlimited 4, running eighth in his #43 Makita/Toyo Tires Ford, with Adrian Cenni (U4) tenth and Steve Barlow (U4) eleventh in the #2 Red Bull/Bosch Ford. The top five held their places for the next four laps, but by lap six, Carl Renezeder was the first U4 to crack into the top five in his #1 Lucas Oil/General Tires Ford. Up front it was still Todd LeDuc, MacCachren, and Menzies, with Renezeder (U4) fourth and Ampudia fifth. Cenni was sixth in his #11 Atrium Staffing Services/Mechanix Wear Chevrolet, and Curt LeDuc (U4) was the third U4, running eighth.
By the time the competition yellow came out, Todd LeDuc was still leading, and MacCachren had just managed to cross the start-finish line ahead of Renezeder to hold second. Menzies was fourth, Cenni fifth, Ampudia sixth, and Curt LeDuc seventh. When racing action resumed, Renezeder made quick work of MacCachren to take over second spot, and it was now up to Todd LeDuc as the only U2 left in front to try and hold off Renezeder for the last six laps. For nearly two laps, LeDuc did a remarkable job, but with the addition of two more tires digging for traction, Renezeder’s ability to use all lines on the track was too much for LeDuc, and Renezeder moved into the lead coming out of turn three on lap 12. LeDuc tried valiantly to hang on and challenge Renezeder, but it was not to be, as Renezeder pulled away fairly quickly. Behind these two, it was MacCachren third, Menzies fourth, and with Cenni now out, Ampudia fifth, Curt LeDuc sixth and Tim Herbst (U4) seventh in the #18 Terrible Herbst Chevrolet. On the final lap, the pressure from MacCachren must’ve finally gotten to Todd LeDuc, as LeDuc dug into a rut and rolled over. Up front, Renezeder was well clear of the field as he crossed the line in first, taking home $30,000 as the first U4 finisher. MacCachren was second overall, and also got $30,000 as the first U2 finisher. Third in the race was Menzies, who got $15,000 for his second place in U2. Ampudia was fourth overall, third in U2, and took home $7,500. Fifth overall, second in U4 was Curt LeDuc, who got $15,000, while Tim Herbst took sixth overall, third in U4, and $7,500. In all, just 14 of the 28 starters made it all 16 laps, with seven finishers from each of the two classes.
The book is now closed on the inaugural season for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by Geico Powersports. A special thanks goes out to our terrific series sponsors who’ve helped make this series a reality, to the incredibly dedicated staff of LOORRS who keep the show going despite even the most challenging of circumstances, to the best drivers in short course off-road who continue to thrill at every track, and to all the fans who’ve been a part of this new venture, and helped make it such a success. Join us again next year for the season opener, right back here at the Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex March 6-7, for Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2010 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. Enjoy the off-season, and stay tuned to www.lucasoiloffroad.com for the latest in LOORRS news.
Written by Scott Neth for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by Geico Powersports. |
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