With a move from daytime to nighttime racing, fans flocked to the Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex to enjoy a great evening of action under the lights here in Lake Elsinore, CA. A cool breeze and balmy nighttime temperatures made for a great atmosphere for round 7 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by GEICO Powersports, and fans were treated to an incredible night of racing. The action was arguably the most exciting of the season so far, with many nail-biting incidents, as well as multiple races whose winners were decided on the final lap. Fans most certainly went home happy, as the stars of off-road racing put on a fantastic show.

Junior 2 Karts
Action got underway with the Junior 2 kart division, and it was the #425 Victory Race Cars kart of Trent Williams that got away best of all, taking the lead from the drop of the green flag and never looking back. Williams was followed by the two ProAm karts of Maxwell Ries (#474) and Dustin Grabowski (#472), Troy French in the #429 and Jerett Brooks in the #477. Williams continued to pull away from the rest of the pack throughout the race, but behind him, a great race was going on for second between Ries and Grabowski. These two were driving like the big boys, at one point pulling the classic inside-outside pass on one another in back to back corners! In the end, it was Williams taking the win well clear of the rest of the field, followed by Ries, who managed to hold off Grabowski by the skin of his teeth. Brooks managed to get by French in the early laps and held his position to the end to take fourth, ahead of French in fifth.

Junior 1 Karts
The youngest boys and girls of off-road got going next in the Junior 1 kart division. Jack Grabowski in the #272 ProAm kart got a good start and took the lead ahead of usual class favorite Sheldon Creed’s #214 Team Associated kart. Myles Cheek slotted in third in his #257 CMI kart, ahead of #253 Bodie Richardson and #297 Trevor Doherty. Richardson went out the race early, moving Doherty to fourth and #278 Hunter Williams into fifth, while up front, Grabowski and Creed got tangled up in turn 1, allowing Cheek the only window he needed. Cheek shot by the two leaders and never looked back, leaving Grabowski and Creed to battle hard over second place. These two swapped second place several times, but in the end Grabowski was able to hold off Creed for second, though neither of them had enough to catch the winner Cheek. Doherty held his position in fourth and #252 Jake Williams ended up fifth.

Modified Karts
After two divisions of the standard karts, it was time for the modified karts to make their appearance. As the field crossed the start-finish line at the end of lap one, #502 Anthony Busnardo was involved in a very scary looking crash off the tabletop jump on the front straightaway, and this incident brought out a full course caution. Once the driver was deemed ok and the wreck was cleared, racing resumed with Sheldon Creed holding the lead ahead of Robby Melton, Connor Hart, Dave Mason Jr., and Zachary Hunt. Hart quickly moved his #550 Addicted2Riding kart into second, then took the lead from Creed’s The Fab School machine. Behind Hart, Melton was dropping back, and he eventually fell out of the top five, allowing the #556 HRT Motorsports kart of Brandon Arthur into fifth. Up front, Hart ran a clean, flawless race to take the win, ahead of Creed, the #565 HRT Motorsports kart of Mason Jr., #534 Hunt, and Arthur.

UTV
With the three kids races down, it was now time for the first of the adult races. The UTVs kicked off the action, and though this an adult class, it was the young men of this division who were making some of the biggest waves on Saturday night. Robert Vanbeekum took the early lead in the #664, ahead of #624 Chad George, #607 Austin Kimbrell, #694 Tyler Winbury, and #639 Kenny Bates. Both George and Kimbrell ducked down the inside of Vanbeekum to move into first and second in turn 3, and Winbury followed suit, pulling the same move in turn 6 of the same lap to move into the top three. Vanbeekum then bobbled in turn 1, allowing both #637 RJ Anderson and Bates to get by for fourth and fifth. Shortly afterwards, Kimbrell pulled off the track and out of the race, whileVanbeekum snuck back by Bates. The running order was now George, Winbury, Anderson, Vanbeekum, and Bates as the competition yellow flag came out. Once green flag racing resumed, Vanbeekum and Anderson got good jumps and overtook Winbury for second and third, respectively. Vanbeekum then challenged George’s Montclair Motors/Funco Kawasaki for the lead, but a cheeky block by George kept George up front and allowed Anderson’s Walker Evans Racing Wheels Polaris into second with one lap to go. George stayed out front to take the win, while Vanbeekum managed to re-take second on the final lap. 16-year-olds Anderson and Winbury took third and fourth, and Bates wound up fifth.

Limited Buggy
Limited buggies came out next, and it was #312 Bruce Fraley who took the early lead, ahead of #351 Sean Geiser, #314 John Fitzgerald, #392 Curt Geer, and #354 Jeff Knupp at the end of lap one. Geiser’s Slednecks-sponsored buggy bobbled in turn 1, allowing Fitzgerald and Geer to get by. Fraley and Fitzgerald began to pull clear of the field in their own battle for the lead, with Geer and Geiser in their own battle for third, and at the competition yellow, they still ran in that order, with #311 Kyle Quinn rounding out the top five. After the restart, Geiser pulled off track, re-entering the race several laps down later on. This allowed #304 Joe Laff to move into fifth, while up front, Fitzgerald picked up the pace enough to pass a seemingly infallible Fraley and take the lead with one lap to go. Fitzgerald stayed up front, taking the win in his Geico Powersports/Lucas Oil buggy, ahead of Fraley’s Freeman Carpet Service/BFGoodrich buggy. Geer took the final step on the podium, Quinn was fourth and Laff took fifth.

Unlimited Buggy
As the sun set behind the mountains to the west of the Lake Elsinore motorsports complex, opening ceremonies brought the crowd to its feet as the Unlimited Buggy class took to the track. As the green flag dropped, it was #953 Greg Foster in his Redline/Goodyear buggy who took the lead, only to be overtaken before the end of the first lap by the lightning quick Mike Dondel. Dondel’s #998 Racer Engineering/Fox Racing Shox held the lead, ahead of Foster, #947 Joe Masek, #901 Larry Foddrill, and #933 Greg George at the end of lap one. As if shot from a cannon, Dondel blasted away from the field, pulling out a big lead over Foster, while George moved his Montclair Motors/King Shocks Funco into third, and eventually out-braked Foster in turn 2 to take over second place. At the competition yellow, it was still Dondel in front, with George, Foster, Masek, and now #973 Bobby PeCoy in second through fifth. On the restart, Dondel started to get a bit out of shape in the rhythm section, crossing straight in front of George who had nowhere to go but right into Dondel, spinning Dondel the rest of the way around. George moved into the lead and Dondel dropped to third behind PeCoy, who, along with #999 Rich Ronco, also benefitted from contact between Masek and #978 Malcolm Pointon. PeCoy then pulled off track and out of the race, and the running order was now George, Dondel, Ronco, #904 Mike Halliday, and Foddrill. In the end, George took the win, well clear of the rest of the field, and ahead of a frustrated Dondel in second. Ronco took third in his Tatum after starting at the back of the pack, while Halliday wound up fourth in his Green Army AlumiCraft and Foddrill wound up fifth in his Goodyear-shod Foddrill Motorsports buggy.

SuperLite
The Bully Dog SuperLites were next on track, and the story of the night was most certainly that of paraplegic driver Ricky James. Despite being paralyzed from the chest down, James took the pole position in Friday’s qualifying session, but would start further back thanks to the inversion of start positions. John Harrah took the early lead in his Speed Technologies truck, ahead of Chad Leising, Jason Patison, Joey Granatelli, and James. Action was fairly quiet in the first half of the race, as only Patison faltered, falling from third to fifth in his Geico Powersports truck by the competition yellow. But as the green flag waved again, Granatelli, Leising, and James all got past Harrah, while Patison rolled over behind them. Leising moved to the lead, and Harrah re-took third, only to roll over as well, and as the white flag waved, it was still Leising, Granatelli, and James in the top three. In turn three of the final lap, Granatelli rolled his #20 Granatelli Motorsports truck, and Leising somehow piled his Lucas Oil/Hart and Huntington truck into Granatelli and had nowhere to go, getting stuck for a long time and allowing James’ SoCal SuperTrucks machine to move into the lead and four other drivers into the top five! James went on to take an emotional win in his first ever LOORRS race, ahead of Dawson Kirchner in second, Andrew Comriepicard in third, David Reyes in fourth and Brandon Bailey in fifth.

Unlimited 4
What a difference an addition of four more trucks has made to the Unlimited 4 division! If racing was already good here, it was made incredible by the likes of Kyle LeDuc and Mike Johnson. Usual favorite Carl Renezeder now had his hands full with young LeDuc, who narrowly missed the pole position in Friday’s qualifying session, and it was LeDuc who had the best start of all on Saturday night, moving from seventh to second on the first lap alone. #19 Troy Herbst, in his first LOORRS Unlimited 4 race, was the only man still ahead of LeDuc’s #99 Rockstar/Makita Ford, while Bryce Menzies (driving Travis Coyne’s old truck), Mike Johnson (filling in for Alan Pflueger) and Tim Herbst filled third through fifth. LeDuc made short work of the leader Troy Herbst to take the lead, while a hard-charging Renezeder moved all the way to second in pretty short order, only to have a major mechanical failure burn up his chances of a battle for the win with LeDuc. At the competition yellow, it was still LeDuc out front, ahead of Johnson in the #71 K&N/KMC Wheels Chevrolet, Troy Herbst, # 18 Tim Herbst, and Bryce Menzies in the Team Associated Ford #51. As green flag racing resumed, it was apparent that something was not right with LeDuc’s truck, as gray smoke was first streaming, then pouring out the back of his machine. Behind him, Troy Herbst spun in turn one to drop back to fifth, then rolled in the same turn a few laps later, but barely missed a beat and still retained fifth. Menzies dropped out, allowing Kent Brascho’s #8 XDP/R&L Carriers Chevrolet into fourth, and up front, the crowd was audibly willing LeDuc’s truck home. LeDuc’s truck hung on just long enough to come home first, ahead of Johnson (who drove extremely well in his first ever Unlimited 4 race), Tim Herbst in his Terrible Herbst/Lucas Oil Chevrolet, Brascho, and Troy Herbst in the other Terrible Herbst/Lucas Oil Chevrolet. In thanks to the adoring crowd, LeDuc drove down the front straight while hanging out his driver window, drawing an uproarious cheer from the fans who’d seen this young man take a brilliant win.

Unlimited Lite
After the bar had been set by the Unlimited Buggies and then raised by the Unlimited 4s, it was the turn of the Unlimited Lite drivers to try and carry that momentum and put on another great race, and they certainly did not fail to do so. Matt Loiodice started on the front row in his #20 Mastercraft/Jimco Ford, and led the field across the start-finish line at the end of lap one, with Brian Deegan, Jon Probst, Jimmy Stephenson, and Robert Naughton filing in behind. Brian Deegan soon overtook Loiodice in his #38 Lucas Oil/Metal Mulisha Ford, and behind him, Rodrigo Ampudia, who was filling in for an injured Chuck Dempsey, was rocketing through the field from the back of the pack. Ampudia got all the way to fourth before rolling onto his side and dropping well back. More shuffling went on, and as the competition yellow came out, Deegan was still in the lead, Loiodice was having his best race of the season and hanging on to second, and Naughton, Stephenson, and pole-winner Todd Cuffaro were in third through fifth. After the restart, Loiodice and Naughton got into each other, dropping them both back behind Stephenson and #82 Chris Brandt. Cuffaro and Loiodice then got into it in turn 2 and both rolled over. Loiodice returned to action in last but Cuffaro was out of the race, and so it was left to Stephenson’s Lucas Oil/Goodyear Nissan, Brandt’s Rockstar/Hart and Huntington Toyota, and Naughton’s Readylift/Maxxis Tires Ford to try and take the fight to Deegan on his home track. Big contact between Stephenson and Brandt allowed Naughton to move into second, and now the man with an iron grip on this division set his sights on Deegan. With one lap to go it was Deegan, Naughton, Brandt, Probst, and #9 John Harrah in his Speed Technologies Chevrolet in the top five. Naughton was really putting the pressure on Deegan, and on the very last turn, Deegan missed his marks. Naughton seized his chance, diving inside of Deegan and squeaking into the lead, hanging on just ahead of Deegan to take a great sixth win out of seven races this season. Deegan was second, and hopes to go one better on Sunday, while Brandt took third, ahead of Probst and Stephenson in fourth and fifth.