Hart and Huntington Off Road Rolls the Dice in Vegas Lunarpages Comes Up Big

September 22, 2012 – Corona, California

Lucas Oil Off Road Racing has brought the big show to Las Vegas for Round 13 and for the first time ever the racing action was held under the lights. The desert climate in late September brought triple digits which eventually cooled off and made for a comfortable evening but the racing action on the track was definitely sizzling hot. Hart and Huntington Off Road's two driving aces, Robert Naughton and Ryan Beat shined the spotlight on Lunarpages by driving their way to the front collecting impressive podium finishes.

Lunarpages Driver Robert Naughton is one easy going guy, but put him in a Las Vegas off road pit with a finely tuned, high performance machine and he will really turn up the lights for a great show. That is exactly what he did tonight to take home a well earned 2nd place finish in Lucas Oil Off Road’s highly competitive Pro 2 category.

The main event Round 13 Pro 2 race served up a exciting race that resembled the Qaulifying order with Renezeder and MacCacharen leading Patrick Clark. Robert got a great start and would race to retain 4th nobly holding off Geiser who has been very fast all season. After making another great start coming off the competition caution, Naughton finally made quick work of Clark and assumed 3rd. With 5 laps to go, MacCachren in the #21 Rockstar Truck pulled off the track, and passed over a 2nd place finish awarding Premiere Motorsports Group and Lunarpages their first Pro 2 podium finish.

Due to unfortunate negligence and a few hundred feet off a very big jump, the crash in Reno resulted in complete restructuring of the  #54 Lunarpages.com PRO-2 with a Roush Competition Engine as the center piece and new legs for jumping with custom made 5-tube bypass Fox Shoxs . Further more, these things take time and a lot of dedication to properly layout. Even though Premiere Motorsports Group invested in mid event testing, Robert Naughton and the Pro 2 Program promptly missed out. Much of the truck is new and the only setup time afforded has been on track this weekend in Vegas. Robert was 4th fastest in practice and qualified 7th. All the green flag laps are within 1.5 seconds of the fastest laps this weekend. Well done to the crew especially Bryan Wagner, crew chief of the #54 Machine and a special recognition to Jon Marking of Fox Shox and Ron Sharp the Program Manager for Roush Competition Engines who also is running the support for Premiere Motorsports Group this weekend.

Ryan Beat and Lunarpages teammate is a rookie in the Pro Lite division who has consistently proven that he is a racers racer and one of the top drivers in the class. Ryan  drove the #51  Lunarpages / eBay Motors ProLite to his first victory of the category at the last event, Round 12 in Reno. For Round 13, Beat’s #6 Qualifying Position would place him 4 rows deep in a cut throat field of fearless drivers all attempting to stake a claim for points in the 2012 Championship. Ryan, currently sits comfortably in 2nd with a superb season of finishing in the top 5 six times out of 13 races all on Nogrady V8 Power. The obvious strategy for this game was to stay clear of the carnage, keep moving forward, and finish the race near the top. Beat played his cards perfectly taking positions on the way to the front and by Lap 8 he had moved up into the top 5. From there, the good fortune would be granted and Ryan Beat would pick up some bronze hardware for Lunarpages and Hart and Huntington Off Road. The 3rd place finish would be Beat’s second consecutive podium and fourth top 5 in a row.

“You could say we are on a roll,” claims Ryan Busnardo, PMG Team Leader “but we don’t look at it that way. This is what hard work and calculated preparation looks like. But hey, we run General Tire too so that is a huge advantage right there.”

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