Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Challenges overcome in Round 15 The final race weekend of the 2014 season is upon the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, presented by GEICO. This weekend, a lot is going on, as not only will the class champions be crowned, but there will also be the season-ending Lucas Oil Challenge Cup races. Moreover, many drivers will have three rounds of racing to contend with, as the rained-out Round 14 will be made up on Saturday morning. Needless to say, there will be a lot of challenges ahead for everyone. For some drivers, more personal challenges would be overcome here tonight at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park. In the course of just one evening, a long-overdue first win would come, as would more than one championship. Perhaps most triumphantly of all, one driver would bounce back from a very frightening crash early in the evening, and come back strong enough to put in his best performance of the season later on. And of course, one very eagerly-anticipated race would see drivers who haven’t faced each other in years get to go head-to-head once again, so to be certain, this night was one for the ages. Modified Kart Modified Kart First out onto the track this evening were the Modified Karts, and after a very impressive run in this afternoon’s qualifying session, it was first-time pole sitter Hailie Deegan who also got to start on the inside of row one after here spotter drew a zero-position inversion of the qualifying results. Deegan put her starting spot to its best use, as she shot into the lead in her #538 Dirt Princess/4 Wheel Parts truck, ahead of Cole Mamer, Travis PeCoy, Ryan Carey, and Christopher Polvoorde. Over the opening laps, the running order amongst the top five went unchanged, and out front, Deegan started to pull a little bit of a gap over her pursuers. Mamer started to pull the leading lady back in a bit on lap four, but on the next lap, he spun out at turn two, and as he tried to re-join the action, he collected Polvoorde by hitting him in the side. Mamer re-joined well down the order, and with Polvoorde taking a little extra time to get back underway, a full course caution was thrown. Under the Last Completed Lap rule, Mamer was allowed to take his second spot back as the field circulated under yellow, but weirdly, Polvoorde didn’t get back in his fifth spot. Racing finally resumed on lap nine, and the order was now Deegan, Mamer in the #535 Team Associated/Simpson truck, PeCoy in the #573 FMF/Oakley machine, Carey in the #522 Lawrence Equipment/Mothers kart, and Elliot Watson in the #503 DASA/Fox Racing Shox entry. On lap 11, Ronnie Anderson made a nice pass on Watson down the inside into turn two, but then came to a stop just two corners later, ending what had been a strong run. This forced another full course yellow, and with racing resuming on the next lap, it was now Broc Dickerson occupying that fifth spot. On the restart lap, PeCoy got by Mamer at turn one to take over second spot, and was quickly up to Deegan’s back bumper to make a run at the lead. Mamer was right there as well, and got back by PeCoy in turn four on the next lap to re-take second. However, Mamer then spun coming out of turn one, the next corner, and dropped well back in the field. With lots of drivers getting past, it was now Carey who ran second, with Dickerson third, PeCoy fourth, and Darren Hardesty Jr. fifth. The top five drivers then held their positions over the final lap and a half, and at the stripe, it was Deegan taking a very impressive first career National Series win in the Modified Karts, and in doing so, becomes the first girl to win inside the category- congratulations Hailie! Second went to Carey, third to Dickerson in the #523 Walker Evans Racing/DASA machine , fourth to PeCoy, and fifth to Hardesty Jr. in the #599 Bilstein/Bink Designs entry. While he may not have featured in tonight’s race (a very uncharacteristic race saw him only complete eight laps), Brock Heger still had enough of a points buffer to take this year’s Modified Kart championship- congratulations Brock! Modified Kart Pro 4 For the first time in years, nearly every major Pro 4 Unlimited player in the sport was on the track at the same time, and tonight, they were joined by a couple of very exciting class rookies. This was certainly one of the most anticipated races in a long time, and at the end of lap one, it was a surprisingly-quick Greg Adler who led the way in his #10 Pro Comp/4 Wheel Parts Ford. Kyle LeDuc ran second in the #99 Monster Energy/Toyo Tires Ford, with Johnny Greaves third in the #22 Monster Energy/Forest County Potawatomi Toyota, Johnny’s son CJ Greaves fourth in the #33 Monster Energy/Method Race Wheels Toyota, and Brian Deegan fifth (in his Pro 4 Unlimited debut, driving Scott Douglas’ truck) in the #38 Rockstar Energy Drink/Makita Power Tools Ford. On lap two, Carl Renezeder got his #1 Lucas Oil/General Tire Nissan by Deegan at turn two to move up to fifth, and in the next corner, CJ passed his dad to move into third. On the next lap, Johnny then bicycled badly in the first corner, which allowed Renezeder to get past, while up ahead, CJ was now right on Kyle LeDuc’s tail. Things then temporarily settled a bit amongst the top five, though the pace was almost frighteningly frantic. On lap six, Adler’s run in the lead finally ended, as LeDuc muscled by in turn two to take over at the front. In the next corning, Renezeder passed CJ to get into third spot, while just ahead, Adler was by no means taking LeDuc’s pass laying down, as he hung on right behind the new race leader. Back down the order, drivers were starting to stack up Johnny Greaves, who almost seemed to be holding up those immediately behind him. On lap eight, Deegan got by the veteran at turn three, taking him back up to fifth spot. On-track debris forced a full course caution at the end of the next lap, and on the restart lap, Johnny got back by Deegan coming out of turn four, and was now looking like his usual very fast self. The next lap saw a mistake by Adler in turn one, and that dropped him back to fourth as both Renezeder and CJ Greaves got by. One corner later, and Adler was spinning, perhaps with some help, an incident that also caught out a few other drivers, including CJ Greaves. By the end of the lap, LeDuc still led, but Renezeder was now second, with Johnny Greaves third, Deegan fourth, and Rob MacCachren fifth in the #21 Rockstar Energy Drink/Makita Power Tools Ford. On lap 14, a stuck throttle helped Doug Fortin over-jump the big jump into turn two, and he actually landed on the roof of Eric Barron’s truck. This probably wasn’t the return to competition that Barron had been hoping for, and Fortin quickly slid off, hit the outside wall, and rolled over, while Barron’s radiator cap appeared to have been knocked off, as steam quickly began streaming out the back of his truck. After a few laps of yellow flag running, Fortin’s truck was righted and able to continue, albeit nearly a lap down, and when racing resumed, Greaves muscled by Renezeder at turn two to take over second spot on lap 18. Renezeder tried to battle back, but on the next lap, he just got into the back of Greaves going up the same jump that had caught Fortin out, and he was sent sky high, nose-first, before slapping his front end hard down and rolling over and back onto his wheels. This brought the full course yellow right back out, before a red flag was then unfurled. Renezeder was ok, although almost certainly very sore, and racing finally resumed on lap 21, with the top five now made up of LeDuc, Greaves, Deegan, MacCachren, and Barron. Barron looked to have jumped the restart, but it hardly mattered, as a mechanical failure then sidelined him as he exited turn two. A near-spin out of turn two dropped Greaves to sixth on the same lap, and with Barron now out, it was Ricky Johnson who sat fifth. Greaves got Johnson on the final lap, and at the stripe, it was LeDuc out front to take a monumental win. Second went to a very impressive Deegan, third was MacCachren (who drove some good defense to hold off a hard-charging Adler on the final lap), fourth was Adler, and fifth was Greaves. Modified Kart Pro Lite Despite a huge field of Pro Lite Unlimiteds here this weekend, tonight’s race actually went quite smoothly, with just one full course yellow. Brian Deegan went straight into the early lead in his #38 Rockstar Energy Drink/Makita Power Tools Ford, with Jerett Brooks second in the #77 Cooper Tires/Maxima Racing Oils Nissan, RJ Anderson third in the #37 Loan Mart/Polaris Nissan, Kyle Hart fourth in the #41 ReadyLift Off Road Suspension/Maxxis Dodge, and Ryan Beat fifth in the #51 Lunarpages/General Tire Dodge. On the second lap, Casey Currie got by Beat on the outside at turn one to grab fifth. However, on the next lap, he just tapped Hart’s back bumper while both were under heavy braking into turn three, which caused both trucks to get loose and lose their preferred lines. Beat was right there to capitalize, as he got by them both to jump up to fourth, and Sheldon Creed used the same opportunity to close right in, before passing Hart in turn four and then Currie in turn one on the next lap. Undaunted terrier that he is, though, Currie was straight onto Creed’s back bumper, looking for any and every place he could to try and get back around the championship leader. Lap six then saw a full course yellow after Aaron Daugherty came to a stop up against the wall at turn four, but he was cleared quickly and racing resumed on lap eight. On the restart, Brooks was right on Deegan’s bumper into turn one, before nosing inside and getting a great drive out of the corner, before pulling ahead convincingly down the straight towards turn two. On the same lap, Beat got around Anderson for third spot, and at the end of the next lap, Currie was just ahead of Creed at the start/finish line. Creed got back by coming out of turn one, though, leaving Currie to try and make the pass again. If anyone could do that, though, it would be Currie, who has come alive in the second half of this season, and shown that he can put the pressure on anyone in this class, and as the laps wound down here tonight, he continued to show Creed his nose at every opportunity. Out front, Brooks had quickly opened a gap of just over two seconds, but that gap had now stabilized, as he and Deegan ran very even lap times. Behind these two, Anderson got back by Beat out of turn one to re-take third on lap 14, only to have Beat pass him back down the inside in the very next corner. Anderson passed again in turn three, this time for good, as he then started to get away just a little. Behind them, the real scrap was for fifth, as Currie continued to work on Creed. Currie nosed ahead a few times, but Creed would then get back in front each time. However, on the final lap, out of the final corner, Currie pulled ahead when it mattered most, and beat Creed to the stripe by a nose- 0.078 seconds to be exact! Out front, Brooks backed up his win in Vegas with a second one here tonight, ahead of Deegan, Anderson, Beat, and Currie in the #2 Monster Energy/Oakley Jeep. Modified Kart Pro Buggy Next up was Pro Buggy Unlimited, and in this one, points leader Chad George got out front straight away, and led the field in his #42 Mickey Thompson/Redline Performance Funco at the end of lap one. Dave Mason Jr. ran second in the #65 Loan Mart/Jamar Alumi Craft, with Dale Dondel (driving Steve Greinke’s car tonight) third in the #1 SC Fuels/Fortin Racing, Inc. Racer, Garrett George fourth in the #71 King Off-Road Racing Shocks/Anenberg Funco, and Kevin McCullough fifth in the #62 BFGoodrich Tires/Pro Am Foddrill. On lap three, Dondel got a little squirrelly at turn two, causing him to run a bit wide, and that allowed Garrett George to slip through and up to third. On the next lap, McCullough was now right up on Dondel’s tail, but also had to contend with Sterling Cling, who was right behind him, leaving McCullough with the difficult task of both trying to attack and trying to defend. Out front, Mason Jr. was really hounding Chad George for the lead, with the two perhaps more focused on each other than anyone else, Garrett George started to close in on the leading duo on lap six. On the same lap, McCullough passed Dondel on the outside at turn four to take over fourth spot, and two laps later, Cling made the move as well, as he powered past between turns one and two to move up to fifth in his #77 Cling’s Aerospace/KyleGreenFabrication Alumi Craft. Mason Jr. was still dogging Chad George for the lead, but aside from sticking his nose down the inside off the exit of turn two, there was no place where Mason Jr. could manage to get any kind of run on the leader. On lap nine, McCullough suddenly slowed coming out of turn three, and by lap’s end, he’d dropped out of the top five, and though still running, an obvious mechanical issue quickly dropped him to the back of the pack. McCullough continued at reduced speed, and it was now Cling in fourth and Dondel in fifth. On lap 12, Chad George finally got just a little breathing room out front, but Mason Jr. closed him right back down again on the next lap. On the final lap, Chad ran oddly wide out of turn two, just enough to give Mason Jr. an opening. Mason Jr. pulled alongside, and George, unable to get any advice from his spotter after his communication had cut out early in the race, tried to shut the barn door after the horse had already bolted. The two touched wheels, and George got a bit out of shape, while Mason Jr. didn’t. Mason Jr. pulled ahead, held steady over the final pair of corners, and after being a bridesmaid so many times, he finally got that elusive first win- congratulations Dave! On the podium, Chad George hardly seemed to care about losing the race win tonight, because he still picked up enough points to handily seal his first Pro Buggy Unlimited championship, and in his rookie season in the class no less- way to go Chad! Third went to Garrett George, fourth was Cling, and fifth was Dondel. Modified Kart Pro 2 In the final race of the night, Bryce Menzies was in control at the end of lap one, leading the way in his #7 Red Bull/Go Pro Ford. Carl Renezeder, undoubtedly sore after his big crash earlier tonight, ran second in the #17 Lucas Oil/General Tire Nissan, with Brian Deegan third in the #38 Rockstar Energy Drink/Makita Power Tools Ford, Marty Hart fourth in the #15 ReadyLift Off Road Suspension/Maxxis Ford, and Rodrigo Ampudia fifth in the #36 Toyo Tires/Papas & Beer Ford. A rollover by Greg Adler in turn two forced a full course yellow on lap two, and when racing picked up again on lap five, Deegan started to spin out as the field racing down out of turn two. Deegan’s error caused a host of other drivers to stack up behind him, and while Deegan got away after only losing one position, Hart, Rob MacCachren, and Todd LeDuc were left crunched in to one another. Another full course yellow came out as track crews worked to get the three trucks separated, and while they were all eventually cleared, both MacCachren and Hart had to make lengthy trips to the Hot Pits. MacCachren came out at the tail of the field, but Hart’s night was done, as he parked it in the pits after his crew did their best to get him back out on track. As the field finally returned to racing on lap nine, it was now Menzies, Renezeder, Ampudia, Deegan, and Myan Spaccarelli in the #12 Tonka/Amsoil Chevrolet in the top five, with Deegan passing Ampudia smoothly going into turn two on the restart lap. Two laps later saw yet another full course caution after RJ Anderson had a rollover in turn three. Anderson landed on his wheels and continued, but didn’t quite do so fast enough to beat that yellow flag, which went away at the end of the lap. On the restart lap, Spaccarelli ran wide at turn four, allowing Patrick Clark to get by on the inside to move up to fifth in his #25 Loan Mart/Maxxis Chevrolet. Meanwhile, MacCachren was charging up the order, and on lap 17, he moved up to sixth spot after passing Robby Woods coming out of turn one. Clark then bicycled and spun out at turn three, dropping him to ninth, and allowing MacCachren to jump up to fifth. Two laps later, on-track debris forced race officials to throw a full course caution, and when racing got underway again, Renezeder tried an inside pass on Menzies at turn one. Menzies held him off, but only seconds later, a blown engine ended Menzies’ charge, as he pulled off track coming out of turn two. Renezeder assumed the lead, and almost certainly sensing a chance to break his season-long winless streak, his vast experience helped him overcome a deteriorating track, as well as hold off his closest pursuers, Deegan and MacCachren. On the final lap, Deegan tried a dive bomb pass on Renezeder into turn three, but while he hit Renezeder hard door-to-door, Renezeder got away cleanly, while Deegan over-rotated a bit, and had to drive partway over the inside k rail to get underway again. MacCachren balked while trying not to hit Deegan, but still beat The General out of the corner to move up to second spot. At the line, Renezeder was the comeback story of the night, as he rebounded from a scary crash in Pro 4 Unlimited to take the win in Pro 2 Unlimited. Second was MacCachren in the #21 Rockstar Energy Drink/Makita Power Tools Ford, with Deegan third, Robby Woods fourth in the #99 General Tire/Carlyle by NAPA Chevrolet, and Ampudia fifth. Despite dropping a spot on the final lap, Deegan still picked up a podium, giving him a perfect 14 for 14 record in that department so far this season, and that speed and consistency has helped him garner this year’s Pro 2 Unlimited championship, his third in the last four years- congratulations Brian! Speaking of championships, this reporter must apologize to multiple drivers from our kart divisions. In the story covering Round 14’s kart class action, I named Dylan Plemons as the race and championship winner of Junior 1 Kart. That was a bad error, as Plemons doesn’t even compete in that class, and I apologize wholeheartedly. The confusion started when Nicholas Plemons, not Dylan, picked up fifth spot in the Junior 1 Kart race, before I then named Dylan as the race winner. In reality, the race winner was Mason Prater, who also picked up the Junior 1 Kart championship that night- congratulations Mason! Dylan Plemons did get a championship that night as well, but his was the Junior 2 Kart title. Congratulations Dylan! Again, my most sincere apologies to all drivers concerned. With that, an exciting night of racing has come to an end here at Lake Elsinore. Tomorrow, we have a very unique day, as for the first time in series history, two separate rounds of racing will be run in one day. First up in the morning will be the makeup races from Round 14, which was cancelled due to weather in Las Vegas last month, and that will be followed in the evening by the Lucas Oil Challenge Cup races. Always a crowd favorite, the once-a-year Challenge Cup is all about the prizes, with no points, just big money on the line. Capping it all off will be the class versus class, Pro 2 Unlimited versus Pro 4 Unlimited shootout, and when you stop to consider just how many quality trucks are on hand here this weekend, this one’s sure to be a barn burner!
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 17:41:51 +0000
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