Points Contenders Move Forward in Round 12
After a seven-week break, the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, presented by GEICO, is back in action this weekend, as the Speedworld Off Road Park plays host to Rounds 11 and 12 of the 2011 season this weekend. The temperatures were definitely warm here in the northern Phoenix suburb of Surprise, but some clouds overhead this morning made the day much more bearable, and a throng of hardy fans filled the stands to see their favorite drivers fly through the air and spray rooster tails of mud and gravel. The end of the season is now in sight, and with just five rounds left to run, the stakes are as high as they've ever been, and it showed in the fights that drivers put up on the track today. So you weren't able to see it in person? Fear not; read on and get informed.
Modified Kart
Kicking off the action with a flying start were the young hotshoes of Modified Kart. From a row two starting position, Mitchell DeJong quickly moved his #1 Traxxas/Red Bull machine to the front of the pack to take the lead on the opening lap. Behind DeJong came Jerett Brooks in the #527 Synergy Electric Racing/Comfort Mechanical truck, Kyle Hart in his #523 GearUp2Go.com/Duncan Racing kart, Scotty Steele in the #548 Steele Racing/Racer X Motorsports machine, and Mitch Guthrie Jr. in the #555 Guthrie Racing/Pro Armor entry. Hart got by Brooks to take over second spot on lap two, and a bicycle by Steele on the following lap cost him a spot to Guthrie Jr. Brooks suffered a similar mistake on lap four, dropping him to fourth as Guthrie Jr. got into the top three. Up front, DeJong was pulling away from the field, opening a sizeable lead by the competition yellow. At this point, as the field bunched up behind DeJong and the new Sanderson Tomcar pace vehicle, Hart ran second, Guthrie Jr. third, Brooks fourth, and Steele fifth. On the restart, Bradley Morris got into Steele's side and rolled him at turn one, forcing a second restart. As the field shuffled back in line, Brooks pulled off with a mechanical issue, moving Steele to fourth and Morris to fifth in the #504 K&N/Lucas Oil truck. With the drivers lined up in order again, the green flag came out, and this time Morris got his move done more cleanly, driving down the inside to take fourth from Steele. In the next corner, Blake Lenk also got by Steele to move into the top five in his #521Missing Lenk Motorsports/Walker Evans Racing kart. Morris then moved up to third, while behind him, Sheldon Creed had done a remarkable job of recovering from an opening lap rollover (which looked pretty ugly), and had passed his way all the way up to fifth in the #522 Camburg/A.M. Ortega entry. From there on in, the top five held their positions, with DeJong taking the win over Hart, Morris, Guthrie Jr., and Creed.
Junior 1 Kart
Front row starters Travis PeCoy and Dean Duro ran one-two after the opening lap in the Junior 1 Kart race, with Broc Dickerson, Preston Roben, and Darren Hardesty sitting third, fourth, and fifth. Plenty of shuffling went on in the first half of the race, with Duro rolling at turn two after contact with Dickerson, Wolfgang Ries and Eliott Watson moving into the top five, and Roben moving all the way from fifth to first by the competition yellow. At this point, Roben's #210 Duggins Construction/Team Associated truck was up front, ahead of PeCoy in the #211 K&N/King Off Road Racing Shocks kart, Dickerson in the #223 Dickerson Motorsports/Kar Tek machine, Ries in the #273 McQueen Prototype Design/ProAm entry, and Watson in the #203 Lucas Oil/Hoosier kart. On the restart, Dickerson moved by PeCoy for second, with Ries then getting into PeCoy at turn one. Neither driver rolled, but the stutter they suffered dropped both of them back a few spots. Up ahead, Dickerson had now taken the lead with just two laps to go, but today's victory would elude him, because on the final lap, it was Roben who got by at turn one to take the lead. Roben held on through finish to get the win, ahead of Dickerson, PeCoy, Gavin Harlien in the #232 Full Tilt kart, and Cole Dexheimer in the #226.
Junior 2 Kart
The final kids race of the morning was the Junior 2 Kart race, and like the two races before it, this one was a great race. Points leader Myles Cheek had the lead early in his #457 CMI/JamminProducts.com kart, with Jeremy Davis, Broc Dickerson, Weston Schuck, and Shelby Anderson running behind in the top five. Anderson moved up to fourth on lap two in her #405 Walker Evans Racing/Anderson's Nu Power machine, with Preston Roben getting into the top five in his #414 Duggins Construction/Mad Graphix, Inc. truck on the same lap. On the following lap, Davis made a good run through the moguls and into turn two in his #485 Green Army/Gatorwraps.com entry, taking the lead from Cheek in the process. Dickerson and Anderson also got by Cheek on the following lap, and at the competition yellow, it was Davis, Dickerson, Anderson, Cheek, and Roben in the top five. On the restart lap, Anderson picked off Dickerson for second, while Schuck got back into the top five in his #404 Hoosier/Foddrill Motorsports truck. A mistake by Dickerson at turn two then dropped him down to sixth, while up front, Anderson was really putting the pressure on Davis for the lead. On the final lap, Anderson made a textbook pass down the inside of Davis, and made the move stick to take the lead. Anderson kept the lead when it counted most, picking up her first win of the season. Davis got an oh-so-close second place, with Cheek taking third, Schuck fourth, and Chad Graham fifth in the #410 Hart and Huntington/MavTV machine.
UTV
Next up was the first race on the full-length track: the UTV race, featuring both the SR1 and Unlimited UTV classes. Starting from the outside of row one, it was local driver Corry Weller in the #810 Tilted Kilt/Magnaflow Yamaha who shot into the early lead, with Robert Vanbeekum, John Dempsey, Code Rahders, and Ryan Beat close behind. On lap two, Dempsey and Beat each moved up a spot, and with Vanbeekum dropping by the wayside on the following lap, it was now Beat, Rahders, and Dan Kelly in third through fifth. Up front, Weller bicycled badly in turn four, and ended up driving over the outside burm to recover. This allowed both Dempsey and Beat to get by, and by the competition yellow, Rahders and Doug Mittag had done so as well. As the field stacked up behind the Toyota Tundra pace truck, it was Dempsey in the #855 Custom Off Road Design/Monster Energy Kawasaki, Beat in the #851 Hart and Huntington/Black Rhino Kawasaki, Rahders in the #816 SuperChips/K&N Yamaha, Mittag in the #848 Gear One/Long Travel Industries Kawasaki, and Weller in the top five. On the restart lap, Beat got the lead from Dempsey, with Mittag also moving up to take over third place. Kelly was now fourth in the #824 OffRoadMagnet.com/Xtreme Machine and Fabrication Kawasaki, and Rahders had dropped back to fifth. Rahders moved up on the next lap, though, as did Weller, as both drivers got by Kelly to take over fourth and fifth. On the final lap, however, Rahders went by the wayside, while up front, it was Beat who was clear of the field as he picked up his third straight SR1 and overall win. Second in SR1 and overall was Dempsey, and rounding out the SR1 podium was Mittag. Chad George had a great recovery from an early issue, and got the Unlimited UTV win in his #1 Monster Energy/King Off Road Racing Shocks Kawasaki with a last lap pass on Tyler Winbury. Winbury finished second in Unlimited UTV in his #694 Magnum Off Road/Funco Kawasaki, and Hans Waage was third in his #623 Dragonfire Racing/Earnhardt Toyota Kawasaki.
Limited Buggy
Bryan Freeman filled in for Bruce Fraley in the #312 Race Fuel Energy Drink/Wik's Racing Engines Fraley today, and it didn't take him long to get right into the rhythm of short course once again. Freeman grabbed the early lead over Curt Geer, Dave Mason, Bradley Morris, and John Fitzgerald, and held the top spot in the opening few laps. A full course caution was then thrown to allow course workers to clear a Lindsay Geiser and Jeff Knupp, whose cars were locked together at the entrance to turn six. Once they were set loose and the green flag was again out, Freeman resumed the race in the lead, with Mason second in the #365 B&R Buggie/BFGoodrich Tires AlumiCraft, Morris third in the #304 Lucas Oil/K&N AlumiCraft, Geer fourth in the #385 Gatorwraps.com/Vleet.com Lothringer, and Fitzgerald fifth in the #314 Aero Motorsports/Simpson buggy. The top five held their positions through the competition yellow, and after the restart, only Mason was able to stay within striking distance of Freeman. Unfortunately for Mason, he was up against one of the all-time greats in this class, and Freeman drove flawlessly to get the win, ahead of Mason, Morris, Geer, and Fitzgerald. On the podium, Freeman said he was happy to see the next generation of drivers giving him a close run, and added that these young drivers (i.e. Mason and Morris) would "do our sport proud."
Pro Buggy Unlimited
Local driver Rich Ronco started from the pole position after a six-position inversion of the qualifying results, and led the field in his #99 Yokohama/FK Rod Ends Tatum after the opening lap. Cody Freeman ran second in his #2 Race Fuel Energy Drink/Freeman's Carpet Service Racer, with Steven Greinke third in the #23 SC Fuels/Redline Performance Racer, Justin Davis fourth in the #85 General Tire/Jamar Racer, and Justin "Bean" Smith fifth in his #19 Competitive Metals/MasterCraft Safety AlumiCraft. A spin in turn four forced Davis to wait for the whole field to pass him before he could safely re-join the action on lap two, and shortly afterwards, a big mid-air collision resulted in a crash for Freeman as he landed off the jump out of turn three. This forced officials to throw a full course yellow, and as the field bunched up behind the pace truck, Ronco pulled into the hot pits, handing the lead to Greinke. Once Freeman's wreck was cleared, racing resumed, and it was Porter who had a great restart, moving past Doug Fortin and into third place. On the same lap, Smith went wide at turn four, dropping him back two spots to fourth. At the competition yellow, Greinke still led, with Porter second, Fortin third in the #96 Fortin Racing, Inc./Fox Racing Shox Racer, Smith fourth, and Brandon Bailey fifth in the #17 Stronghold Motorsports/LAMB Energy AlumiCraft. On the restart lap, Smith dove way inside in turn four, and managed to get enough of a run on Fortin to muscle his way by in turn five. On the next lap, Smith again moved up, making a great inside move on Porter to take over second at turn five. Smoke was coming out in little puffs from the back of Smith's buggy, but it was Greinke who suddenly pulled off the track and out of the race, handing the lead to Smith. From there, Smith went unchallenged, and picked up his third win of the season. Points leader Porter took second in his #8 Redline Performance/Mickey Thompson AlumiCraft, with Fortin third, Bailey fourth, and Ronco rounding out the top five.
Pro 4 Unlimited
After Opening Ceremonies, racing resumed with Pro 4 Unlimited. Adrian Cenni grabbed the early lead in his #11 Atrium Payroll/4 Wheel Parts truck, with Kyle LeDuc second in the #99 Rockstar/Makita Ford, Rick Huseman third in the #36 Monster Energy/E3 Spark Plugs Toyota, Greg Adler (again filling in for the injured Travis Coyne) fourth in the #5 ProComp/Team Associated Ford, and Carl Renezeder fifth in the #17 Lucas Oil/General Tire Ford. Renezeder dove inside of Adler in turn four, and made the move stick to take over fourth on lap two. On the following lap, LeDuc got a good drive out of the same corner, and used it to pull past Cenni and into the lead. Laps later, Cenni then went wide coming into turn three, and with a little tire rubbing, Huseman got by on the inside to take over second spot. Renezeder was the next to have a race with Cenni, and after really putting the pressure on The Wildman, Renezeder got into Cenni's right rear and helped him off the track coming out of turn four. Renezeder moved up to third, while Cenni was down to fourth, and at the competition yellow, it was LeDuc, Huseman, Renezeder, Cenni, and Adler in the top five. LeDuc was driving fantastically, and Huseman hadn't made an inch into LeDuc's sizeable lead thus far. After the restart, that storyline wasn't changing, as LeDuc continued to blaze the trail up front, keeping the hard chargers Huseman and Renezeder at bay. Behind them, Cenni then slowed substantially, and though he was able to keep going, he was no match for those who could still run at full speed. This moved Adler to fourth and Jerry Daugherty to fifth in the #23 Magnaflow Exhaust Products/Tuff Country EZ-Ride Suspension Chevrolet. Todd LeDuc then got that fifth spot away from Daugherty, as he moved by in the #4 Rockstar/Makita Ford after serving a black flag penalty for contact with Josh Merrell. Up front, Huseman hadn't been looking quite right, and as his truck came to the end of the moguls, his truck simply plowed straight ahead coming into turn four. Huseman lost control and spun, dropping him to third, too far behind Renezeder to have a chance of catching him before the finish. Kyle LeDuc stayed clear of all the carnage behind, and picked up a great win, his third of the season. Second went to Renezeder, third to Huseman, fourth to Adler, and fifth to Todd LeDuc.
Super Lite
After a disastrous weekend at Glen Helen, RJ Anderson turned things right around by jumping into the early lead in Super Lite in his #37 Dethrone Racing/Goodyear truck. Behind Anderson, it was Brent Fouch in the #21 Forgiven Energy/McKenzie's machine, Patrick Clark in the #25 BFGoodrich Tires/Method Race Wheels entry, Chad George in the #42 Kawasaki/Lazerstar LX LED truck, and Jessie Johnson in the #15 Lowe's/MasterCraft Safety machine. Ryan Hagy then moved up to fifth in his #0X Metal Mulisha/Valli Construction Inc. entry on lap two, while up front, Anderson was quickly pulling away. The top five stayed in order through the competition yellow, and at that point, their running order was Anderson, Fouch, Clark, George, and Hagy. After the restart, George finally got by Clark after several laps of trying, while Hagy went wide out of turn three, which caused him to hit the outside wall and lose his fifth spot to Sheldon Creed (Hagy was able to continue at full speed). Anderson was again in the clear out front, but a great race was going on for second between Fouch, George, and Clark, and after Fouch bobbled coming out of turn six, his two rivals got by and into second and third. From there on in, the running order in the top five went unchanged, and it was Anderson getting back where he belongs with another fine win, ahead of George and Clark on the podium. Fourth went to Fouch, and Creed's first venture into the full-size vehicle ranks paid off well, as he scored a fifth place in his #74 A.M. Ortega/Fox Racing Shox truck.
Pro Lite Unlimited
In the penultimate race of the day, it was Brian Deegan who took the lead after lap one in Pro Lite Unlimited. Behind Deegan's #38 Lucas Oil/Metal Mulisha Ford, it was Corey Sisler in the #19 AEM Performance Electronics/Method Race Wheels Ford, Rodrigo Ampudia in his #36 Papas & Beer/Lucas Oil Ford, Chris Brandt in the #82 Aero Motorsports/BFGoodrich Tires Toyota, and Casey Currie in his #2 Monster Energy/Magnaflow Performance Exhaust Nissan. On lap three, Austin Kimbrell moved into fifth in his #88 Toyo Tires/Fiberwerx Ford, just ahead of a full course caution, which was thrown after Sean Geiser stopped on track and looked to be somewhat on fire. Once that issue was under control, the green flag was waving again, and although the top five held their positions on the restart lap, Currie then moved back up to fifth on the following lap. One lap later, and it was the shock of the race to see Deegan legitimately passed, as Sisler went down the inside in turn two to take the lead. The top four drivers were in a train, and at the competition yellow, it was Sisler, Deegan, Ampudia, Brandt, and Currie up front. On the restart, Sisler had a great initial jump, and held his lead over Deegan and the rest. Not long afterwards, though, and after looking like he might finally get that elusive first win, his truck stuttered coming out of turn five, and then slowed again in turn six, dropping him down to last place as the field blazed past. Deegan re-gained the lead, and after some brief tense moments of holding off second-placed Ampudia, Deegan pulled a few truck lengths worth of lead, and held on to take his third successive win. Second went to Ampudia, and rounding out the podium was Brandt. A tragic blown engine left Cameron Steele stranded less than a lap from the end, and when his engine went, so did his fourth place. Currie inherited that spot, and was followed to the line by Jimmy Stephensen, who took fifth in his #33 Ironclad Energy/JS Pest Control Nissan.
Pro 2 Unlimited
Fresh off of his Pro Lite Unlimited win, Brian Deegan jumped straight to the front of the pack in the Pro 2 Unlimited race. Behind the #38 Rockstar/Makita Ford, it was Rob MacCachren in the #1 Rockstar/MasterCraft Safety Ford, Carl Renezeder in the #17 Lucas Oil/Team Associated Ford, Robby Woods in the #99 Lucas Slick Mist/General Tire Chevrolet, and Rodrigo Ampudia in the #36 Tecate/Lucas Oil Ford. Ampudia got by Woods for fourth on lap two, with Woods then pulling off and into the hot pits on the same lap (Woods was able to continue, but at a reduced pace). Just one corner later, Renezeder suddenly slowed to a stop; a mechanical issue ended his day, and is a severe hit to his title hopes. The running order in the top five was now Deegan, MacCachren, Ampudia, Jeremy McGrath in the #2 Monster Energy/Toyo Tires Ford, and Robbie Pierce in the #30 Impact/Rockstar Ford. Pierce then over-rotated a bit coming out of turn five, and Greg Adler was able to get by and up to fifth in his #10 4 Wheel Parts/Speed Energy Ford. The top five were now well-spread around the track, and at the competition yellow, it was still Deegan, MacCachren, Ampudia, McGrath, and Adler up front. On the restart lap, Jeff Geiser moved past Adler and into the top five in his #44 Canidae/BulletProofDiesel.com Chevrolet. Up front, the two Rockstar drivers were moving clear of the field, and MacCachren was now starting to bare down on Deegan for the lead. Another battle was also developing, this one over third place, and Ampudia, McGrath, Geiser, and Adler all wanted to take that final step on the podium. Ampudia briefly slowed, dropping him to fifth, and allowing McGrath to get clearly into third, which he then kept quite convincingly. Up front, MacCachren gave it his all to catch Deegan, but just couldn't get there, and a little mistake on the final lap erased any last chance he'd had of getting the win. Deegan led the race for all 18 laps to get his second straight win in the class, and along with three wins in Pro Lite Unlimited and an X Games gold medal, it has certainly been a great two months of racing for "The General." Second went to MacCachren, third to McGrath, fourth to Geiser, and fifth to Rob Naughton in his #54 Stronghold Motorsports/ReadyLift Ford.
That wraps up today's action from here at Speedworld. Join us again tomorrow as Round 12 gets underway, with gates opening to the public at 8:00 am. The first race of the day will be the always-exciting Modified Karts at 8:30 am, and Opening Ceremonies will be at noon. Don't fear the heat; get out and have some fun with us!
About the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series:
The Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series is the evolution of the long standing support of short course racing by Forrest Lucas and Lucas Oil Products. Steeped in the Midwest tradition of short course off road racing infused with a West Coast influence, Lucas Oil Off Road Racing brings intense four wheel door to door action to challenging, fan friendly tracks. Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series: This is Short Course. For more information please visit
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series.
Written by Scott Neth for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series
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