Lucas Oil Regional Series Round 2 & 3
April 2-3 2016
The Rockstar Energy / Polaris UTV Wolfpack went into the Lucas oil regional series rounds 2-3 at Lake Elsinore Motocross park, CA for a double header weekend.
Click here for Lake Elsinore Rounds 2 & 3 - UTV Wolfpack video.
Wolfpack Drivers: Jeremy Merrell #677 racing the Polaris RZR Turbo in the unlimited UTV class. Jason Merrell #918 and UFC fighter Josh Koscheck #997 racing Polaris RZR 1000 in the production.
Wolfpack would like to welcome the newest member UFC Fighter Josh Koscheck to the wolfpack team. Koscheck has intensity of lion, work ethic of beast and determination of a soldier. In his own words he describes his experience joining the Wolfpack team and racing a Polaris RZR in the Lucas Oil Regional series for the first time.
Wolfpack Driver: Josh Koscheck #997 racing the Rockstar Energy 2015 Polaris RZR XP1000 in the production class.
"My New Career ? My name is Josh Koscheck and I have always wanted to get involved in off-road UTV racing and had no clue how.. That was until I met the UTV Wolf Pack Crew!
I started with a stock 2015 RZR and turned it into a short course UTV car.
We started here: My first Project in the racing world. I loaded this pig up in a Uhaul and drive to Southern California to visit with my new teammates and my guidance counselors (utv wolfpack).
So the first day of class is started and boy I didn't have a clue as to how this was going to turn out. Was I going to get beat up? Picked on? Would the girls like me? No clue! Fish out of water!
Let the work began: adding the cage and a bed delete. Bye bye bed. It's starting to take shape! Schools in session, UTV Wolf Pack shop was packed this day!
So I work with the guys until aboutv11:30vpm on my first day of school and I am starting to realize this is going to be a fun journey. The funny thing about my first day of school was we had to pack #997 back in the a little uhaul and drive 5 hours back to Fresno. Haha so we start packing up and to get the 997 into the Uhaul with the cage we just installed we had to let the air out of the tires! A+ for creativity and C- for Math.
Next stop FresNO!
Looking good with flat tires and broken motor mounts. 1 week until my race debut.
with so many parts to order.
My parts list: UTVWolfPack cage,A- Arms, bed delete, and sweat equity
1 @trinity_racing - exhaust
2 @gmzraceproducts - wheels and tires
3
@utvwolfpack cage,A- Arms, bed delete, and sweat equity
4 @walkerevansracing - Shocks
5
@RuggedRadios - radios
6 @bell_powersports - helmet
7 @ims_metals - cage
So stuck in fresNO with amateurs tools and only one class under my belt I start working and ordering parts.
My UTV shop for a couple of days. So I spend a couple of night with tons of UTV parts, YouTube videos and start working. The night before the leaving for my first race I pull a 4:30 am'er.
Next stop loaded up and ready for the 5 hour drive to Lake Elsinore, CA for rounds 2 & 3 of Lucas-oil regional off-road series.
Pressure was on with a bunch of work to do until once I get to the track before qualifying at 10:30 AM.
One thing I am starting to realize about my new founded racing career is that it's expensive and I better not plan on getting sleep leading up to the races because of pulling all nighters working on the car. With a couple of house of sleep and lots of parts to install we wake up to this: #997 looking alive!
@gmzraceproducts putting new shoes on the #997
Sexy!!!!!! Fast!!!!! And ready to race!!!!! So I thought!?!?!?
I go over an do mandatory Tech and the #997 car fails because of the seat was loose.
at this point I am like shittttttttt I did all this work and drove 5 hours I am going to figure this out and install a new seat. So my man Justin Davis (R) Air Force vet was these to save the day. We start fabricating new seat mounts at the track. At this point I am not able to qualify for round (2) so they start me dead lastgreat my first race and I start dead last. Well I looked at it positive and said I can't do any worse then dead last so if I make a couple of passes we are positive. Justin and I get the seat in just in time and pass tech. So we are racing round (2)
Round (2) - will be the first time driving on a track with 27 other UTV's. Lots of first time: 1st race,1st time on the track & 1st time in the car. We start dead last and I move up from last place and finish my first race in 18th keeping it on all 4 wheels, I am feeling not a bad debut for all the stuff that went wrong but I wasn't happy about placing 18th.
So we go back to the pits and I needed to make some changes to my car it just didn't feel right for me. I felt I was way to far back in my "NEWLY mounted seat which was causing me to drive with my arms and not my body. Fixed a couple more small parts and rested up for round (3) on Sunday.
Sunday round (3) read to qualify by running my (5) times laps! I got over to the track nice and early feeling pumped for another chance to run.
Ready to inter the track for qualifying and the tech guy says he can't let me on the track because I failed! I didn't have my neck harness on correctly. At this point I am thinking wow not again dead last. So the production 1000's are on the track for qualifying and here I am sitting back at the shop awaiting the shop guy to install a neck device to my bell helmet. Amazingly he installs the device in minutes and I rip back to the track in my UTV and get to make (3) of the (5) laps. I am thinking hell ya I might have a chance to not start last… Haha wow was I dead wrong about that one. The qualifying times come back and I am looking for my name to be high on the list. Haha no chance dead last again. Well here we go again!!!
Round (3) starting gate everything is ready.
Seal..check
Neck harness..check
Everything I could think of..check..check
I get to the track super early..check..check
I am ready even though I am starting dead last I am pumped because I didn't have anything crazy come up yet... Ok so I am seated dead last ready to race! It's go time (12) laps
Green flags we are racing. My spotter (Justin Davis) is giving me some crazy good directions on the track and we are moving along fast.
At one point (Justin) says go low, go low, go low… Because I almost get taking out by
@georgehammel Pictured below:
I had a nice front row seat for this one…
Note: My qualifying times where a (103.20) and running these time in the main event would get me lapped by everyone on the track. The fastest lap time was like (54.00) by Jeremy Merrell with
UTVWolfPack.com.
Back to green flag racing. We are flying and I am making some moves towards the front. Remember I started 21st and felt like I was moving forward fast. Throughout the course of the race there where a couple of other pretty rad crashes but everyone walked away fine. We are coming to down to the Final couple laps and I am getting the hang of this whole driving thing. I drifting around the turns and my spotter (Justin) keep talking me through the track on the
@RuggedRadios telling me to put the pedal to the metal. The white flag is flying and I feel like I need to get a couple more passes. On the last lap I get 2 more passes and finish the race. At this point I am hoping for a top (10) finish.
We go back to the pit and wait for the results…
Results (11th) place and my best lap time (58.889 )Packed up and ready for the trip back to fresNO. I hope you enjoyed my first Adventure into the UTV racing world. I am hooked and ready for the next race. Very special thank you to
@utvwolfpack @checkdefense and
@oakgrovetech"The Pack Sticks Together" KOS #997 Thank you", -Josh Koscheck
Wolfpack Driver: Jeremy Merrell #677 racing the Rockstar Energy 2016 Polaris RZR XP1000 Turbo in the unlimited class.
In the Lucas Regional Series UTV Production and UTV Unlimited are typically separate races; Lucas decided to combine these classes together into one main event loading up with field with over 26 drivers on the track. Production 1000 starting up front and Unlimited starting in the back of the pack!
Driver Jeremy Merrell would set fastest lap time (56.612) during qualifying, he would still have to fight his way through the crowd since unlimited starts in the back behind production 1000.
"I felt really good going into the race weekend my Polaris RZR was superfast, Walker Evans shocks were soaking up the jumps and GMZ tires were hooking up on the slippery track" - Jeremy Merrell
Saturday's race round 2 Jeremy Merrell green flag drops and the #677 UTV dodges his way through the carnage of carts flipping and quickly moved into the 1st place position in the unlimited class he would start picking off the production 1000 drivers one by one making it from the back up to the 6th place position overall. In the last few laps the #977 would lose both rear axles and have to limp the car to the finish line dropping him back to 4th position for a finish.
Sundays race round 3 Jeremy Merrell #677 would have similar luck going from leading the race to having some steering issues, while moving over traffic he would suffer a broken rear axle from another driver running into the rear of his vehicle. Jeremy decided to save the car and fall back to drive conservative and get points placing finishing him in 5th place and 2nd place for championship points.
"Unfortunately had case of bad luck over the weekend but overall my Polaris RZR is extremely fast and know we can go to the shop fix some minor issues and come back stronger. I really appreciate all the support from my sponsors and want to get the Rockstar machine on the top of the box." -Jeremy Merrell
Wolfpack Driver: Jason Merrell #918 racing the Rockstar Energy 2015 Polaris RZR XP1000 in the production class.
The #918 UTV of Jason Merrell was under powered at round 1, after a year of hard racing the Wolfpack crew decided to freshen up the motor. The only problem was round 2-3 were only two weeks away. The #918 Polaris RZR was finished late Thursday afternoon and back at the Wolfpack headquarters 1am that evening. Which gave little time to prep and make it difficult to get to the track, barely missing practice by 15 mins. Still working on the car Saturday the #918 would not make qualifying, Jason would have to go straight into the race starting in last position.
When the green flag dropped The #918 went full force and made some clean passes. Jason had to make his way through the pack of cars flipping and sliding all over the place.
By the time the mandatory caution came out The #918 Rockstar Energy Backed Polaris Rzr made its way to the 12th position.
Jason knew that he had to make some serious time to get in the front. When the green flag dropped again it was a push to make as many passes as possible. Jason made some moves to get him into the 9th position and then down to 6th.
A few mistakes from other drivers flipping in front of Jason had him drop back 3 spots and finish in 9th for day one of a 2 round weekend.
Sunday was a great day the car felt really good and Randy from Walker Evans Dialed in the shocks on my Polaris Rzr. The shocks were set up the best they have been. The day was hot and dry so we set the car up for a dry track.
Unfortunately they laid some heavy water and we did not get a great qualifier starting back in 13th place. When the Main Race came it was all about getting past some cars and making great time. The green flag drop and Jason shot past 4 cars on the first turn. Coming into the ski jump we had cars on each side of us, over 15 UTV's flying in the air at the same time.
This resulted in one car flipping with cars getting stacked up in the mess. Because of this we had to do a complete restart. So they stacked the cars back together and everybody had to go back to the starting positions. Once again the green flag came quick and Jason Merrell had to make some moves to get towards the front. As the race moved forward Jason did as well making some great moves he was able to slowly move towards the front. Passing cars as each lap went down he was able to get all the way up to 7th place finish from a 13th start position.
"The car felt great and I know we can improve on this Polaris RZR. We have some time to really spend on prepping the RZR and will be ready for round 4".
- Jason Merrell #918
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