After a long five-month off season, the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, presented by GEICO, is back in action. The 2014 season is here, and after their winter hiatus, our drivers were raring to go, and today, there were plenty of fans to take in the action here at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, AZ. This season has seen a big influx of new and/or returning drivers in the series, as well as the construction of a myriad new race vehicles during the off season, as many drivers are moving up the ranks. Today was the first chance for everyone to see all these drivers and vehicles in one place, and the action did not disappoint!
Modified Kart
There may have been some built-up jitters following the five-month off season, because the start of Modified Kart, the first race of the day, didn’t exactly go smoothly. Pole starter Brock Heger got tagged from behind and rolled over coming out of turn three on the opening lap, and that forced race officials to call for a full restart. The second go around wasn’t much better, as Travis PeCoy nearly spun and had to slow significantly in turn two, leaving Broc Dickerson with nowhere to go. The two collided and had a pretty good little crash, but with both drivers able to continue, the race only went to a brief full course yellow. Racing resumed at the end of lap two, and it was Cole Mamer who had the lead in the #535 Trophy Kart/Simpson machine, ahead of Parker Steele in the #505 Specialty Race Products/Lucas Oil truck, Heger in the #511 Spy/DASA entry, Jeff Hoffman in the #547 Fox Racing Shox/FMF kart, and Conner McMullen in the #588 KCHiLites/Racer X Motorsports entry. McMullen got past Hoffman to move up to fourth early on lap three, and on lap five, Heger got by Steele on the inside at turn four to move into second spot. At the Competition Yellow, Mamer still led the way, with Heger now second, Steele third, McMullen fourth, and Hoffman fifth. After another iffy run at the flag stand (the flagman hadn’t actually been waving the green flag for the restart), the drivers took the real restart well, with Hoffman jumping past McMullen and up to fourth. Two laps later, Brooke Kawell got past McMullen and up to fifth just at the start/finish line, before passing Hoffman for fourth with a good run down the lower line at the either/or section before the end of the same lap. Unfortunately, Kawell then slowed briefly and dropped back several spots, handing fourth and fifth back to Hoffman and McMullen, respectively. On the final lap, there was some battling going on amongst the later runners in the top five, and at the checkers, McMullen had moved up to take fourth, and Darren Hardesty had snagged fifth in his #599 Bilstein Shock Absorbers/Ogio machine. At the head of the field, Mamer was the big winner after leading wire to wire, while Heger and Steele stood on either side of the podium in second and third, respectively.
Pro 2 Unlimited
Following Opening Ceremonies, the first class out on the full-length track was Pro 2 Unlimited. Brian Deegan and Carl Renezeder started on the front row, and after getting the initial lead, Deegan got punted from behind by Bryce Menzies as the field charged into turn four on the opening lap. Deegan spun and dropped well back, and as a result, Menzies was the early leader after lap one in his #7 Red Bull/KMC Wheels Ford. Renezeder ran second in the #17 Lucas Oil/General Tire Nissan, with Greg Adler third in the #10 4 Wheel Parts/Red Kap Ford, Rob MacCachren fourth in the #21 Rockstar/Makita Ford, and Robby Woods fifth in the #99 General Tire/Method Race Wheels Chevrolet. Lap two saw a full course yellow come out after Mike Porter’s truck came to an early stop, and when racing resumed, MacCachren got by Adler going out of turn two to take over third spot. Adler tried to battle back over the next lap or so, but MacCachren ultimately made the pass stick, and just as he’d put Adler firmly behind him, MacCachren pounced again as Renezeder started to lose control while running through the either/or section. MacCachren drove smart to avoid getting collected in the incident, and he swept past and up into second place. Adler then seemed to spin Renezeder at turn four on the next lap, but continued on in third spot, while Renezeder dropped well out of the top five. Seconds later, Woods had a scary moment when he spun on the front straight. Most of the field got by without hitting him, but RJ Anderson didn’t. Anderson did manage to scrub some speed, though, and considering the potential for disaster, the collision was much milder than it could’ve been. Still, Anderson suffered race-ending damage, and Woods made a trip to the Hot Pits, before re-joining the fray at a much-reduced pace. The whole incident brought out a full course yellow, and when racing resumed at the end of lap eight, it was now Menzies, MacCachren, Adler, Deegan in the #38 Rockstar/Makita Ford, and Marty Hart in the #15 ReadyLift/Maxxis Ford in the top five.
On the restart lap, Deegan ran wide at turn three and dropped back to fifth, but got back up to fourth by lap’s end, before getting by Adler in turn three for third on the next lap. Meanwhile, Menzies and MacCachren were starting to check out up front, but just as the battle between these two was starting to look good, Menzies suddenly slowed out of turn five on lap 12, and by turn one on the following lap, Menzies’ race was over. This forced a full course caution, and once Menzies’ truck was cleared from the track, it was MacCachren who led Deegan, Adler, Hart, and Myan Spaccarelli in the top five as the race resumed. On the restart lap, Renezeder got back inside the top five after passing Spaccarelli early on, and two laps later, he picked off Hart going into turn four to move into fourth spot. Up front, MacCachren and Deegan were starting to leave the rest of the field behind, but no real race emerged between the two, as both looked to be running on rails. MacCachren picked up the win, starting his championship defense in fine form, with Deegan taking second, Adler third, Renezeder fourth, and Hart fifth.
Pro Buggy Unlimited
Next up were the Pro Buggy Unlimiteds, and a huge field of open-wheelers took to the field today, headed on the front row (after a four-spot inversion of the qualifying results) by cousins Garrett and Chad George. After an initial botched start, the restart went better, and Chad moved out to the lead in his #42 King Off-Road Racing Shocks/ASL Builders, Inc. Funco. Garrett assumed second in the #71 Anenberg/Mickey Thompson Funco, with Bradley Morris third in the #24 Maxxis/K&N Alumi Craft, Steven Greinke fourth in the #1 SC Fuels/Fortin Racing, Inc. Racer, and Randy Minnier fifth in the #59 Bay City Electric Works/Leviton Alumi Craft. The top five held their positions over the first three laps, but on lap four, leader Chad slowed going into turn four after missing a shift, and that allowed Garrett to sneak by and open up a little lead before his cousin could get back up to speed in second spot. Two laps later, Morris slowed going through and out of turn three; he was now running without second gear. Morris dropped to fifth place, and Minnier leapfrogged Greinke to move up to third as the two scrambled to miss hitting Morris. Morris dropped another spot to sixth after Dave Mason got by him on the next lap in his #65 Loan Mart/VP Racing Fuels Alumi Craft. Up front, Chad very gradually reeled his cousin back in over the course of several laps, and by lap 12, he was right on Garrett’s back bumper. Just as things were heating up, though, a full course caution was thrown after Eric Fitch came to a stop out on track. When racing resumed, Garrett and Chad continued to lead the way, with Greinke back up to third, Minnier fourth, and Mason fifth. Mason got by Minnier on the outside out of turn two on the restart lap, but then dropped two spots to sixth with a bad run along the high line in the either/or section; this put Morris back in the top five. On the final lap, Greinke spun at turn three, and both Minnier and Mason were caught out as well. Greinke suffered race-ending damage from the resulting collision, and both Minnier and Mason fell out of the top five. Up front, Garrett George broke a long streak of “close but no cigar” runs, as he picked up his first career win- congratulations Garrett! Chad George gave the family a one-two finish today by picking up second, while Morris rounded out the podium in third. Robb Harvey was fourth in the #18 BFGoodrich Tires/Dirt Skins Alumi Craft, and fifth went to Larry Job in the #7 MavTV/Toyo Tires Alumi Craft.
Pro Lite Unlimited
With a big influx of young drivers coming up from the kart ranks this season, the veterans of Pro Lite Unlimited will have their hands full this season. Today, defending class champion Brian Deegan started alongside one of these young guns, two-time defending Modified Kart champion Myles Cheek, on the front row, and it was Deegan who led Cheek, Ryan Beat, Sheldon Creed, and RJ Anderson at the end of lap one. Beat dropped back out of the top five after getting caught out by a collision on lap two, and this allowed Creed to move up to third, Anderson to fourth, and Kyle Hart to fifth. Surprisingly, the top five then held their positions over the next seven laps. Hart challenged Anderson hard on laps six and seven, and quite impressively, Cheek was really putting the pressure on Deegan on lap nine, but neither Hart nor Cheek was able to make a pass. Mike Lawrence came to a stop up in turn two on lap nine, which forced a full course caution, and when racing resumed, it was still Deegan in the #38 Rockstar/Makita Ford out front, Cheek second in the #57 ThyssenKrupp Materials NA/Alpinestars Nissan, Anderson third in the #37 Loan Mart/BFGoodrich Tires Nissan, Creed fourth in the #74 Traxxas/Trench Shoring Dodge, and Hart fifth in the #41 ReadyLift Off Road Suspension/Kolpin Dodge. On the restart lap, Anderson got by Creed coming out of turn two to pick up third spot, and on the following lap, Bradley Morris moved up to fifth after passing Hart. On lap 14, Cheek was really dogging Deegan for the lead once again, but again, a full course caution put that challenge on hold after Lawrence had rolled over in turn four. When racing resumed, a green-white-checkers had been called for by race officials, leaving Cheek just two laps to make something happen in his bid for the win. Deegan, however, is a master of defensive driving, and he drove perfectly to hold the lead to the checkers, picking up the win to start his title defense off right. Cheek was very strong in second, and did set the fast lap of race along the way, while Creed picked up the final spot on the podium with a third place finish. Fourth went to Anderson, and Morris was fifth in the #24 K&N/Kicker Ford.
Pro 4 Unlimited
The final race of the afternoon was Pro 4 Unlimited, and with a stacked field of speedy drivers in the category this season, this could very well be the most competitive class of the series this year. The start to this one was a bit scary, as Todd LeDuc broke in the first corner after starting on the front row. As he rolled through the corner and onto the next straight while trying to hold his line and be predictable (so that the rest of the field could more safely get past him), several near-collisions were avoided, including one in which Rob MacCachren came off the jump out of turn one and appeared to go right over the top of LeDuc! Luckily, LeDuc escaped the early breakage safely, and up front, Greg Adler grabbed the early lead in his #10 ProComp/G2 Ford, ahead of Ricky Johnson, Kyle LeDuc, MacCachren, and Eric Barron. On lap three, Kyle LeDuc got by Johnson between turns two and three, and moved his #99 Monster Energy/Toyo Tires Ford up to second spot in the process. The end of that lap saw a full course caution, and when racing resumed, the drivers in the top five held their positions on the restart lap. On lap six, Carl Renezeder forced Barron wide at turn two to move into fifth spot in the #1 Lucas Oil/General Tire Nissan, and on the following lap, Adler bicycled at turn three and dropped back several positions, losing the lead to LeDuc in the process. Seconds later, Johnson made an uncharacteristic error when he caught an outside edge while running the low line in the either/or section. In a weird incident, Johnson spiraled over and rolled, with Renezeder then spinning out up in the high line right behind him. Both drivers were able to continue, but a full course caution came out before racing resumed for everyone. When the green flag came back out, it was now LeDuc out front, with MacCachren second in the #21 Rockstar/Makita Ford, Brandon Bailey third in the #72 MavTV/Stronghold Motorsports Ford, Barron fourth in his #32 LAT Racing Oils/Mickey Thompson Toyota, and Corry Weller fifth in her #18 Optima Batteries/Airaid Ford. Adler got by Weller and back into the top five on the restart lap, and on the next lap, Bailey lost control coming through the either/or section, as he was forced to drop off the low line and down onto the kart track. Bailey came back on track in sixth, and his mistake moved Barron up to third, Adler to fourth, and Johnson to fifth. Johnson rounded up Adler two laps later, and on lap fourteen, Barron got by MacCachren to take over second. MacCachren was starting to look a bit off the pace, and Johnson got by him on lap 17 to move up to third, but from there, the top five drivers held their positions. Up front, Kyle LeDuc was the big winner, ahead of Barron, Johnson in the #48 Red Bull/Discount Tire Ford, MacCachren, and Adler.
That wraps up the action from Chandler for today. Check in again tomorrow, as Round 2 closes out our opening weekend of action for the 2014 season. Getting the season started in a positive direction is crucial, and while those who’ve done so in Round 1 will certainly wish to continue that trend tomorrow, those who had a bad day today will perhaps be hungriest of all for success on Sunday. Join us then to find out how it will all play out!