Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series June 27-28 - Lake Elsinsore, CA

SATURDAY ROUND 5

HE HEAT IS ON AND THE STREAK IS GONE!
Hot Weather and a Hometown Hero Greet the Fans for Round 5

With the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by Geico Powersports making its debut at the Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex here in Lake Elsinore, CA, the story of the day was most certainly the impressive toppling of previously unbeaten Unlimited Lite driver Robert Naughton. To see his streak of race wins come to an end at four certainly amazing, but to have it broken by hometown hero Brian Deegan was nothing short of inspiring. The crowd endured hot and humid conditions to see the Lake Elsinore native, along with all the other stars of short course off-road racing, as they all took to the track for an action-packed day of racing.

Modified Karts
With an overflowing field of hungry drivers, the action in the Modified Kart division was some of the best seen in this division so far this season. #550 Connor Hart and #522 Sheldon Creed started on the front row, and these two, along with #555 JR Guthrie, #572 Robby Melton and #524 Mitchell DeJong took the first five spots in the early going. Hart began to pull away early, until a multi-roll crash brought out a full-course yellow. Once racing resumed, Hart maintained his lead, though the competition behind was sticking closer. Shortly afterwards, multiple crashes helped bring out a second full-course yellow, and a green-white-checkers finish was called for. Racing resumed with Hart still out in front, and between the drop of the green and the drop of the checkers, the order basically stayed the same, with only the #565 of Dave Mason hitting trouble when he pulled off the track from fourth position on the last lap. Hart had the field covered through the entire race, and took the win in his HRT Motorsports kart. Second went to Creed in his The Fab School kart, followed by the BME Motorsports/K&N kart of Morris. DeJong ended up in fourth place, and Guthrie rounded out the top five.

Junior 1 Karts
The invasion of new, younger drivers continues, and the kart classes have become the training grounds for those who will certainly drive the full-size race trucks and buggies some day.. Having just climbed out of his Modified Kart, young rising star Sheldon Creed jumped into his #214 kart, and into the early lead here, ahead of #212 Brock Heger, #272 Jack Grabowski, #264 Parker Porter, and #251 Eddie Tafoya Jr. The race then remained fairly uneventful for a few laps, until Grabowski got into and on top of #254 Isabella Naughton, who the leaders were starting to put a lap down. Parents breathed a collective sigh of relief as both kids were ok and racing continued, though Naughton was now out of the race. From there, the only major change was a move by #205 Shelby Anderson into fourth place, ahead of Tafoya Jr. Creed ultimately took the win in his Team Associated kart, ahead of Heger’s Racer Engineering kart. The third and final step on the podium went to Porter in his Redline machine, while fourth and fifth went to Anderson and Tafoya Jr., respectively.

Junior 2 Karts
In the Junior 2 kart division, it was #425 Trent Williams who jumped out to an early lead, ahead of a tightly-grouped three-kart battle up front. Close behind were the #429 of Troy French and the #477 of Jerett Brooks, while #404 Bradley Morris and #472 Parker Grabowski were a bit further back in fourth and fifth places. Despite having small engines, these karts still moved quickly through the rhythm section, where Brooks moved past French and into second place. Brooks then used a great outside-inside pass on Williams to take the lead. Woes then continued for Williams, who got out of shape on track shortly after losing the lead, and ended up losing second place to French. Williams collected himself and re-took second, where he and his Victory Race Cars kart stayed through the end of the race. Brooks was the eventual winner in his Synergy Electric kart. Third went to French, fourth to Grabowski, and rounding out the top five was Morris.

UTV
At the beginning of the UTV race, it was the Walker Evans Racing Wheels Polaris of RJ Anderson who took the early lead. Close behind was Robert Vanbeekum, followed by Austin Kimbrell and Tyler Winbury. All four had opened a big gap on the rest of the field, and the only other driver really moving was the #624 Funco Kawasaki of Chad George, who was picking of drivers left and right after starting dead last thanks to his mechanical woes in yesterday’s qualifying session. Up front, Kimbrell moved into second as the rest of the field started to string out. The competition yellow brought the drivers all back together, and after green was shown again, the pressure of leading finally seemed to get to young RJ Anderson, who was passed by Kimbrell, then Vanbeekum, then Winbury and George when Anderson spun out near turn 2. Up front, #607 Kimbrell checked out, leaving the real action to the last lap battle between Funco teammates Winbury and George for the final step on the podium. These two passed each other several times, but it was George who was ahead of his teammate when it counted, as he ultimately took third behind Kimbrell and Vanbeekum. Fourth was Winbury, and Anderson managed to hold together well enough to pick up a fifth place finish.

Unlimited 2
As has been the case in so many previous days of competition during his career, today was all about winning for Carl Renezeder. After taking the pole in both Unlimited 2 and Unlimited 4 yesterday, Renezeder hoped to translate those quick laps into race wins here today. A clean getaway was had by all at the drop of the green flag, and it was the surprisingly quick E3 Spark Plugs Chevrolet of Kevin Probst who jumped out to an early lead, ahead of Renezeder, round 4 winner Bryce Menzies, Greg Adler, and Mike Johnson. After battling to hold on to second place ahead of Menzies’ Super Clean Ford, Renezeder managed to get by an impressive Probst and take the lead. Menzies also got by Probst, thanks to a huge jump off the second tabletop jump on the back straightaway which helped him land next to Probst and muscle his way by. As the competition yellow came out, it was Renezeder, Menzies, Probst, Adler, and Jerry Whelchel in the top five. Adler used the restart to move his 4 Wheel Parts Ford up to third, while in a less fortunate moment, Menzies pulled off the track and out of the race. With certainly the biggest wreck of the day, Rodrigo Ampudia flipped his truck end over end on the main straightaway, rendering it undriveable for tomorrow, and bringing out a full course caution. As the green flew and the now-implemented green-white-checkers finish was being utilized, Whelchel got into Probst hard, taking Probst out of the race. This moved Whelchel up to third, and allowed Jeff Ward and Scott Schovajsa into the top five. Up front it was all Carl Renezeder, who put his Lucas Oil/Team Associated Ford in the winner’s circle for the 82nd time in his career. Second was Adler, followed by Whelchel’s Dragonfire Racing Ford, Ward’s Speed Technologies truck, and Schovajsa’s S&S Construction truck.

Limited Buggy
In the Limited Buggy division, fast qualifier Sean Geiser was hoping that a six position inversion wouldn’t be enough to keep him out of the winner’s circle. In the early going, it was Sean Kennedy jumping into the lead in his Lucas Oil buggy, ahead of John Fitzgerald, Bryce Menzies, Geiser, and Tim Pangborn. Menzies was able to move up and take the lead, with Geiser following closely in second before an rear end collision that took out Rino Navera brought out a full-course yellow. Once racing resumed, two great battles ensued, with Menzies and Geiser swapping the lead while Fitzgerald and Bruce Fraley fought over fourth place. Geiser eventually won the battle up front, taking the lead for good and pulling away from the field to take the win. Menzies pulled off the track in the very late running, allowing Pangborn, who’d been in third, to move one step higher on the podium. Third went to Fraley, who won his battle with Fitzgerald, with Fitzgerald having to settle for fourth. Rounding out the top five was Rick Boyer.

Unlimited Buggy
The proven winners of the Unlimited Buggy division might not have taken the top spots in yesterday’s qualifying session, but the race is all that really counts, and that’s where it all came good for one of this season’s previous winners. #907 Larry Job got a great start, and jumped into the early lead, ahead of #957 Chuck Cheek, #904 Mike Halliday, #998 Mike Dondel, and #978 Malcolm Pointon. Halliday and Dondel both moved up one spot, only to get into one another in turn 3, the result of which was much worse for Dondel than it was for Halliday. Dondel fell well back, while Halliday moved close to leader Job, and these two started to pull away from the field in a close race for the lead. These two remained in first and second as the competition yellow came out, followed by Cheek, Pointon, and #953 Greg Foster. After the restart, Job landed poorly of a jump and lost the lead to Halliday. These two kept up their close battle for the lead, and Job ended up getting back up front while third place Pointon sat back and waited for just the right time to make his move, which he eventually did to take over second place. As the checkers flew, Job crossed the line first, ahead of Pointon, Halliday, Cheek, and a hard-charging Bobby PeCoy, who moved his #973 into the top five with a hard charge on the final lap.

SuperLite
The drivers in the Mazda rotary engine-powered trucks of the Bully Dog SuperLite series took a while to get their start right, but once they’d done so, the action was off and running. Joey Granatelli jumped out to an early lead, ahead of John Harrah, Chad Leising, Brandon Bailey, and David Reyes. Leising, who’s quickly becoming the hot shoe of this division, quickly moved into second position, which he maintained as a full-course yellow was brought out thanks to Kris Hansen’s rollover in turn 4. On the restart, Leising and Harrah both made jumps to get by Granatelli, and Bailey soon made his way by Granatelli as well, moving up to third position. David Reyes also briefly got by Granatelli, only to fall by the wayside with unknown issues. Up front, Leising and Harrah made it a close race for first, with Leising’s Rockstar/Hart & Huntington truck holding on take top honors ahead of Harrah’s Speed Technologies machine. Third went to Bailey, who was followed by Granatelli and #18 Jason Patison in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Unlimited Lite
In what was certainly the most popular race of the day, a local boy finally brought down Robert Naughton, the only remaining unbeaten driver in this year’s Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. Brian Deegan got a great start from the second row, and moved into the lead on the first lap, ahead of Naughton, the #25 of Heath Carpenter, #82 Chris Brandt, and #15 Marty Hart. Hart then moved ahead of Brandt’s Rockstar Toyota and into fourth, and Brandt then engaged in a close battle with the #36 Papas and Beer Ford of Rodrigo Ampudia. Brandt lost fifth position finally, though Ampudia made three passes into fifth place before he made the move stick. A full-course yellow was brought out when Jose Reyes stopped on track, and Naughton used the re-start to briefly take the lead before relinquishing that spot back to the Lucas Oil/Rockstar Ford of Deegan. The competition yellow flag then came out, with Deegan still out front, ahead of Hart, Naughton, Ampudia, and Carpenter. Once the green came out again, Hart bobbled twice, and did so pretty severely the second time, causing him to fall well back. Deegan also bobbled with under two laps to go, allowing Naughton’s #54 Maxxis Tires Ford to get as close to Deegan as he’d been since briefly taking the lead earlier on. Naughton was giving it everything but he had, but an inspired Deegan was too strong in his #38 machine, and Naughton ended up making a rare mistake in his effort to catch Deegan for the lead, handing second over to Ampudia. Hometown hero Deegan went on to win, ahead of Ampudia and Naughton on the podium, and also ahead of Jimmy Stephenson and Heath Carpenter in fourth and fifth.

Unlimited 4
Carl Renezeder has laid claim to the #1 plate on the side of his Lucas Oil/General Tires Ford in the Unlimited 4 division for one reason: he’s an incredible driver! As the green flag dropped in today’s Unlimited 4 race, Renezeder hac his work cut out for him after falling victim to a six position inversion which made him start from the outside of row three. The #8 XDP Chevrolet of Kent Brascho took the early lead, followed by Jerry Daugherty in the #23 Racin’ Dirty Chevrolet, Tim Herbst in the #18 Terrible Herbst Chevrolet, Alan Pflueger in the #71 K&N Chevrolet, and Renezeder. Pflueger quickly fell by the wayside as he slowed significantly, and Brascho broke something in his rear suspension, thus relinquishing his lead to Renezeder, who’d already worked his way through the rest of the field. By the time the competition yellow came out, Renezeder was still up front, followed by the #5 ProComp Ford of Travis Coyne, Daugherty, Herbst, and #19 Scott Schovajsa, who was the best of the Unlimited 2s. Herbst made a nice jump on the restart and moved into third, which was the only change inside the top three for the rest of the race. In the end Renezeder collected his 83rd career victory, and was followed home by Coyne, Herbst, Daugherty, and Robby Woods, who moved ahead of Schovajsa to finish best of the Unlimited 2s.