Winners earn their trophies in Round 12 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series - Speedway Digest

Round 11 saw some serious shakeups, in terms of results, within the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, presented by GEICO, and tonight, fans were treated to an even better night under the lights. The high-speed track here at Wild West Motorsports Park, just outside Reno, NV, was the perfect venue for some races that seemed to be changing almost by the second. Fans packed the stands near to bursting tonight, and everyone who came was rewarded with beautiful weather that was markedly warmer and calmer than last night’s. The drivers put on a fantastic show, as each of the five class winners put in a drive that was more than worthy of victory here tonight.

Modified Kart

Tonight’s Modified Kart race was a tumultuous one to say the least, as no fewer than 22 trips around the track were needed for the young drivers to get in the full, 12 racing lap distance. Last night’s winner Cole Mamer got out to the lead early in his #535 Simpson/Team Associated kart, with Chris Nunes second in the #502 Steele Racing/Security Race Products machine, points leader Brock Heger third in the #511 Spy/UNI Filters truck, Isabella Naughton fourth in the #554 ReadyLift Off Road Suspension/Trophy Kart entry, and Hailie Deegan fifth in the #538 Dirt Princess/4 Wheel Parts kart. A pile-up that slowed many of the frontrunners at the end of lap one meant that Mamer pulled out a good lead early on, but behind him, the race was on as the rest of the field was dicing it out. Heger got by Nunes to take over second at turn seven on lap two, while just behind, Deegan dropped several spots in the same corner, allowing Brooke Kawell to take over fifth in the #508 Off-Road Vixens Racing/Pro Comp truck. The next lap saw a full course caution come out after Conner McMullen got rolled while exiting turn two, and as the field raced back to the yellow flag, Broc Dickerson passed Kawell to move into fifth. On the restart lap, Dickerson then got by Naughton on the inside at turn six, and that put he and his #523 Walker Evans Racing/DASA machine up to fourth spot. Naughton was passed again on the next lap, this time by Kawell, who got by at turn three to get back inside the top five after running alongside of Naughton for several corners. A big pile-up in turn six then brought out another full course caution, but fortunately, all five drivers remained on their wheels, and were really only hooked together. Once cleared, all five were able to continue, and on the ensuing restart, Heger got by Mamer right away to take over the lead.

The Competition Yellow then flew at the end of the next lap, and as the field re-grouped, it was now Heger, Mamer, Nunes, Dickerson, and Kawell in the top five. These five held their positions on the restart lap, but on lap 13, Nunes was spun by Dickerson at turn six, ending what was easily the strongest run Nunes has had so far. Dickerson moved up to third, Kawell to fourth, and Ronnie Anderson to fifth, with Anderson then getting by Kawell for fourth early on lap 15. On the same lap, Dickerson was then black flagged for his contact with Nunes, and as he also lost control a bit and dropped to seventh spot at turn six on the next lap, he was already out of the top five before he even served his penalty. Anderson now ran in third, with Kawell fourth and Naughton fifth, before yet another full course caution came out following Taylor Wood’s rollover just out of turn four. As the field re-grouped once again, there would be two laps left to run once the track went green again. On the restart, Christopher Polvoorde passed Naughton coming out of turn one, and up front, Mamer had passed Heger back to re-take the lead. Unfortunately for both Mamer and Polvoorde, an issue for Travis PeCoy meant that he was stopped back in turn seven, and the race again went full course yellow. That meant that, under the “last completed lap” rule, both Mamer and Polvoorde had to give their positions back to Heger and Naughton, respectively, and when racing resumed again, neither Mamer nor Polvoorde could duplicate their previous passes. Once underway again, Naughton also managed to get back by Kawell for fourth, while out front, Heger held off a hard-charging Mamer to take his fifth win of the season. Mamer was just behind in second, with Anderson scoring his first national series podium in third in the #520 Walker Evans Racing/South Point kart, Naughton in fourth, and Kawell in fifth.

Pro 4

After transmission issues helped end Kyle LeDuc’s 8-race winning streak in Round 11, everyone was looking to see how he would bounce back here in Round 12. Doug Fortin shot out to the early lead in his #96 General Tire/Tilton Toyota, ahead of Ricky Johnson in the #48 Red Bull/Discount Tire Ford, LeDuc in the #99 Monster Energy/Toyo Tires Ford, Greg Adler in the #10 Pro Comp/4 Wheel Parts Ford, and last night’s winner, Rob MacCachren, in the #21 Rockstar Energy Drink/Makita Power Tools Ford. On lap two, LeDuc out-pulled Johnson up the long hill to turn four, and moved himself up to second in the process. With Fortin now the only driver left in front of him, LeDuc seemed to pick up the pace, but despite making ground between turns one and two, Fortin seemed to be able to get away just a bit everywhere else, especially out of turn three. LeDuc closed in more on lap four, but again, Fortin held the lead, while further back, MacCachren was working hard on Adler for fourth spot. Debris brought out a full course yellow at the end of lap six, and as the field raced back to the yellow, MacCachren got alongside of Adler at the stripe, but was just enough behind to miss out on making the pass. On the restart lap, LeDuc was all over Fortin, and the two traded spots as they went into and out of turn three. Fortin emerged ahead once again, while behind them, MacCachren finally managed to get past Adler for fourth. On the next lap, LeDuc suddenly slowed coming down the hill out of turn one, and with his truck acting similar to the way it had last night, it seemed as though another transmission issue was the culprit. This time, LeDuc was forced to pull off, giving Fortin a bit of breathing room out front. Fortin then got even more of a lead, for as the field came through the next corner, MacCachren got into the back of Johnson and turned him into the right hand barrier coming out of turn two. This brought both drivers to a near-standstill for several seconds, and allowed several other drivers to come through. With Fortin now well out in front, it was now Carl Renezeder running second in the #1 Lucas Oil/General Tire Nissan, with Adler third, Todd LeDuc fourth in the #7 Rockstar Energy Drink/Loan Mart Toyota, and Brandon Bailey fifth in the #72 MavTV/Solar World Ford.

On the next lap, MacCachren re-entered the top five after getting by Bailey, and on the lap after that, a spin at turn two dropped Adler well back. This put Todd LeDuc up to third, with MacCachren now fourth and Bailey fifth, and before long, MacCachren had gotten by LeDuc to move into third spot. On lap 12, Johnson also moved up, as he got by Bailey to take over fifth. Two laps later, Renezeder then started a weird incident, as he seemed to stall out as he started through turn one. With his truck right in the middle of the track, MacCachren slid right up and into him door-to-door, allowing LeDuc to go by them both and up to second spot. MacCachren quickly got moving again, and with a good pull up the hill to turn four, he got back by LeDuc and up to second. Fortin now had a huge lead, and with MacCachren solidly in second, the two best races now were between LeDuc and Johnson for third and between Bailey and for fifth. Johnson was right on LeDuc late on lap 15, and on the next lap, he made the pass to put himself onto the provisional podium. Behind these two, Adler got by Bailey as the two flew over the jump between turns one and two, and while Bailey briefly got back by, Adler had Bailey’s measure tonight, as he got past once again and held Bailey off to the finish. At the head of the field, Fortin was now cruising, and he crossed the line just under ten seconds clear of the pack, taking his first career Pro 4 Unlimited win in dominating fashion- congratulations Doug! MacCachren picked up second and Johnson third, with Todd LeDuc finishing fourth and Adler fifth.

Pro Lite

Following an action-packed Pro 4 Unlimited race, it was now time for the always-exciting Pro Lite Unlimiteds, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. Myles Cheek got the lead straight away in his #57 ThyssenKrupp Motorsports/CMI Nissan, ahead of Kyle Hart, Rob Naughton (who is filling in for Gavin Harlien this weekend), Casey Currie, and Sheldon Creed. Mechanical issues brought Ray Griffith to a halt just out of turn two on the second lap, and that forced a full course caution. On the restart lap, Currie got by Naughton with a nice outside pass at turn one to jump up to third, and after coming oh-so-close to the win last night, it was already apparent that Currie was holding to last night’s podium statement of “we’ll do whatever it takes to get the win tomorrow night.” On the same lap, an odd inside line at turn three cost Naughton a lot of speed, and that allowed Creed to get up and out-pull him up the hill to turn four. However, Naughton recovered with a beautiful outside run around turn two on the following lap, and he passed Creed back in the next corner to re-take fourth spot. Creed got by once again at turn four, and in turn one on the next lap, he got by Hart as well, as Hart slowed briefly coming out of the corner. As those behind scrambled by, Brian Deegan got around Naughton, who didn’t manage to get by Hart, as Hart then got back on the pace once again. However, it was then starting to look like Hart had an issue, as Naughton got by him on the next lap to take over fifth. Up front, Cheek then bicycled up in turn one on lap eight, and that allowed Currie, now running second, to close right in on him and make it a real race for the lead. Seconds later, Deegan made a beautiful mid-air pass on Creed for third over the jump into turn two, a pass that was almost certainly made easier thanks to Creed’s now-deflated right rear tire. Creed’s issue then allowed both Naughton and RJ Anderson to get by on the next lap, and as these two battled hard, Naughton caught Anderson’s rear, which briefly sent a puff of smoke from the back of Anderson’s truck.

Anderson then slowed a bit early on lap 10, and Naughton got back by him to re-take fourth, while up front, the top three drivers were now running quite close together. Behind, Justin Smith now got by Anderson on the run up the hill to turn four to move his #19 Competitive Metals/Deegan 38 Ford up to fifth, just ahead of a full course caution for on-track debris. Under yellow, Anderson pulled off with a broken tie rod, while Creed re-emerged from the Hot Pits, one lap down after having changed his flat tire. The running order was now Cheek, Currie in the #2 Monster Energy/Oakley Jeep, Deegan in the #38 Rockstar Energy Drink/Makita Power Tools Ford, Naughton in the #55 A3/Ironclad Ford, and Smith in the top five, but on the restart, a great drive by Currie got him by Cheek and up to the lead going into turn one. Deegan then passed Cheek in turn two, but Cheek got right back past in turn three, and with Currie absolutely flying up front, the new leader was already starting to get a bit of a gap. On lap 15, Cheek bicycled at turn two, allowing Deegan to get by for second, while just behind, Naughton slowed a bit, dropping him out of the top five. Smith moved up to fourth as a result, and Jimmy Fishback was now in fifth in the #48 AVT Inc./General Tire Nissan. The next lap saw Cheek spin as he started down the hill out of turn four, and he found himself buried in the soft dirt off-track, unable to extricate himself. Things were looking great for the leader Currie, but a suddenly-shredded right rear tire dashed his hopes of a win as the flagman brought out the white flag. Deegan steamed past and into the lead, and Currie eventually dropped to tenth on the final lap, a cruel blow after such a brilliant run tonight. Deegan got the win, with Smith taking second, Fishback third, Jeff Hoffman fourth in the #47 Mickey Thompson/Xtreme Machine & Fabrication Ford, and D.J. Noerr fifth in the #40 K&N/Maxxis Ford. Fishback looked like he’d been in a down-to-the-wire battle with Creed, from which he emerged victorious by a nose, but Creed was actually a lap down after his earlier tire change. Kyle Lucas had been in fifth until the final corner, where a rollover ended his shot at a second consecutive top five finish.

Pro Buggy

In Pro Buggy Unlimited, a six-position inversion of the qualifying results put last night’s winner Eric Fitch on pole, and as he’d done in the last two rounds, he went straight to the front in his #97 Parts On A Shelf/BFGoodrich Tires Racer. Garrett George ran in second, with Sterling Cling third, Chad George fourth, and Randy Minnier fifth. On lap three, Garrett George slowed suddenly coming out of turn one and was forced to pull off and out of the race, and in the next pair of corners, his cousin Chad hit trouble with a sputtering car, and he dropped all the way back to tenth before the car appeared to return to normal operation. This moved Cling up to second in the #77 Cling’s Aerospace/Kyle Green Fabrication Alumi Craft, with Minnier now third in the #59 Bay City Electric Works/Ramtek Alumi Craft, Taylor Atchison fourth in the #30 Skull Canyon Zipline/AMA Plastics Alumi Craft, and Kevin McCullough fifth in the #62 ProAm/Racepak Foddrill. Up front, young Cling was starting to catch Fitch early on lap four, forcing Fitch to look for a bit more pace. Behind these two, Minnier, Atchison, and McCullough were running nose-to-tail by lap seven, and at the end of that lap, McCullough got alongside Atchison coming down the front straight, before getting inside and past going into turn one on the next lap. Atchison then passed McCullough back coming out of turn four on lap nine, but with an inside drive at turn three, McCullough got by Atchison once again on lap 10. Just behind, Steve Greinke had now moved up to get in on the action, and was now right behind Atchison, lurking dangerously. Up front, Fitch was starting to get away from Cling a little, but further back, Greinke was now hounding Atchison for fifth by lap 13. On the final lap, Minnier was balked a bit by a lapped Mike Valentine coming out of turn two, and that allowed McCullough to get up to and past Minnier in the next corner. At the line, Fitch got the win and the sweep of the weekend, and after taking his first career win back in Round 10, he now has three in a row. Second place went to Cling, who scored his first career podium tonight, and the final spot on the podium went to McCullough. Fourth went to Minnier, and rounding out the top five was Atchison.

Pro 2

It was now time for the final race of the weekend, Pro 2 Unlimited. Starting up front after the top six qualifiers had their positions inverted for the starting grid, Patrick Clark had the lead after lap one in his #25 Loan Mart/Maxxis Tires Chevrolet. Bryce Menzies ran second in the #7 Red Bull/KMC Wheels Ford, 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 RJ Anderson fifth in the #37 Polaris RZR/Monster Energy Ford. A crash up in turn four on the opening lap meant that lap two would see a full course caution, but that was cleared before the end of the lap, and racing resumed on lap three. On the restart lap, Rob MacCachren his #21 Rockstar Energy Drink/Makita Power Tools Ford got by Anderson for fifth going into turn one. Up front, Menzies was giving Clark all the pressure he could handle, and as they passed the stripe to start lap four, Menzies was alongside Clark on the right, trying to go past up to turn one. Clark tried to pinch Menzies off, but he’d shut the door too late, and ended up hitting Menzies door-to-door. Clark spun out right in front of Menzies, and ran up against the right hand barrier, leaving him stranded momentarily as most of the field streamed by. All in all, the incident looked scarier than the resulting aftermath, but although Clark was able to get going again rather quickly, race officials had already thrown a full course caution. Menzies now led the way for the restart, ahead of Deegan, Hart, MacCachren, and Anderson. On the restart lap, Anderson got by MacCachren on the inside at turn two, and by the end of the lap, he had gotten up alongside Hart as the two crossed the start/finish line. Hart nosed back ahead into turn one, and in turn two, Anderson’s strong run was then cut short. In that corner, MacCachren bicycled hard, and turned left, into the roll to set himself back down, and all by accident, plowed straight into Anderson. Anderson rolled hard, and while Anderson was able to continue after safety crews righted him, he’d fallen to the back of the pack.

The rest of the field had raced back to the yellow flag, and while it was still Menzies, Deegan, and Hart in the top three, MacCachren was back up to fourth, and Rodrigo Ampudia now sat fifth in the #36 Lucas Oil/Papas & Beer Ford. On the restart lap, Robby Woods got into the back of Ampudia and spun him as the field plowed into turn one, but it was ruled a racing incident, and so Woods was allowed to continue, with Clark now taking over fifth place. Woods then got by Clark on the inside at turn four to move his #99 General Tire/Carlyle by NAPA Chevrolet into fifth, but Clark got back by on the inside at turn one on the next lap. These two were battling fiercely now, and Woods forced Clark wide at turn three to get ahead once again. On lap 12, MacCachren was now really putting the pressure on Hart as he tried to get by and into third spot, while up front, Menzies was starting to pull out a little gap over Deegan. On lap 15, after several laps of trying, MacCachren finally got by Hart on the inside at turn two, and quite quickly, he had gapped Hart and was right up to Deegan’s back bumper by lap’s end. MacCachren was then all over Deegan, who was making his truck as wide as possible, leaving MacCachren now chance to make a totally clean pass. On lap 17, Deegan chopped MacCachren off badly after MacCachren had nearly executed a pass in turn two, and it was now apparent that MacCachren would have to force the issue, at least a little, if he wanted to get by. On lap 19, he finally did so, as he put slid hard up the inside at turn one, and put himself in Deegan’s line. Deegan stuck alongside until turn two, but MacCachren pulled ahead out of the corner, to many cheers from the crowd, who obviously appreciated the difficulty of the move MacCachren had just pulled off. MacCachren had too few laps left, only one and a half to be precise, to try and catch Menzies, who himself was driving on rails, and it was Menzies who claimed victory tonight in a stellar drive. MacCachren finished in second, with Deegan third, Hart fourth, and Woods fifth. A post-race tech failure earned Woods a disqualification, and that put Clark up to fifth in the final standings.

That wraps up the weekend’s action here at Wild West Motorsports Park. Up next, the series heads south to the bright lights of Las Vegas, for Rounds 13 and 14 of the 2014 championship. The Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, presented by GEICO, will invade Las Vegas Motor Speedway in just four weeks’ time, so mark down September 19-20 on your calendar, get your tickets, and come out and see some of the most exciting action you’ll find anywhere in the motorsports world.

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 visitwww.LucasOilOffRoad.com.

(Written by Scott Neth for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series)

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.