4.27.12 LOORRS ROUND 3 & 4 RACE REPORT
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing is back along with some hot weather in Motorsports Park, located in Lake Elsinore, CA. The new 1.1-mile circuit track layout is pretty nasty!
FRIDAY: [ PRACTICE & QUAL ]
Bean got in a solid early lap at 54.080 in his #19 Competitive Metals/Metal Mulisha Ford, and although he was challenged by Casey Currie, Bean came out on top of the session, improving his time to a 53.139 coming in third overall.
Hagy really kicked things into gear, keeping a solid line, clearing the table top step-up and rounding out the top five position with his best time of 58.018.
Cameron Steel got behind the wheel of his Pro Buggy Unlimited for the first time this season. Justin “Bean” Smith fill in for Steele during round 1 & 2 for a extremely good reason… Cameron stayed home by his wife’s side as they both welcomed their first child.
(Congratulations Cameron! We are so pumped for you!), Besides from the huge smile on Cameron’s face throughout the pits, Steele did what he does best in the Pro Buggy… taking the lead and wrapping up the time sheets on lap one, turning a 53.490!
SATURDAY: [ ROUND 3 ]
Pro Lite – Justin “Bean” Smith saw his first DNF of the season after getting tangled up with another Pro Lite newcomer. “Bean” suffered a broken upper link in the rear of the truck after flipping the truck and decided to pull it into the hot pits not wanting to risk destroying the truck for the entire weekend. After the race Bean said, “Tomorrow is about being aggressive. Our truck was running flawless and I can’t let these guys push me around”. Brian Deegan, Rj Anderson and Chris Brandt all took the top spots in the Pro Lite division.
Pro Buggy – Today’s Pro Buggy Unlimited race featured a strong field of 21 cars, headed at the green flag by Cameron Steele in the #16 Monster Energy/Yokohama Alumi Craft and Mike Porter in the #8 Mickey Thompson/Speed Energy Alumi Craft. Steele and Porter ran one-two after the first lap, with Jerry Whelchel third in the #5 General Tire/Camburg Foddrill, with Doug Fortin fourth in the #96 Fortin Racing, Inc./McGrath Fiberglass Products Racer, and Garrett George fifth in the #71 Discount Tire/Yokohama Funco. Over the first few laps, Steele and Porter started to pull open a gap on the field, a gap which grew wider as the laps progressed. On lap six, though, a full course caution erased that gap, as Rino Navera’s car came to a stop at the exit of turn three. On the restart lap, several drivers were caught up in multiple accidents, which led to another full course caution, with drivers lining up again in their previous positions. Once the green flag came out again, Steven Greinke got a great dive into turn three, moving from sixth to fourth in his #23 SC Fuels/Concourse Racer. Greinke then got by Whelchel for third, before another full course caution stacked up the field yet again. On the restart lap, John Holmes had some great momentum in his #3 Prolong Super Lubricants/Eibach Springs Racer, moving up two spots to fourth with just the last lap remaining. As quickly as Holmes’ luck had been good, though, it suddenly turned bad, as he speared straight ahead in turn two on the final lap, running into and partially over the outside k-rail, quickly ending any hopes he’d had of a good result. Up front, Steele had a handful to fend off Greinke for the lead, but he kept his car wide enough to hold that lead, and came home the winner in his first race back in this class since 2010. Second went to Greinke, third to Fortin, fourth to Porter, and fifth to Geoffrey Cooley in the #22 Competitive Metals/Kar Tek Off Road Alumi Craft.
Super Lite – The final race of the day was Super Lite, and wow, this race was a weird one. Ryan Hagy got the early lead in his #5 General Tire/Valli Construction truck, and was chased by Drew Britt, Garrett Poelman, Cody Rahders, and Trenton Briley after the opening lap. Briley and Brent Fouch moved into fourth and fifth on lap two, with the top two then beginning to pull clear of the field as Poelman and Briley fought over third place. On lap four, Jessie Johnson got inside at turn four, passing both Poelman and Briley as they collected each other. 
The top five drivers were now Hagy, Britt, Johnson, Poelman, and Rahders, with Johnson then dropping to eighth with a mistake on lap seven, just ahead of the Competition Yellow. On the restart lap, Rahders moved up to third in his #16 SuperChips/K&N entry, with Sheldon Creed now fourth in the #74 BFGoodrich Tires/Trench Shoring truck after falling nearly a lap down with an issue on the opening lap. Rahders then passed Britt for second with a great run through the whoops on lap eleven, and got by Hagy on the inside of turn two to take the lead on the following lap. Behind him, Briley spun in turn four, collecting Creed in the process and dropping the two back to the last two spots. At the white flag, Rahders still led, followed by Britt, Hagy, Poelman, and Johnson, but the best lap was yet to come.
On the final lap, Rahders, Britt, and Hagy all hit each other exiting turn two, and Britt ended up rolling uphill (somehow) to the inside of the corner. Rahders didn’t get away unscathed, as his left rear tire starting coming off the rim, leaving him with a severe handicap as he tried to hang on for the last half lap. Rahders looked to catch a bit of luck in the next corner, nearly all the drivers behind him collected one another, leaving a mad scramble to get pointed in the right direction. Johnson came out the best from this group in his #15 So Cal Supertrucks/MasterCraft Safety machine, and as Rahders limped for home, the crowd willing him on, Johnson started to run him down. Rahders only had one corner left, but with a severe inability to steer well, it was one corner too many, as his truck turned itself in to the inside k rail, leaving him stuck. Johnson streaked by and took the checkered flag, but after review by the officials, he was docked two positions for rough driving earlier in the race. This handed the win to John Gable in the #99 General Tire/Justice Bros. truck, with Creed taking second, Johnson third, Hagy fourth, and Poelman fifth in the #62 Supercross.com/Lucas Oil entry.
SUNDAY: [ ROUND 4 ]
Pro Buggy – Today’s Pro Buggy Unlimited race featured a strong field of 21 cars, headed at the green flag by Cameron Steele in the #16 Monster Energy/Yokohama Alumi Craft and Mike Porter in the #8 Mickey Thompson/Speed Energy Alumi Craft. Steele and Porter ran one-two after the first lap, with Jerry Whelchel third in the #5 General Tire/Camburg Foddrill, with Doug Fortin fourth in the #96 Fortin Racing, Inc./McGrath Fiberglass Products Racer, and Garrett George fifth in the #71 Discount Tire/Yokohama Funco. Over the first few laps, Steele and Porter started to pull open a gap on the field, a gap which grew wider as the laps progressed. On lap six, though, a full course caution erased that gap, as Rino Navera’s car came to a stop at the exit of turn three. On the restart lap, several drivers were caught up in multiple accidents, which led to another full course caution, with drivers lining up again in their previous positions. Once the green flag came out again, Steven Greinke got a great dive into turn three, moving from sixth to fourth in his #23 SC Fuels/Concourse Racer. Greinke then got by Whelchel for third, before another full course caution stacked up the field yet again. On the restart lap, John Holmes had some great momentum in his #3 Prolong Super Lubricants/Eibach Springs Racer, moving up two spots to fourth with just the last lap remaining. As quickly as Holmes’ luck had been good, though, it suddenly turned bad, as he speared straight ahead in turn two on the final lap, running into and partially over the outside k-rail, quickly ending any hopes he’d had of a good result. Up front, Steele had a handful to fend off Greinke for the lead, but he kept his car wide enough to hold that lead, and came home the winner in his first race back in this class since 2010. Second went to Greinke, third to Fortin, fourth to Porter, and fifth to Geoffrey Cooley in the #22 Competitive Metals/Kar Tek Off Road Alumi Craft.
Super Lite – In the final race of the weekend, Ryan Hagy and Drew Britt started at the head of the pack in Super Lite, with Hagy taking the early lead in his #5 General Tire/4 Wheel Parts machine. Garrett Poelman ran second in the #62 Supercross.com/Loctite truck, followed by Jessie Johnson in the #15 So Cal Supertrucks/Speed Energy entry, Britt in the #7 Mickey Thompson/Quick Lane truck, and Cody Rahders in the #16 Superchips/K&N machine. On lap two, Britt dropped to seventh after a wild run through the whoops sent him from one side of the track to the other, but he picked off four guys to move all the way up to third on the next lap. Further forward, Johnson had moved into second, and after getting inside of Hagy at turn one, he took over the lead on lap five. The top six drivers were now running pretty close together, and at the Competition Yellow, the first five places were held by Johnson, Hagy, Britt, Rahders, and Trenton Briley in the #17 Kal-Gard/Black Rhino entry. On the restart lap, Rahders rolled at turn three, forcing officials to throw a full course caution while track workers got Rahders righted and back underway. Green flag racing resumed again, and this time, Johnson quickly opened up a gap as those behind fought over second place. At one point, four drivers went four-wide at turn four in a battle for the second step on the podium. Hagy fell away from that battle when he went wide at turn one and dropped to sixth, and at the white flag, it was Johnson all alone out front, followed by Britt, Creed, Brent Fouch in the #21 Fouch Racing/General Tire truck, and Larry Linkogle in the #24 Metal Mulisha/General Tire entry. These drivers held their positions on the final lap, with Johnson scoring some major redemption after missing out on what would’ve been his first career Lucas Oil Off Road win following a post-race penalty for rough driving yesterday. Johnson came up with the goods big time today, taking that first win in fine form- congratulations Jessie! Second went to Britt, with Creed third, Fouch fourth, and Linkogle fifth.
With that, our second weekend of racing has come to a close. The drivers and teams of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series will have little chance to catch their breaths, though, as racing will resume in just four weeks’ time at the Speedworld Off Road Park in Surprise, AZ. Rounds 5 and 6 will take place on the weekend of May 19th and 20th, so get online and get your tickets now before they’re gone! As the only track that has been on the calendar every year in series history, this track is always a favorite for both drivers and fans alike, and you won’t want to miss the show our drivers will put on next month… see you in Arizona!
