Lucas Oil Off Road series visited Wild West Motorsports Park this weekend for a two day show at a circuit that’s a fan and driver favorite.
Mustang (Aug. 22) – Lucas Oil Off Road Series is always a crowd favorite as the fans got a show of speed, color, sound and some mayhem.
Highlighting the show were the Pro 2 trucks with Rob MacCachren and Bryce Menzies only being 28 points behind with six rounds left in the season.
After the checkered flag waved winner Menzies said, “With this track being so fast and kind of one lined it’s kind of hard to get around. But me and R.J. Anderson had a really good battle and I just stuck it inside, we connected a little bit and from there we just ran our race and we’ve got to win every race from here on out to even get close to winning a championship.”
He thanked his team, family, fans and sponsors for their supporters.
On Saturday it took two attempts to get the Pro 2 race going and on the second green R.J. Anderson led the charge up the hill with Menzies and MacCachren chasing him.
R.J. Anderson, going over the “ski jump,” was the early leader in Saturday’s Pro 2 race.
Three cautions would slow the pace and after the halfway point Menzies had a problem that could have been a distraction as the bodywork on the front of this truck was coming loose. It would shift every time he went around a corner or over a jump.
Bryce Menzies won the Pro 2 race but he had to deal with lose body work on this truck that eventually blew off.
Finally, soon after a restart he used an inside move through Turn 2 to take the lead from Anderson, who then slowed with some kind of a problem.
The bodywork from Menzies’ truck finally came off and there was a fourth caution for debris. On the restart he, MacCachren and Patrick Clark led the charge.
In the end Brian Deegan had to retire but Menzies reached the checkered flag first followed by points leader MacCachren and Clark. And the first three drivers were all Nevada residents.
For third place Clark, who also won the Optima Battery Fast Law award, just being on the podium was emotional as he lost him mother only four days earlier.
“I’ll see how long I can keep it together,” he said before his emotions almost over whelmed him. “This was all for my mom, she passed away and this is all for her. Every time I look out there I know she’s looking down on me, I’m just glad I could pull away with the fast lap.”
Then he thanked his team, sponsors and family members.
Then MacCachren said, “We qualified first with the Rockstar truck, drew a sixth truck inversion and I wanted to stay on his (Menzies) bumper and stay with him and not to lose any points. We were taking care of the truck as good as we could, the track was good, got rough in a couple of corners. That right hander had some gnarly ruts so didn’t want to throw it away so just kind of fell back a little bit.”
Then he thanked his crew for their hard work and honored all the crews for their hard work and all the fans.
Wen the Pro 4 race began the chase was on as Kyle LeDuc was pursued by Bryce Menzies (7).
The other heavy metal class is Pro 4; these are 4-wheel drive trucks, very powerful and fast. In this race third place Doug Fortin claimed the Optima Battery Fast Lap award.
On the green Kyle LeDuc was on point with Bryce Menzies and Carl Renezeder giving chase. A few laps into the race Fortin took over third and soon had Menzies in his sights.
Renezeder and Jerry Daughtery both had problems that dropped out of contention with only a couple of laps to go.
During the Pro 4 race Bryce Menzies (7) had his hands full holding off a determined Doug Fortin (96).
Up front LeDuc was on cruise control while Menzies and Fortin battled right to the end and finished in that order.
The winner Kyle LeDuc, who also won the Optima Fast Lap award, said, “This is by far one of the coolest tracks, just the elevation changes and coming down looking at these grandstands packed full of people, it’s pretty epic. This whole team, we’ve got a small crew, great sponsors Monster Energy, Pro Power pushing us down these straight aways and up these hills. And anybody that supports this team to win 11 in a row.”
Second place Menzies said, “I thought starting up front I’d have a good chance with Kyle but he drove around on the outside and kind of checked out. Then all of a sudden the battle for second was happening with Carl (Renezeder) and Carl (Fortin), who I saw him sneak inside a couple of times.”
At the podium celebration Fortin said, “I love this track, it’s fast and I like to go fast and the fans are great. The Toyota power works really good up here in the thin air and Fortin 5-speed putting the power down with General Tires and Fox Shocks.
He also thanked his team, as they had to rebuild the front end of the truck after the race in Baja.
The transition class into trucks are the Pro Lites and like the others have pretty strict rules on ride heights, suspension travel and other things. They also drew one of the largest fields as 17 trucks took the green.
Up front the truck of Bard DeBerti was on point with Brandon Arthur and R.J. Anderson giving chase. Since DeBerti is recovering from injures he received in the Baja race Sheldon Creed was in is seat.
Sheldon Creed leads Brandon Author (6) and R.J. Anderson in the Pro Lites race.
However DeBerti will get any points earned while he’s unable to drive the track.
Only one caution slowed the pace when a truck stalled in Turn 3. Once racing resumed Creed took off but was challenged by Arthur, who kept the pressure on until the end.
Behind them Anderson had to hold off fourth place Ryan Beat and Brooks, who slipped for fourth to fifth at the finish.
Sheldon Creed, driving for Brad DeBerti flies though the air on his way to winning the Pro Lites event.
But up front Creed won with Arthur close behind and Anderson in third.
Usually Shelton Creed runs the #1 truck but after being his was wrecked in Baja, he stepped into Brad DeBerti’s truck, won and preserved valuable points for the truck’s usual driver.
On the top step of the podium Creed said, “This is so different from my truck, mine is set up super soft and moves a lot where this is complete opposite. We made some change, got this to move and this thing is a rocket ship and is so much fun to drive, especially when the track wets up like it did.”
Then he thanked his sponsors and all those that helped him out and DeBerti’s family for calling him up, which enable him to score his first victory in Pro Lites.
Runner up Brandon Author said after the race, “You know Shelton ran a great race today, he hooked up and checked out. Tried to give him a run for his money but he was just on it. R.J. was keeping me tight and keeping me honest, making sure I ran my lines good, wasn’t giving anything up but can’t do without all the fans out here.”
One the podium, after being reminded about how close the points were, third place
Anderson said, “Had some good runs all year in the Pro Lite, we went to work on it in the off season, put some effort into it and I think it’s been showing. We’ve had a lot of podium runs and today I just didn’t have anything for these two guys.”
There is one buggy class that races with Lucas and those are the Pro 1 Buggies that put on their own show of high-flying antics in a race that had a surprise ending.
When the green waved Mike Valentine and Kevin McCullough were side-by-side as they charged up the hill. At the end Valentine had the advantage as well as the lead as McCullough and Chad George were giving chase.
Mike Valentine (left) and Kevin McCullough ran side-by-side when the Pro Buggy race began. Eventually Valentine took the lead.
As the leader extended the gap he had on everyone else Chad George took over second while Garrett George was third. Then the big surprise happened.
Going through the tight right hander Turn 3 Valentine must have caught a rut and wound upside down. Everyone missed him as the caution was thrown.
Valentine’s race was then over at the halfway point as he would retire. But up front Chad George and Garrett George made it a one-two family finish with McCullough coming home in third.
Chad George on his way to winning the Pro Buggy race.
On the podium, winner Chad George, who also won the Optima Fast Lap award, said, “We came into the weekend thinking there’s no way we’re going to lose and we proved it today. We’re running him down, we’re running everyone down, the guys have worked their butt on the car, glad to do them proud and my sponsors proud.”
Valentine’s bad luck handed the points lead to Garrett George, who said, “We came in tied in points and I wanted to do everything I could to get in front of that 78 car, he got out front early and Chad was running him down then he gave us a gift and put her over and put a smile on my fact. I just want to beat that 78 car.”
On the podium third place McCullough said, “It was tough out there, the car was all over the place and I did what I could and made the best of it.”
Then he thanked his family and sponsors that support him.
Each day the Pro Mod karts start the show. These young drivers are earning their spurs, working up the ranks, and some of them are already moving into the buggy and truck ranks.
Right way there was a problem as several karts tangled in the second turn so the 17-kart field reformed for their second attempt at a clean start.
When the Pro Mod race began Trey D. Gibbs (515) lead Hailie Deegan (538) and Christopher Polvoorde (yellow car).
On the green Trey D. Gibbs led the charge with Hailie Deegan right behind him. Both leaders were caught in a tangle that send Deegan to the hot pits for a tire change and dropped her out of contention.
And leader Gibbs also had to report to the pits for problems.
Early Pro Mod leader Trey D. Gibbs fell out of the lead with a flat tire. Here the crew is putting a new tire on his car.
Up front Christopher Polvoorde assumed the point the led the charge after the green only to slow down for another caution as another kart had problems.
Once again Polvoorde led the charge with Ronnie Anderson and Nathan Barry doing their best to catch him. Barry was soon caught up in a duel for third with Broc Dickerson.
Christopher Polvoorde was Saturday’s Pro Mod winner at Wild West Motorsports Park.
At the finish Polvoorde took the victory followed by Anderson, Dickerson and Barry.
At the top step of the podium Polvoorde said, “In the beginning everyone was battling but then Hailie and Tre had a problem but I got lucky, got by but Ronnie was always there trying to get me.”
And he also thanked family, sponsors, his spotter and all the fans that were in the stands.
Asked about the race runner-up Anderson said, “There were some super ruts out there and I kept making mistakes so I just told me to keep calm and he was just running away with it out there.”
Then he thanked his sponsors and family.
After coming from deep in the field Dickerson made it to third and said, “I had a little trouble in qualifying so had to start 13th but we made some changes and it all worked out so we had a fast car. I was making as many moves as I can, trying to stay clean and not hitting anyone.”
Then he thanked his family and a list of sponsors for their support and help.
Once the dust settled all the teams got back to work as they prepared for Sunday’s action.
OTHER RACING NEWS
- Lovelock Speedway ended its season on Friday night. Three classes were on hand with Bob Shank winning the Hobby Stock main and Dennis Buehn finishing second.
Loren Cooney was the 360 Sprint Car winner while Robert Miller was able to hold off Travis White and Shawn Natenstedt for the IMCA Modified victory. And that win clinched the track championship for Miller.
• NASCAR spent the weekend the Bristol Motor Speedway, billed as the fastest half-mile track.
In Wednesday’s Camping World Truck event Kyle Busch started on the pole and ended up second. Saturday’s Xfinity event was a different story as Busch won while Brendan Gaughan ended up 10th and Dylan Kwasniewski had some problems and ended up 32nd.
Saturday night was when the Sprint Cup drivers raced and Kyle Busch had a top five finish going until a late stop for tires and fuel, plus a charge through the pack, earned him 8th place. He’s still 29th in points with two races to go and has to be within the top 30 to secure a place in this fall’s championship chase.
Older brother Kurt started 11th and ended up 14 for the night.
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RESULTS
- Lucas Oil Offroad Series – Round 13
Wild West Motorsports Park – Aug. 22
Pro Mod:
Main (12-Laps): 1. Christopher Polvoored, 2. Ronnie Anderson, 3. Broc Dickerson, 4. Nathan Barry, 5. Chris Nunes, 6. Ryan Carey, 7. Trey D. Gibbs, 8. Travis PeCoy, 9. Bryce McDaniel, 10. Daely Pentico, 11. Jimmy Weitzel, 12. Conner McMullen, 13. Branden Sorensen, 14. Amanda Soresen, 15. Cole Keatts, 16. Trevor Briska, 17. Hailie Deegan
Pro 4:
Main (16-Laps): 1. Kyle LeDuc, 2. Bryce Menzies, 3. Doug Fortin, 4. Rob MacCachren, 5. Greg Adler, 6. Brian Deegan, 7. Eric Barron, 8. Jerry Daugherty, 9. Carl Renezeder
Pro Lite:
Main (14-Laps): 1. Sheldon Creed for Brad DeBerti, 2. Brandon Arthur, 3. R.J. Anderson, 4. Ryan Beat, 5. Jerett Brooks, 6. Casey Currie, 7. Jeremy Stenberg, 8. Brock Heger, 9. D.J. Noerr, 10. Jeff Hoffman, 11. Mikey Lawrence, 12. Cole Mamer, 13. Ray Griffith, 14. Travis PeCoy, 15. Justin Peck, 16. Taylor Atchison, 17. Dustin Nelson
Pro Buggy:
Main (4-Laps): 1. Chad George, 2. Garrett George, 3. Kevin McCullough, 4. Darren Hardesty, 5. Sterling Cling, 6. Taylor Atchison, 7. Dave Mason, 8. Sam Berri, 9. Mike Valentine
Pro 2:
Main (16-Laps): 1. Bryce Menzies, 2. Rob MacCachren, 3. Patrick Clark, 4. Sheldon Creed, 5. Carl Renezeder, 6. Jeremy McGrath, 7. Rodrigo Ampudia, 8. Todd LeDuc, 9. Robby Woods, 10. Brian Deegan, 11. R.J. Anderson, 12. Myan Spaccarelli
• Lovelock Speedway – Aug. 21
IMCA Modifieds:
Heat #1: 1. Malen Gonzalez, 2. Trevor Gurley, 3. J.D. Jurad, 4. Alec Childs, 5. Will Fryckman, 6. Rocky Goetz, 7. Vincent Evenson
Heat #2: 1. Zach Cail, 2. Joel Myers, 3. Robert Miller, 4. Shawn Natenstedt, 5. Travis White, 6. Andy Straight
Main (25-Laps): 1. Robert Miller, 2. Travis White, 3. Shawn Natenstedt, 4. Joel Myers, 5. Zach Cail, 6. Malen Gonzalez, 7. J.D. Jurad, 8. Andy Strait, 9. Rocky Goetz, 10. Trevor Gurley, 11. Alec Childs, 12. Steve Evenson*, 13. Will Fryckman*, 14, Vincent Evenson*
*- Did not Finish
** – Did not Start
