A really hot day set the stage for the first day of a weekend of hot off road racing.

 

SPARKS, NV (Aug. 13) – The Lucas Oil Off Road Series visited the Wild West Motorsports Park this weekend. Fans saw two days of hard charging, wild racing on this fast, hilly and technical track.

With the series being in the stretch run drivers were eager to score as many points as possible over the weekend.

“Yesterday in practice we weren’t going quick so we put our heads down to figure what to do, threw something at it today and it was really good,” Rob MacCachren said after winning the Pro 2 main. “I’m chasing the points championship and RJ’s here hunting me down. When I got out front just wanted to run clean and be safe.”

Then he thanked sponsors Rock Star Energy, Makita Power Tools, Vision Wheels, BF Goodrich Tires, Lucas Oil as well as his hard working crew, the fans and the Nugget Casino and Hotel.

When the green waved sending the Pro 2 field on its way MacCachren took off with Patrick Clark and Carl Renezeder giving chase.

During qualifying Jeremy McGrath flipped his truck and his crew only finished it seconds before he was to go on track. After starting toward the back it only took one lap for him to take fifth.

There was a quick caution for debris in Turn 3 then the green waved again. MacCachren took off with Clark second but now R.J. Anderson was third ahead of Brian Deegan holding down fourth.

Behind the leader Renezeder and McGrath were engaged in a duel for fourth along with Doug Mittag, who turned it into a three-way battle. Unfortunately Mittag would slow, bringing out a caution, and pull off.

When racing resumed it was MacCachren, Anderson followed by McGrath and Renezeder. Soon after that McGrath began to slow apparently from some kind of brake problem that dropped him to a fifth place finish.

There would be one more caution to slow the pace but up front the race belonged to MacCachren as the reached the finish line first head of Anderson, Renezeder, Rodrigo Ampudia and McGrath.

On the podium Anderson said, “We’ve had some ups and downs this year, the ups have been pretty high and the downs have been pretty low but I was on fire so it’s cool to have a Rock Start one-two. I felt at the beginning we were doing okay but towards the end didn’t have anything for MacCachren.”

Then he thanked Rock Star Energy, BF Goodrich, South Point and several other sponsors.

When the green flag waved to start the Pro 4 main Kyle DeDuc took off but the start was called off when a truck stalled at the top of Turn 1. On take two of the start LeDuc once again took off but this time Eric Barron led the pursuit.

There was a caution on Lap 3 when two trucks tangled in the tight hairpin that is Turn 2. Once that was cleared up Leduc took off but this time Carl Renezeder was close behind him with Doug Rotin holding down third.

Before lap 5 there would be two more cautions that slowed the pace but on every restart LeDuc led the charge and began to extend his lead over the pack. The battle for was for second as Fortin, now holding the spot was under constant assault.

There would be one more caution that sent Eric Barron and Greg Adler to the hot pits. And again when the green waved LeDuc showed he was in command of the race.

By now Adrian Cenni had a solid hold on second ahead of Bradley Morris while Renezeder had slipped back out of contention. Still Cenni had to hold Morris off to claim the runner up spot on the podium.

For LeDuc it was his fourth victory in a row at Wild West Motorsports Park and he was delighted.

On the podium he said, “The track has been fast for a couple of years now and it’s a good truck. We had some chaos pre race during qualifying when I blew the fans off the back so it ran 215 and CBR, thank you for great radiators. I set a great pace early and the chaos was behind us.

He also thanked the fans for coming and sticking it out in the heat as well as the track crew. Both had to deal with the heat of the day.

The battle for second was between two wounded trucks, which is surprising since it was relatively close.

On the podium second place Cenni said, “I had three axles and Morris had no brakes so it was who could limp home the best. The track is extremely treacherous as it’s sandy, then slick and there are holes that developed so it just wants to rip the track apart.”

He also gave thanks to the Joe Mechanic Mobil App as there is a bunch of work to do on the truck.

The Pro Lites had a small delay to its start when the truck of Wade Wyman stalled at the top of Turn 1. Once he got going the field got the green flag and the race was on.

It only took a short time for Jerett Brooks to take the point from Cole Mamer as they flew down from the ski jump. Soon a charging Brock Heger took the runner up spot and began chasing the leader.

As the leader was beginning to gap the field there was another caution caused when the truck of Sarah Burgess rolled over after contact with another truck. She’s the first woman to compete in this class.

When the green waved again Brooks and Heger led the charge up the hill to Turn 1. Soon Ryan beat joined the fight for the lead and would take over second.

Next caution came when one truck wound upside down at the top of Turn1. Once that was cleared racing resumed but this time the leader quartet were a bit spread out.

Then Brandon Arthur joined the fight for third and would actually take it but after contact with Beat. The result was a penalty for Arthur that dropped him to 10th and gave Beat third place.

Up front Brooks steamed across the finish line to take first followed by Heger.

“You know this Rigid Industries, Bilstein, General Tire truck was on rails at first then it got pretty dry,” Brooks said. “I just kept making mistakes and when Brock started pressuring me I started driving a little too hard and almost threw it away a few times. After that last caution the truck just came alive as we got the set up down for that so I was really comfortable dodging the ruts and I think I started checking out.”

Then he also gave thanks to Walker Evans Racing, Black Rhino and his family.

During the race Heger had a flat tire and had to visit the hot pits to change it. After that he put on a charge that earned him second place at the finish.

On the podium he said, “I tried getting inside of Jerett up there, wound up clipping the inside wall and it ended up giving me a flat. “I went into the pits, changed the tire but wasn’t going to end up fourth so I charged hard.”

Right after the green waved and sent the Pro Buggy field off it was Bud Ward and Garrett George going for the lead. But by the second lap George was on point followed by Mike Valentine and Eliott Watson.

Then George slowed and would pit with a flat. Back on the track Darren Hardesty was on point after passing Valentine. Soon there was a three-way fight for third between Watson, Kevin McCullough and Valentine.

While Hardesty won second and third place was a contest between two drivers nursing flat tires to the finish. At the checkered McCullough took second while Valentine slipped to third.

On the podium, 15-year-old Hardest said, “Feels amazing to be up here. I thank everybody enough, especially these guys for racing me clean. Have to thank my crew putting this car together and making it unbelievable this weekend. And I need to thank Bilstein Shocks, Mickey Thompson Off Road Warehouse and Lucas Oil.

For his part runner-up McCullough said, “It was hard in Turn 3 as the car would just push super bad over those fingers there. I just did whatever I could, tried to keep it together and not get passed. Luckily Mike’s tires were going down, tried to take advantage of that and it worked out.

Then he thanked his family as well as sponsors, Stapleton Roofing, Action Auto Transmission, BF Goodrich Tires, Fox Shocks and his crew.

The Mod Karts, driven by 12- to 15-year-olds usually race before the four main classes have their mains. However these youngsters give a good account of themselves as they are the next generation of off road racers.

When the green waved Trey Gibbs took off with Hailie Deegan in hot pursuis. Things slowed on the second lap when Cole Keatts stalled in Turn 2.

Once he got going racing resumed with Gibbs and Deegan leading the charge. The next caution came after four karts tangled but that didn’t take too long to clear up.

When racing resumed the Gibbs/Deegan duo once again led the pack and finished in that order. Behind them Chris Nunes, Cole Keatts and Nathan Barry ended up third through fifth.

Asked about the pressure Deegan was giving him Gibbs said, “She was putting the pressure on me, I had to run my lines, be smooth and we always say, ‘smooth if fast.’ I could see the teal car every corner and every apex I could see her nose start sticking there I just tried to push myself.”

Then he thanked his family as well as KB Engineering, Rugged, OGO and Mod Kids USA.

For her part Deegan, also known as the Dirt Princess, went into the weekend one point behind Christopher Polvoorde but his 11th place finish moved her into the lead.

“I’m super happy to be back in the points lead and super stoked to be back on the podium,” she said.

Then she thanked her parents, mechanics Mike, Tyler, Jamie as well as her sponsors including NOS Energy.

OTHER RACING NEWS:

• Those that missed the Lucas Oil race can now see it as well as many other races on a new subscription Internet channel, www.lucasoilracing.tv. There are also many other series that can be watched on this channel.

• With the large payout for Hobby Stocks going on at Hawthorne the field for Friday’s races at Lovelock Speedway was all IMCA Modifieds.

At the end of their 40-lap main six out of the 10-starters were still running. Cory Sample won the race followed by Randy Artz and Mike White.

If you enjoyed this article please “like,” and share it as widely as possible. Comments are welcome.

Subscribers have articles posted to their inbox as soon as they are on the site.

We now have three very appreciated sponsors that are helping support this site.

Our newest sponsor is Concours Body Shop owned by Gil Grieve, a veteran racer himself and a long time supporter of motorsports.

His shop does quality work and if you need their services remember they support racing so please support them.

The shop’s website is, www.concoursbodyshop.net.

If you are into karting or want the most cost effective way to start racing then Nevada Kart Sport is where you want to go. It’s the only full service kart shop in our region and even retails karts.

The shop’s website is, www.nevadakartsport.com.

If you are into the riding lifestyle or race a motorcycle then Reno Motorsports is the place to go. They have about everything a person could want including a full service shop in the back.

Their website is, www.rms-renomotorsports.com.

RESULTS

• Lucas Oil Off Road Series – Round 11

Wild West Motorsports Park – Aug. 13

Pro 2:

+ Qualifying: 1. Rob MacCachren, 2. Patrick Clark, 3. R.J. Anderson, 4. Brian Deegan, 5. Rodrigo Ampudia, 6. Doug Mittag, 7. Jeremy McGrath, 8. Carl Renezeder, 9. Eric Fitch.

+ Main (16-Laps): 1. Rob MacCachren, 2. R.J. Anderson, 3. Carl Renezeder, 4. Rodrigo Ampudia, 5. Jeremy McGrath, 6. Eric Fitch, 7. Patrick Clark, 8. Brian Deegan, 9. Doug Mittag.

Pro 4:

+ Qualifying: 1.Eric Barron, 2. Kyle LeDuc, 3. Doug Fortin, 4. Rob MacCachren, 5. Carl Renezeder, 6. Greg Adler, 7. Doug Mittag, 8. Bradley Morris, 9. Adrian Cenni.

+ Main (16-Laps): 1. Kyle LeDuc, 2. Adrian Cenni, 3. Bradley Morris, 4. Doug Fortin, 5. Eric Barron, 6. Greg Adler, 7. Rob MacCachren, 8. Carl Renezeder, 9. Doug Mittag.

Pro Lite:

+ Qualifying: 1. Ryan Beat, 2. Brock Heger, 3. Jerett Brooks, 4. Jeff Hoffman, 5. Brandon Arthur, 6. Cole Mamer, 7. Brad DeBerti, 8. Broc  Dickerson, 9. Mickey Thomas, 10. Jeremy Stenberg, 11. Gavin Harlien, 12. Ronnie Anderson, 13. Ray Griffith, 14. Justin Peck, 15. Sarah Burgess, 16. Wade Wyman.

+ Main (14-Laps): 1. Jerett Brooks, 2. Brock Heger, 3. Ryan Beat, 4. Jeremy Stenberg, 5. Cole Mamer, 6. Gavin Harlien, 7. Justin Peck, 8. Brad DeBerti, 9. Ray Griffith, 10. Brandon Arthur, 11. Ronnie Anderson, 12. Mickey      Thomas, 13. Broc Dickerson, 14. Sarah Burgess, 15. Jeff Hoffman, 16. Wade Wyman.

Pro Buggy:

+ Qualifying: 1. Devin McCullough, 2. Darren Hardesty, 3. Garrett George, 4. Bud Ward, 5. Mike Valentine, 6. Eliott Watson, 7. Sterling Cling.

+ Main (14-Laps): 1. Darren Hardesty, 2. Kevin McCullough, 3. Mike Valentine, 4. Sterling Cling, 5. Eliott Watson, 6. Garrett George, 7. Bud Ward.

Mod Karts:

+ Qualifying: 1. Trey D. Gibbs, 2. Christopher Polvoored, 3. Hailie Deegan,  4. Nathan Barry, 5. Chris Nunes, 6. Ricky Gutierrez, 7. Cole Keatts, 8. Trevor Briska, 9. Mia Chapman, 10. Branden Sorensen, 11. Amanda Sorensen,      12. Bronsen Chiramonte.

+ Main (10-Laps): 1. Trey D. Gibbs, 2. Hailie Deegan, 3. Chris Nunes, 4. Cole Keatts, 5. Nathan Barry, 6. Branden Sorensen, 7. Ricky Gutierrez, 8. Amanda Sorensen, 9. Bronsen Chiramonte, 10. Mia Chapman, 11. Christopher      Polvoorde, 12. Chance Haugen, 13. Trevor Briska.

• Lovelock Speedway – Aug. 12

IMCA Modfieds:

+ Heat #1: 1. Joel Myers, 2. Cory Sample, 3. Alec Childs, 4. Mike White, 5. Trevor Gurley.

+ Heat #2: 1. Randy Artz, 2. Andy Strait, 3. Don Childs, 4. J.D. Jurad

DNS: Loren Bianchi.

+ Main (40-Laps): 1. Cory Sample, 2. Randy Artz, 3. Mike White, 4. Alec Childs, 5. Andy Strait, 6. Loren Bianchi.

DNF: Joel Myers, J.D. Jurad, Don Childs, Trevor Gurley.