Off-road racing went well into the night on Saturday evening for Round 9 of the 15-race 2012 season. While a few of the last night’s winners were in the mix again on Sunday, a few familiar faces worked their way onto the podium at Round 10.
Pro 4 kicked off with a bang, as Eric Barron again got out in front of the pack looking to earn another win in the class. His task wouldn’t be easy, however, as class points leader Kyle LeDuc stayed on his tail the entire race. LeDuc was unable to pass Barron, however, and had to settle for second place.
“I gotta give it to Kyle. We had a little incident yesterday and he drove a clean race today. He hit me a few times and I think he hit me in the right spots,” Barron said after the race. “I think he’s a smart racer and I’m looking forward to racing him in the future.”
Kyle LeDuc stayed on Barron’s rear bumper the entire race but was unable to get by him and finished in second place.
“I don’t know about you guys but that was frickin’ insane,” LeDuc said. “It’s our job to put on a good show, and they built a bullring of a track and we climb all over each other … it’s just rad doing this as a job.”
Finishing in third place after earning second yesterday was Todd LeDuc, who felt he was a little limited in what he could do at Round 10.
“They told me if I bump one more person I get black-flagged, so I couldn’t even make a muscle move on Kyle or even Eric, so we’ll take it, we’re going to be digging away at this championship,” Todd said.
In the Pro Buggy class, Mike Porter earned the victory after finishing the previous night in last place with technical issues. He was able to hold off yesterday’s winner Doug Fortin to second place. Rounding out the podium in third place was Cameron Steele, who just missed out on a podium spot yesterday when he finished in fourth place behind John Holmes.
The stacked Pro Lite field may have over 20 drivers take the green flag (24, to be exact), but the same three riders that made the podium found their way onto it again at Round 10.
Bradley Morris continued his blistering pace in the class, holding off the pressure applied by Brian Deegan to earn another victory and take the sweep at Glen Helen. Deegan was able to better his third-place finish the day before with his second. Yesterday’s second-place finisher Casey Currie was unable to better his finish from the day before and had to settle for third.
Sheldon Creed earned the sweep on the weekend in Super Lite. Ryan Hagy was able to earn his first podium of the weekend with his second-place finish in class, and Max Hunt earned the final podium at Round 10 with his third-place finish.
An issue with one of the main lighting systems that lights the track delayed the start of the Pro 2 class on Sunday night. Once racing was underway, Saturday’s winner Marty Hart was unable to back up his win the night before and had to pull off the track with technical issues. Brian Deegan looked to avenge his seventh-place finish from the night before and jumped out to an early lead and held it to the checkered flag.
Crowd favorite Jeremy McGrath was also able to improve upon his Round 9 result of eighth place. He was unable to pass Deegan but held on to earn second place at Round.
Although Carl Renezeder was in the mix early in the race, as the Pro 4 and Pro 2 driver looked to earn his 100th win, technical issues put him out early and he was unable to stay on the lead pace. Rob MacCachren was also looking for a milestone win at Glen Helen, but a victory for MacCachren would be his 200th win in short-course off-road racing. MacCachren stayed in the top five for much of the race, but he was unable to get around Robby Woods and finished just off the podium in fourth place. Woods was able to improve upon his sixth-place finish the night before to earn the last podium spot in the final race of the weekend.
Next up for the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series is the event just outside of Reno at Sparks, Nevada, at Wild West Motorsports Park. For more information on the series, visit LuacsOilOffRoad.com.
Other 2012 Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Coverage:
Round 9 Action from Glen Helen
Miller Motorsports Park Hosts Rounds 7-8