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Category: Events/Competitions

  • RJ Anderson Dominates In Baja

    RJ Anderson Dominates In Baja

    Captures First Ever Pro-2 Win & Takes Pro-Lite Points Lead Over

    Ensenada, Baja California Mexico – For the first time in Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) history, the league headed south of the border to Ensenada, Baja California Mexico for Rounds 11 & 12 of the 2015 race season. After months of planning by LOORRS officials and the Papas & Beer Racing Team (led by family patriarch Rodrigo Ampudia, Sr.), the dream of taking Lucas Oil Short Course Racing to Baja became a reality.

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    The newly designed Baja International Short Course track, which sits adjacent to the popular Estero Beach Resort, hosted the series biggest names and drew thousands of enthusiastic fans from all over Mexico and the US. Local officials, the Ampudia Family, and Lucas Oil worked tirelessly to develop a facility designed to host races for years to come. It has been over a decade since short course style racing has been hosted in Estero Beach…Lucas Oil brought it back in a big way!

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    RJ Anderson and the RJ37 team began their pilgrimage to Baja on Wednesday to load-in and prepare for the weekends battle. Anderson came into Round 11 sitting a respectable 6th in points in the Pro-2 class. Even though RJ has run up front for much of the year, the season has been filled with highs & lows for the RJ37 team. While RJ has returned to his winning ways in Pro-Lite, Pro-2 has been a struggle, having only reached the podium once so far this season. Despite only one podium appearance, Anderson has led multiple races and has showed tremendous speed, consistently qualifying in the top 5 in the #37 Polaris RZR Pro-2. Coming into the weekend – the team hoped for a little bit of luck to help RJ capture his first win of his career in the sports premier class.

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    While Anderson had been struggling to find his groove in Pro-2, he demonstrated once again why he is a champion in the Pro-Lite division. RJ entered the weekend sitting 2nd in points after hoisting four, 1st place trophies (the most in Pro-Lite this season) and making 7 podium appearances through 9 rounds of racing. A poor showing in round three had been his only roadblock to an all out points lead.

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    Track conditions were anything but ideal at Estero Beach Baja International Race Track. The sand filled dirt of Estero Beach presented a challenge for track officials to keep prepped between races. Practice and qualifying in the Pro-Lite class proved the course and its rhythm section to be anything but rhythmetic, as multiple trucks crashed and smashed their way through the heats, testing everyone’s ability to adapt. RJ qualified second fastest on Saturday, laying down his quickest time in only the second lap of qualifying, slowing as the track deteriorated almost instantly.

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    RJ Anderson and top qualifier Sheldon Creed lined up in the second row after the inversion draw, right behind hard chargers Brandon Arthur and young gun Brock Heger who sat on the pole. The green flag dropped and it wouldn’t take long before the rhythm section claimed its first victim. By the end of the race a quarter of the field were out. Two trucks were completely totalled and many more sustained mechanical and physical injuries. RJ maintained his position and finished 3rd in class, giving him his 8th podium this season and nudging him ever so slightly into the points lead just ahead of Jarrett Brooks.

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    The courses rhythm section proved to be less of a concern for the larger suspensions of the Pro-2 class, however the deterioration of the track was much greater. The RJ37 team struggled to find the “hot setup” for Estero Beach and after qualifying ninth in Pro-2, the team went to work on gearing and suspension prior to the afternoons race. When the race started  – RJ took his time and fought his way through the rough course and ferocious field of the sports best off-road racers. He finished the race in 5th place and headed into Sunday’s round 12 confident his team had found the setup needed to compete for a win.

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    Qualifying in Pro-2 went much better on Sunday for RJ. He laid down the fifth fastest time on track and drew a #6 inversion – which put him on the front row next to racing legend Rob MacCachren. This was exactly the type of lucky break the team had hoped for. As the green flag waived RJ rocketed off the start and pulled ahead of MacCachren in turn two.

    RJ and Rob battled furiously back and forth for several laps, but eventually RJ pulled away and never looked back. At one point RJ gapped the field by over 8 truck lengths. After a late race yellow flag restart – he fought off Pro-2 Champion Bryce Menzies and soared to his first Pro-2 victory to the cheers of thousands in attendance.

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    Lucas Oil graciously gave RJ his moment in the spotlight and allowed him time to appear on the podium before jumping into the #37 Pro-Lite. “A lot of hard work and dedication has gone into achieving my first Pro-2 win. I’ll hang onto this memory for the rest of my life. I am really stoked I got to share the victory with with my family, friends, sponsors and team. Without them none of this would be possible,” said Anderson.

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    RJ qualified second and the inversion kept him on the front row, lined up next to season points rival Jarrett Brooks.With a now “trimmed down” rhythm section, the Pro-Lite’s ran a much quicker and more confident pace. Anderson & Brooks battled hard through the first few laps, and at one point Brooks “doored” RJ to let him know he wasn’t going to give an inch. RJ took and maintained the lead for ten laps, and earned the RJ37 team their second victory of the day, further extending his Pro-Lite points lead.

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    After an evening of celebration, RJ Anderson & the RJ37 race team headed home with two 1st place and one 3rd place trophies, AND the Pro-Lite points lead. More than just a successful weekend of racing – the memory of Anderson’s first Pro-2 win is now etched in motorsports history. It was a weekend of firsts for RJ Anderson & Lucas Oil, it was also a weekend of fun for fans, teams, sponsors and racers.

    RJ Anderson would like to thank LOORRS, the Ampudia family as well as the local Ensenada officials and the fans for making this weekend of racing so special. RJ would also like to extend a special thank you to the Menzies Motorsports team for their hospitality and accommodations as well as the entire RJ37 race team, family & friends for their continued hard work, effort and support. Lastly, he thanks all of the sponsors and team partners for their tireless support of the RJ37 program. “Without you, none of this would be possible!” – RJ.

    See RJ compete next in Sparks, NV for Rounds 13-14 at Wild West Motorsports Park on August 22 & 23, 2015.

    About UTVUnderground.com

    The worlds fastest growing all inclusive UTV site contributed to by both enthusiasts and manufacturers alike. UTVUnderground is the go-to site for fresh, original content and is known for its dedication to hosting all of the latest news and insight surrounding the UTV industry. Thousands of monthly visitors from over 100 different countries around the world go to UTVUnderground.com for their daily dose of UTV news and information.

    About Mad Media
    Mad Media (www.madmedia.com) is a San Diego based marketing and creative agency, with in-house film and television production. We craft authentic, culturally engaging brand messages, and deliver them across print, web, photography, and film platforms. Mad Media has been leading the online content revolution since 1995 producing major commercial, television, online content and viral film projects such as The Gymkhana Series and XP1K Serie

     

  • Lucas Oil Invades Ensenada

    Lucas Oil Invades Ensenada

    We’ve reached many pivotal turning points for our culture. However, many go unnoticed and uncelebrated. As the first Lucas Oil Short Course event comes to Estero Beach, in Ensenada this weekend, we are at one of those moments. Off-road racing as we know and celebrate it today would not be here without Mexico. In 1962 when Dave Ekins and Billy Robertson Jr. completed the first peninsula run from Tijuana to La Paz, they birthed an idea that later spawned a culture.  What led to everything we have today could not have happened in any place other than Baja California, Mexico.

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    In 1970 in the northern woods of Wisconsin, a bunch of racers got together and created the first ever “Brush Run” that eventually led to the establishment of the infamous Crandon International Raceway. Although the first vehicles were crude “run what you brung” type vehicles, it didn’t take long for midwest races to adapt the vehicle design and technology that was being used out West to develop a whole new form of short course racing. The “Brush Run” eventually led to the SODA series which included Crandon, Bark River, Lake Geneva Raceway, Red Bud MX Track and many more. The SODA series was televised on ESPN during the 80’s and 90’s.

    Then, in 1979 Mickey Thompson decided to bring desert racing to the masses rather than “being seen by nothing but cactus and jackrabbits” and formed the Mickey Thompson Series starting with the Los Angeles Coliseum. Under Mickey Thompson’s leadership, off-road had its “Golden Years” with tons of spectators and unparalleled television coverage on ESPN, TNT and CBS.

    In 1998, CORR evolved out of the SODA series and brought outdoor short course racing to the West coast reining for nearly ten years with tracks in Primm, NV, Glen Helen, CA, Chula Vista, CA, and more. CORR was also able to get mainstream coverage of short course off-road racing to millions of fans on TV via their coverage on SPEED and game changing epic live coverage on NBC.

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    In 2009 Lucas Oil picked up the pieces and built a solid short course off-road racing league, the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series (LOORRS). Now we are in the enviable position of having six consecutive successful years of short course, with LOORRS growing every year. Lucas has had consistent TV coverage on NBC, CBS and MAV TV, reaching millions of new fans. The challenge now is not stability, rather expansion.

    Targeting the fastest growing segment of the population of America (Hispanics) via racing in the third largest city in Baja is an obvious next move. Not to mention the fact that 30 million people a year pass through Baja via Tijuana, the busiest land border crossing in the world. So, if we can convert a small percentage of those people to off-road racing enthusiasts, we have a game changer.

    CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON RACE-DEZERT.COM

    Gates open to the public at 8:00am Saturday August 1st and Sunday August 2nd.

    Click here for the full schedule of events.

    Click here for ticket information.

    About Race-Dezert.com
    Race-Dezert.com was created by off-road enthusiasts, giving off-roaders a place online to share information about the sport and culture of off-road racing.  Based in Southern California, Race-Dezert.com highlights the off-road disciplines of desert racing, short course off-road, stadium truck racing, rally raid, rally racing and rock crawling.Our goal is to connect the world of off-road racing globally, bringing people together through the common denominator of off-road culture.  Whether you are a racer, a promoter, a chase team member, a casual fan, or just interested in learning about off-road, Race-Dezert.com is a place where you can learn about the sport and culture of off-road racing.

     

  • A Busy Two Weeks Ahead at FC4x4

    A Busy Two Weeks Ahead at FC4x4

    Over the next two weeks, the Four Corners 4×4 team will have a busy schedule as we travel to and compete in Goldendale, Washington; visit our marketing partner Superchips at their offices in Ogden, Utah; and attend the 49th All-4-Fun event in Chaffee County, Colorado.

    Team Four Corners 4×4 will compete August 1st & 2nd at the W.E.ROCK Western Series rock crawling event in Goldendale, Washington. Jason and Rick currently sit at the top of the points for the ModStock Class and look forward to closing the Western Series out with a 1st place class title and potential 1st place National Title.

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    On the way to Goldendale, the team will take some time to stop by one of their primary sponsors, Superchips, located in Ogden, Utah.  Superchips is the industry leader in automotive tuning for trucks and Jeep vehicles.

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    Upon returning from the W.E.ROCK competition in Goldendale, the team will showcase the #4678 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited race car at the 49th All-4-Fun event being held near Buena Vista, Colorado. This is an annual family oriented event that gathers Jeep and 4WD enthusiasts from all over North America to enjoy the off road trails throughout Colorado.

    Next up, the team will be busy preparing for the final race of our 2015 schedule, the Dirt Riot Mountain & Southwest Series #3 event to be held August 22nd in Grand Junction, Colorado.

  • Healy Repeats Win at Glen Helen

    Healy Repeats Win at Glen Helen

    July 12th, 2015 GLEN HELEN, CA:  Both ULTRA4 drivers and fans lucked out last weekend with below average temperatures for the 5th Annual 4 Wheel Parts Glen Helen Grand Prix.  The event continues to be the largest ULTRA4 regional race in the series with nearly 120 cars registered in 7 classes.  Loren Healy continues to be the man to beat in the 4400 unlimited class. It’s been almost a year to the day since Healy debuted his new IFS #67 car with a win at Glen Helen, and Healy showed up in San Bernardino prepared to defend that win.

    2009 King of The Hammers winner, #76 Jason Scherer had the fastest lap in qualifying by nearly 5 seconds winning the Billet Rifle Systems Hot Shot Award.  #67 Loren Healy and #321 Tom Wayes both lead their prelims Saturday morning  which had Healy on the pole and Wayes starting just seconds behind him for the 40-car main event.  Early in the race, competition was tight with Healy leading the pack.  Many cars succumbed to mechanical failures in the first hour of the two hour long race.  Healy too had to stop for a tire change and Wayland Campbell took the lead in his new-to-him single seat IFS car.  After several laps and Wayland experiencing some mechanical issues of his own, Healy regained the lead and never looked back. The Red Dragon once again proving unstoppable in a regional race.  When the checkered flag dropped, it was #67 Loren Healy in 1st, #966 Jason Blanton in 2nd and #27 Jon Cagliero 3rd. This was both Blanton and Cagliero’s first time nabbing a podium finish in an ULTRA4 event.

    Nearly 40 cars entered the track in the multi-class limited race which began with a moment of silence for two ULTRA4 team members that had passed since the last ULTRA4 race, driver for the #689 car, Cody McBride, and crew chief for the #4540 car, MoparNorm Layton. The limited race was lead by motocross legend Ricky Johnson in a 4700 spec car. He and fellow spec car driver Bailey Cole would battle it out throughout the race with #4748 Johnson taking 1st, #4703 Cole 2nd and  #4708 Rowdy Trubenbach taking 3rd for the spec class. In the 4500 modified class, the Beast from the East, #4580 Jordan Townsend dominated and earned first followed by #13 Justin Hall and #4540 Mike Bedwell  in third after overoming multiple mechanical issues to take his first podium in ULTRA4. In the 4800 legends class, the racing was tight throughout the hour and a half main event with the majority of the cars traversing the track in a tight pack throughout the race. Ultimately, Dave Schneider in the 4871 took the checkered followed by #4823 Jade Wickham and #444 Rick Waterbury in 3rd. In the 4600 class, #4612 Ben Varozza, who is no stranger to the podium, clinched another first place with #4696 Sean MacNamara in 2nd and #4672 Brian Hays taking 3rd.

    17 UTVs raced at Glen Helen making it one of the largest UTV races outside of King of The Hammers for ULTRA4 Racing.  John Duckworth took the checkered flag in the pro class, with Buzz Bronsema in 2nd and newcomer to the UTV class, JP Gomez clinching 3rd. In the UTV Sportsman class, Brendan Child scored his first ULTRA4 win, followed by Brian Hogue and Nathan Unruh.

    In the Nitto National Championship series Derek West has continued to consistently finish in the top 5 maintaining a significant lead in points over Shirley and Wayland Campbell.  Next week’s Sturgis Off Road Blowout will be the first time the majority of the series points leaders have completed 3 regional races. The Nitto National Championship consists of the Nitto King of The Hammers, 3 best regional races and the Nitto National Championship, and after next week’s race the race for the championship will be on, with the top drivers striving to gain points before Nationals in October.

    The next race in the ULTRA4 Nitto National Championship will be next weekend’s Sturgis Off Road Blowout July 31st and August 2nd. The next Trail-Gear regional race is the Fallon 250 at the end of August. For more information on ULTRA4 Racing please visit www.ultra4racing.com

  • Patrick Clark Faces Carnage in Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series

    Patrick Clark Faces Carnage in Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series

    unnamedAs the first half of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series is now set in the off-road racing history books, its time to take a quick look back at how this season has treated Patrick Clark Racing and where they plan to go as they get ready to conquer rounds 9&10 this weekend in Glen Helen.

    Patrick Clark pulled off his first ever win in his #25 Budweiser/PCR Pro-2 this year at round 4 and it was just the high the team needed to push forward. Always knowing they have what it takes to win, it was just a matter of when. This set Clark up in a great position points wise, but after 4 more rounds of racing it hasn’t been the easiest keeping those points.  (more…)

  • Lucas Oil targets expanding Mexico market With Off-Road Race South of the Border Aug 1-2

    Lucas Oil targets expanding Mexico market With Off-Road Race South of the Border Aug 1-2

    Corona, Ca (July 15, 2015): On Saturday andSunday, August 1-2, the best short-course off road racers and teams in the world will head south of the border to Mexico to make history at the inaugural two-day the Rockstar Energy “South of the Border Battle.”

    The event, on the new Baja International Short Course at Estero Beach, Baja California, Mexico, will be rounds 11 and 12 of the 2015 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by GEICO. The four professional classes – Pro 2, Pro 4, Pro Lite and Pro Buggy – will compete outside the U.S for the first time. The races will be run on a purpose-built, 1-mile track complete with whoops, berms, jumps and high-speed straightaways before an anticipated audience of more than 10,000 very knowledgeable off-road racing fans. MAVTV Motorsports Network will televise all the action from the resort facility about 8 miles south of the city of Ensenada.

    “Mexico is a very important market for Lucas Oil,” said Lucas Oil Products, Inc., Executive Vice President, Bob Patison. “Six of our top 100 global customers are based in Mexico, so we are very excited to be able to export two rounds of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series across the USA/Mexico border for the first time.”

    Both the Pro 2 and Pro 4 classes are expected to be hotly contested by fields of off-road racing giants. Many of the top contenders race both short course and the much longer distances of the Baja 500 and Baja 1000 over natural desert terrain and they will be running against some younger stars for whom racing in Baja is more legend than fact.

    Veterans include Las Vegas’s Rob MacCachren, with more than 200 short course and desert victories including the 2013 and 2010 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Pro 2 championships as well as the 2014 Baja 1000, and X Games star and Freestyle Motocross pioneer Brian Deegan – who has claimed six Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series titles in Pro 2 and Pro Lite.

    Kyle LeDuc, from Beaumont, Ca., captured his second Pro 4 championship in 2014 and is continuing his winning ways while leading the 2015 Pro 4 standings. Other established stars involved in tight battles in either Pro 2 or Pro 4 or both include multi-time champion Carl Renezeder of Laguna Beach, Ca., and former “King Of Supercross” Jeremy McGrath of Encinitas, Ca.

    Up and coming stars sure to figure in the 2015 Championships include Bryce Menzies of Las Vegas, RJ Anderson of Riverside, Ca. and hometown star Rodrigo Ampudia, whose Pro 2 truck flies the colors of Ensenada’s iconic “Papas&Beer” cantina.

    “The Rockstar Energy ‘South of the Border Battle’ will be a milestone in closed-course off road racing,” Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Director Ritchie Lewis said. “The Baja fans are so knowledgeable and partisan, and with ‘favorite son’ Rodrigo Ampudia currently in the top five in the Pro 2 standings we expect racing fireworks.”

     

    2015 – Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Schedule

     

    Date

    Track

    Class
    Mar 20 – 21 Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park
    Lake Elsinore, CA    		 Pro: All / Kart: All
    Apr 24 – 25 Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park
    Chandler, AZ    		 Pro: All / Kart: All
    May 30 – 31 Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park
    Lake Elsinore, CA    		 Pro: All / Kart: All
    Jun 20 – 21 Miller Motorsports Park
    Tooele, UT    		 Pro: All / Kart: Modified Kart Only
    Jul 18 – 19 Glen Helen Raceway
    Glen Helen, CA    		 Pro: All / Kart: All
    Aug 1 – 2 Baja International Short Course at Estero Beach  Pro: All / Kart: Modified Kart Only
    Aug 22 – 23 Wild West Motorsports Park
    Sparks, Nevada    		 Pro: All / Kart: Modified Kart Only
    Sep 18 – 19 Las Vegas Motor Speedway
    Las Vegas, NV    		 Pro: All / Kart: Modified Kart Only
    Oct 24 – 25 Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park
    Lake Elsinore, CA    		 Pro: All / Kart: All

     

    Lucas Oil Products, Inc., is the world leader in the production of high performance lubricants and problem solving additives. The company markets 272 unique formulations in forty countries. In the USA, Lucas Oil is sold in more than 30,000 auto parts stores and at every truck stop nationwide displaying the biggest variety of shelf products of any oil company.