Patrick Clark and his team made their way back to Lake Elsinore, CA for the second time this season. Rounds 5&6 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series took place May 30th-31st at the Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park, right where opening rounds took place earlier in the year. Since the start of the season, Clark has been a contender and is one driver that has now proved he has what it takes to be a threat to those who are the consistently on the podium. Clark may not have got on the podium for the weekend, but it wasn’t for his lack of effort and driving skills.
The Pro 2 Unlimited is always the premier class that closes out the show. With rounds 5&6 taking place during the day the sun always plays a factor on the course and how quick it is going to dry out and by the time the Pro 2’s took to the course, it was plagued by the hot temperatures. With sun glaring down on the drivers they took to the green flag and the all for one race was making its way around the course. With Clarks 5th place qualifying position he had a good chance to make his way towards the front.
At the start of the race Clark would fall back to 6th all while clipping on the heels of Woods who was attempting to not let Clark sneak ahead. Clark and Woods would show the crowd a great battle and as Clark put the pressure on woods on lap two it would be Clark that was able to complete the pass making his way to 5th place early on in the race. Up ahead with the leaders there was no change in position the leaders clicked down the laps.
After a full course caution to clear the track of hazardous debris the race would resume on lap 10 with the leaders still staying in the same position. Woods didn’t back down as he was giving Clark a little taste of pressure. A minor error caused Clark to go wide in turn one allowing for Woods, Deegan and Creed to make up valuable time on him. It would be in turn three where the pressure really piled on as Clark and Woods would go door to door through the turn and almost coming to a complete stop as traffic piled up behind them. Clark would be the first on the gas to pull away from what could have been a bad turn out and he continued to hold down his 5th place all the way to the checkered flag.
“Its so hard to predict what is going to happen during the race and I’m just glad that we got out of that one with the finish that we did.” Stated Clark.
Round 6 didn’t go as planned for Clark as he attempted to avoid a collision on lap one when two trucks piled up in front of him and as he tried to take the clean line, a competitor that was involved in the pile up pulled out in front of Clark and struck the front right of his truck causing damage to the tire. Clark made his way all the up to 7th position before the tire gave way on the final lap. Clark would end the weekend with a 12th place finish.
Patrick Clark Racing will now head back to the shop and prepare for the next rounds that will take place at Miller Motorsports Park just outside of Salt Lake City, UT. Three weeks of turn around time isn’t a lot for a team and it will be long days as these guys prepare at another attempt at a win in Rounds 7&8 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series.
Patrick Clark Racing would like to thank all their sponsors that make racing possible. Budweiser, PMG Companies, Nevada Beverage Company, Collins Motorsports, Method Race Wheels, Dynamic Motorsports, King Shocks, Stoney Automotive Engineering, Howe and More.
