Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series pre-Las Vegas notebook

With three points-paying races left as the series heads to Rounds 13 and 14, two title chases are getting tighter while a couple of people could leave the next rounds at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as champions.

With his utter dominance of Pro 4, few would have predicted that Kyle LeDuc wouldn’t head to the final round at Lake Elsinore already the undisputed champion. However, the picture got considerably cloudier in Rounds 11 and 12 at Wild West Motorsport Park in Sparks, Nev. Not only was LeDuc’s streak broken, first by Rob MacCachren and then Doug Fortin, but a couple of mechanical failures led to mediocre finishes and LeDuc has only a 34-point advantage over MacCachren. While a resumption of form for LeDuc and a bad weekend for MacCachren at Vegas could gift LeDuc the title leaving Sin City, that outcome is unlikely. Ricky Johnson is still in with an outside shot at the title, but only if LeDuc and MacCachren DNF early in every remaining races.

Likewise, it will be almost impossible for the title in Pro Lite to be clear before the dust settles in Lake Elsinore. That battle tightened up considerably in northern Nevada with points leader Sheldon Creed having a weekend to forget and Brian Deegan achieving near perfection with a pair of 51-point (out of a possible 52) races. The veteran and the upstart are now separated by a single point.

On the other hand, Deegan will likely head back to his home track in Southern California as the once-again Pro 2 champion (pictured). He can even lose points to Bryce Menzies and still come out with a 52-point lead, meaning it will be impossible to overtake him in the final round. A pair of sevenths will be all it takes for him to seal the deal in Las Vegas.

The same is true for Chad George. If he just maintains, or even loses a bit of, his lead to defending Pro Buggy champion Steven Greinke, he’ll mark his return to short course off road with another title. He currently has a 65-point lead.

Rounds 13 and 14 take place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sept. 19-20. Both rounds are night races.

New and Returning Faces

Three races is the most a driver can have in a class and still be considered a rookie for the next season, so the final rounds of the year often features racers dipping a toe into the waters of the next class in which they hope to compete.

Brock Heger, the leader in the Modified Kart standings, is expected to enter Pro Lite with his Ultra Motorsports truck. Heger has a 49-point lead, so he’s in good shape for the Mod Kart title as he looks to move into Pro Lite next year. He’s raced the Pro Lite at a few Lucas Oil Regional Off Road Series SoCal races, turning good lap times.

None are rookies, but Pro Lite is also expected to see the return of a couple of drivers that haven’t raced for a while, Jerett Brooks and Doug Mittag. In addition, former Super Lite and Pro 2 racer Jeremy Stenberg is expected to compete.

New Sheriff in Tech

Longtime LOORRS technical director Gary Lane has taken a step back from that role. Former SCORE International tech director and founder of fabricator SPD products Bill Savage has stepped in.

As the competitors in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series upped their creativity, it was getting harder and harder to keep tabs on what was going on. So Lane was seeking some new ideas. The two shared the position for the first part of the season, with Lane turning it over to Savage at Utah. Lane will still be working with the series, including stints driving the pace truck.

Savage, whose company has built race cars and trucks and also worked on projects for NASA and Boeing, has fit into the job well so far. Time will tell if the creativity of the truck builders will continue unfettered.