Lucas Oil Off Road: Dodging thunderstorms at Glen Helen

Rain and Lightning keep the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series competition to a single round at Glen Helen Raceway.

With Southern California facing record drought and a wildfire raging a few miles north of Glen Helen Raceway, a rare July rainstorm was very welcome; the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series racers and fans just wish the timing could have been a bit different.

The Friday evening practice rounds for the iON Cameras Golden State Off Road Nationals presented by LoanMart at Glen Helen Raceway in Devore, Calif., went off without a hitch. But as crews arrived at the track on Saturday morning to prepare for Round 9 of the series, they were greeted by rains that left the track a soupy mess. That cancelled Saturday's practice, and another storm moving through as qualifying was supposed to start put play to that as well. So competitors would start the Saturday night races based on points. However, more rain, including lightning, was coming, and with a track that would have been a mudpit, along with the lightning keeping fans out of the grandstands and TV crews and officials out of the towers – not to mention no lights to light the way – the decision was made to postpone Saturday night's Round 9 to Sunday morning, with the idea to run two rounds on Sunday, with no qualifying and all races set on points.

Fortunately Sunday dawned warm and sunny, with a track that Competition Director Greg Foutz described as "Much better than I expected," thanks in large part to the work the track prep crews had done. It was, indeed, time to go racing, although the drivers would be facing a track very different from the one they had practiced on, and with very few laps with which to dial in a setup.

"The track came around pretty good," said Rob MacCachren after the Pro 4 race. "It was pretty heavy on the outside, and it narrowed up the lane a little bit. We practiced on Friday and our truck wasn't very good. We made some changes and we kind of missed it. I was out there struggling quite a bit trying to keep the pace."

With qualifying scrubbed, having the grid set on points was about the worst possible thing for any Pro 4 competitors not named Kyle LeDuc. The driver of the No. 99 Monster Energy/Toyo Tires Ford he calls "Steelo" has dominated the season, and with him starting up front, this time would be no different. He pulled out an early lead, and seemed to have no trouble doing so after each caution. His only real challenge came late in the race from an unexpected source.

Brian Deegan has struggled since adding the Pro 4 to the program, but he seemed to have found something at Glen Helen, and was especially fast through the tricky rhythm section and the ensuing Turn 3 that has tripped up a lot of drivers. Starting well back thanks to being seventh in the standings, he steadily marched forward until he was in second and gaining on LeDuc. However, in order to keep the schedule moving and get in two rounds on the same day, all the races had been shortened by two laps, robbing fans of seeing whether Deegan really had something for LeDuc, or if LeDuc was relaxing a bit to cruise to the finish. Either way, Deegan had his best Pro 4 finish to date, followed by MacCachren in third.

"I was playing a little nice at first," said Deegan. "Well, if no one else is playing nice, it's time to play the same. It was fun, aggressive racing, It gets your blood going. I had Ricky Johnson on the mic spotting for me, and he said, 'Dude, are you going to get after it or what?' Alright, he made he call. So we started going to the front, I wish I had a few more laps to make it an interesting race up there."

As LeDuc dominated in Pro 4, it appeared that Pro Lite was going to be an all-Jerett Brooks affair. The points leader led almost the entire race, through numerous restarts, despite pressure from RJ Anderson. Brandon Arthur came up from sixth to add to the mix in third. They ran that way for most of the race until the penultimate restart, when Anderson got a run on Brooks and made the pass. Arthur also got by Brooks to claim second, and that was the top three, with Anderson taking his fourth win of the season in the No. 37 LoanMart/Walker Evans Racing Nissan and closing the points battle.

"The front straightaway is an awkward spot for a pass," said Anderson on the podium. "Jerett had me at the start of the race, he'd pull away at every start and I was eating a ton of dirt out there. But a couple of yellows helped me gather it back up. We got some lines figured out, and Jerett caught a big hole out there and I was able to get under him and put the LoanMart truck up in front. This track is so brutal, it's hard to make passes."

If any class can manage a full race without a caution, it's usually Pro Buggy, and that's what they did on Sunday afternoon. Garrett George jumped into the lead in the No. 71 AlarmCo/Anenberg Funco and ran to the finish, leading cousin Chad George and Darren Hardesty Jr., who took third from Dave Mason Jr. when Mason seemed to suffer a mechanical problem.

Mechanical problems were the story of Pro 2. Points leader Bryce Menzies jumped out in front with MacCachren and Rodrigo Ampudia in tow. That only lasted a lap, as he suddenly slowed with an engine issue, allowing the field past. Ampudia then started a charge at MacCachren, but he, too, fell by the wayside with a mechanical issue, leaving Carl Renezeder in second and Deegan in third. MacCachren cruised to the win in the No. 21 Rockstar Energy/Makita Ford, taking the Pro 2 points lead over the sidelined Menzies in the process.

The crews would only have a short time to turn around their trucks and buggies before Round 10 races began that evening. However, a blessing for parched Southern California proved to be a curse for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by GEICO competitors and fans, as more thunderstorms moved into the area and once again scrubbed the evening's activities. As a result, Round 10 will be conducted at a later date and venue to be determined.

The next scheduled rounds for the series are at the Estero Beach Resort outside Ensenada, B.C., Mexico for the Rockstar Energy Drink Battle South of the Border on Aug. 1-2 for a pair of day races. This will be the series' first visit to Mexico and the off-road-crazy town of Ensenada.

RESULTS: Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series
Round 9
Glen Helen Raceway

Pro 4: Kyle LeDuc
Pro 2: Rob MacCachren
Pro Lite: RJ Anderson
Pro Buggy: Garrett George
Mod Kart: Travis PeCoy
Junior 2 Kart: Cole Keatts
Junior 1 Kart: Kali Kinsman