PREVIEW: 2016 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series

The 2016 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series gets underway this weekend at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Ariz., and a host of returning champions and new faces are hoping to make their mark on the series from the beginning and contend for titles when the short course off road racing series returns to the track in October for the finale.

In between, at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park, Tooele Motorsports Campus in Utah, the Baja International Short Course in Ensenada, Glen Helen Raceway in Southern California and Wild West Motorsports Park in Reno/Sparks, Nev., they will scrap for every point and every podium finish they can get. The changes in the off season are numerous, making it hard to predict who will end up on the box most often and perhaps walk away with a championship at year's end.

Except maybe in Pro 4. If Kyle LeDuc maintains his form, he'll be unstoppable. Even if Rob MacCachren (ABOVE), Carl Renezeder, Bryce Menzies, Eric Barron, Greg Adler and Doug Fortin step up their game appreciably, it won't be enough to stop the Monster Energy/Toyo Ford. Renezeder (2), MacCachren (1) and Menzies (1) were the only drivers to steal a victory from LeDuc in 2015, but they'll all have to do better than the occasional win. Multi-time LOORRS champ in Pro 2 and Pro Lite, Brian Deegan, who introduced a Pro 4 truck to his program last year, may not be in for the entire season due to conflicts with another series, so isn't likely to be a contender for the title.

With Deegan not in the Pro 2 title hunt, it will likely come down to last year's top five, plus one, in the fight for the championship. A little luck either way could have shifted the title from Rockstar Energy/Makita Tools Ford driver Rob MacCachren to Red Bull's Bryce Menzies. Both were regular winners in 2015, and MacCachren has the opportunity to become the first four-time LOORRS champion in a single class if LeDuc doesn't beat him to it. But Patrick Clark is hungry for more after getting a taste of the top in 2015, and Lucas Oil's Carl Renezeder is making a big move back to BFGoodrich Tires, seeking a return to top form.

Jeremy McGrath had an impressive start to 2015, including a win in Tooele, but things went south in the second half of the season. That takes car of last year's top five. The Plus One is RJ Anderson. The 2015 and two-time Pro-Lite champion is concentrating on Pro 2 – he's handing the Pro Lite over to younger brother Ronnie – and joining the Rockstar Energy camp. He took his first Pro 2 victory last year, and putting all his efforts into the big truck could pay dividends.

Pro Lite will be without a previous champion for the first time since 2010, so this race could be wide open. Brandon Arthur has been on the cusp of greatness, and this could be his year to break through. But he's going to have a host of tough competitors to battle to make that happen. Jerrett Brooks returned to the series full time in 2015 and made quite the impression, finishing second to Anderson. And newcomer Brad DeBerti stunned the Pro Lite field with wins in the opening weekend at Lake Elsinore. Any of these three could claim the title, but it would be a mistake to exclude Doug Mittag, who returns to the series in 2016.

Brock Heger graduated from Trophy Karts in 2015 and showed some flashes of brilliance. It will be interesting to see what he learned in his first year of racing trucks. He'll be joined in 2016 by fellow kart graduates Broc Dickerson and Travis PeCoy. Finally, Ronnie Anderson has a fast, proven truck. The season will tell if brother RJ also handed down some talent as well.

Until 2015 champion Garrett George broke it open at the end of the season, Pro Buggy was the tightest of the classes all season long. Along with cousin and Funco teammate Chad George, and Mike Valentine, it was a thrilling fight all season long. If Valentine can improve his consistency, He'll give the Funco boys a hard time. Of course, the same could be said for Dave Mason, Kevin McCullough and Darren Hardesty. This class was the most likely to provide a different winner each race in 2015, and 2016 looks to be little different.

The races will be televised on a delayed basis on several networks. However, they will also be streamed live on LucasOilRacing.tv, which can be accessed through any browser or on several devices such as Roku, Amazon FireTV and Google Nexus Player. Apps for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire are in development.

2016 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series schedule:

March 19-20, Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, Chandler, Ariz.
April 23-24, Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park, Lake Elsinore, Calif.
May 21-22, Utah Motorsports Campus, Tooele, Utah
June 18-19, Baja International Short Course at Estero Beach, Ensenada, Mexico
July 23-24, Glen Helen Raceway, San Bernardino, Calif.
Aug. 13-14, Wild West Motorsports Park, Sparks, Nev.
Sept. 23-24, Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park, Lake Elsinore, Calif.
Oct. 22-23, Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, C