The Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, (LOORRS), will be staging rounds five and six of their high energy brand of short course off road racing during the weekend of June 27th and 28th. The battleground for this wheel to wheel, dirt slinging, brand of excitement will be at the always challenging Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex in beautiful Lake Elsinore-California.
A big part of this weekend is going to be the guaranteed fan excitement racing from the LOORRS' Unlimited Four and Two truck classes. These two full sized truck classes features some of the best off road driving talent in the country. The two racing classes are combined with veteran champions with decades of experience along with starry eyed newcomers who are looking to launch their off road careers.
There are only two basic differences between the two classes. The first is four wheel drive versus two wheel drive trucks. There are also some slight differences between body width and overall weight. Other than that both classes features full sized trucks and are considered to be open production divisions. There is no limit to horsepower , however horsepower on the trucks generally ranges from 700 to 900 horsepower.
The competition in these two unlimited classes is intense and the race results has created some rather interesting championship points scenarios as LOORRS approaches the halfway point in their season.
This is especially true of of the Unlimited Two trucks who has enjoyed an extremely healthy vehicle count. Going into the Lake Elsinore weekend there are only 20 points separating the top six in the points standings. In this rough and tumble form of off road racing a 20 point deficit can be easily made up within the course of a single race weekend.
Jerry Whelchel, a 30 year off road racing veteran, currently leads the Unlimited Two standings with 173 points. Whelchel vaulted himself to the top of the standings with a very impressive round three win last month in Surprise-Arizona.
Whelchel will have to keep close tabs of his chief source of competition when LOORRS moves on to Lake Elsinore. That would be veteran Carl Renezeder. With five national titles and 81 feature wines in short course racing, Renezeder is a threat to lead a podium finish on any given weekend. He won the first two rounds, in Primm-Nevada, and now has 168 points just five markers behind Whelchel.
Not to be overlooked here is the presence of Scott Schovajsa. He only has one podium, or top three, finish but his top five finish consistency has been most impressive and that's why he sitting third in the standings just seven markers away from the leader.
The same can be said for veteran Jeff Ward whose resume ranges from every form of off road racing that you could name all the way to the Indy 500. Ward may still be looking for that first series podium, but he has compiled three top fives in the first four rounds and that places him nine points away from the top of the standings.
Also a factor here is Greg Adler. With one podium, combined with some finish consistency, Adler is fifth in the standings just 11 points away from the top. Rodrigo Ampudia is ranked sixth and 20 points from the leader. The talented young driver from Mexico has seen some roller coaster results in his LOORRS season. He has two podiums but has suffered some bad racing luck during the other two rounds. Two consistent finishes at Lake Elsinore could see this young driver race up the standings.
The LOORRS Unlimited Four class also will feature a still too close to call championship points tally when the teams arrive in Lake Elsinore. The always formidable Carl Renezeder is also a major factor in this racing class as well. The Laguna Beach-California veteran has won three of the four rounds this year and has accumulated 198 championship points.
However Alan Pflueger, Renezeder's team mate, is only nine points away. "The Flying Hawaiian" has 189 points and four podiums. Those numbers were greatly aided by two consecutive second place finishes during the Surprise-Arizona weekend. LOORRS fans are still talking about the exciting conclusion of the round four race when the pair of team mates raced door to door all the way to the checkers. Look for more of this type of intensity at Lake Elsinore.
Not to be overlooked in this championship run is the presence of short course racing veteran Jerry Daugherty who holds down third in the standings and is only 16 points away from the top. Daugherty has two podiums in 2009 that includes a round two feature win at Primm-Nevada.
LOORRS has scheduled a special test session, June 13th, at the Lake Elsinore track.It's likely that it will be well attended by the Unlimited Two and Four teams simply because the series' rounds seven and eight will also be held there and this test will give them a leg up for both weekends.
But there's another big reason to prepare for rounds five and six in Lake Elsinore. That would be the recently announced bonus incentive being provided by E3 Spark Plugs. Recognizing that LOORRS is an outstanding format to promote their famed diamond fire technology spark plugs, E3 has provided bonus money that will pay the winners of the Unlimited Two and Four classes $10,000. The E3 bonus plan will also award $5,000 for second and $2,500 for third.
The LOORRS rounds one through four has already been presented on "The Lucas Oil Motorsports Hour" aired by the Speed Channel. But with all due respects to an outstanding presentation, you really can't gauge the raw excitement of this racing series until you see it in person.
Any information a race fan may need, regarding the LOORRS June 27th and 28th weekend in Lake Elsinore, can be obtained by dialing up their official website at www.lucasoiloffroad.com.
