Next out on track were the UTVs, and poor young Doug Mittag, who had a great break from bad luck with a big win yesterday, was right back in the barrel today, as a right rear flat sent him into the hot pits on the formation lap, and his crew, unprepared for such an incident, had no tire to give him, and he was ultimately sent back out to try and race with the flat, albeit nearly a lap down from the start. At the head of the field, front row starters Corry Weller and Robert Vanbeekum ran one-two after the first lap, with Code Rahders, John Dempsey, and Tyler Winbury in tow.
First out onto the full-length track were the two UTV classes, again running in tandem, the SR1 and Unlimited UTVs. Ryan Beat qualified quickest of all yesterday, but after a six-position inversion of the qualifying results, Beat would start sixth this afternoon. Sixth wasn’t too much for Beat, though, as he blitzed through the field and moved right into the lead on the opening lap in his #851 Hart and Huntington/Black Rhino Kawasaki.
The Lucas Oil Regional Off Road Series released the 2012 regional schedule today for both Arizona and Southern California with Utah dates TBA. The Lucas Oil Regional Off Road Series Arizona will be hosting a 7 race series on 3 different tracks across Arizona while the Southern California series schedule will see the addition of the new and improved Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park to join Glen Helen Raceway on its 6 race schedule.
Stronghold Motorsports is headed to Phoenix, Arizona's Firebird Raceway to stake its claim on the largest cumulative purse in off road racing; The Lucas Oil Challenge Cup. For the Stronghold team boasting a lineup that has claimed twelve podiums through fourteen rounds of racing this season, the December 11th event represents the pursuit of a tremendous payday in a unique no holds barred all-star format.
The 2011 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Round 15 season finale and the epic action from the high stakes Lucas Oil Challenge Cup will be delivered live from Firebird International Raceway via interactive webcast this Saturday and Sunday upon LiveOnDIRT.com. Working in conjunction with Lucas Oil production as well as Ustream.TV, the hosted show will feature behind the scenes interviews and outtakes as well as real-time social media updates distributed through Facebook and Twitter. Race fans may also interact via chat.
Following a first-time public, on-line voting by several thousand racers, crews and fans for special SCORE Off-Roadsman awards, SCORE International will announce the winners during the upcoming 2011 SCORE Awards Night on Saturday. Honoring the world’s foremost desert racing series the event is returning to Southern California for the second consecutive year and will be held at the boutique-style Atrium Hotel in Irvine, Calif.
The hotshot 14-year-old Sheldon Creed cashed in on his A.M. Ortega Structural Engineering Contractor-backed effort and logged his first win in Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series competition during the whopping 17-truck LOORRS Round 14 contest. Austin Kimbrell also earned his first class podium by finishing second, while season standout Chad George jumped to the third slot upon the box. Drew Britt seized the race's fast lap in lap eight with a speed of 61.485 miles per hour and time of one minute and 4.406 seconds.
2011 SuperLite Championship standout, R.J. Anderson, who dominated the points chase earlier in the season, battled his way back to a dominant position aboard his Dethrone Royalty / Walker Evans Racing / SoCal SuperTrucks machine by snatching the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Round 13 win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and earning the race's fast lap during lap nine with a speed of 52.451 miles per hour and time of one minute and 15.499 seconds. Monster Energy Athlete, Chad George, piloted his Kawasaki-backed SuperLite to second, while season front runner, Brent Fouch, in the Forgiven Energy race truck, tallied his first podium finish in third.
SCORE International, producers of the five-race SCORE Desert Series, has announced that for the first time in SCORE history, voting for the 2011 SCORE Off-Roadsman of the Year awards is open to the general public with all voting being done only online. Voting is now open and SCORE CEO/President Sal Fish encourages participation by going to the link below. Voting will close on Friday, December 2 at 4 p.m. (PST).
After 1,762.02 dusty and rugged desert racing miles, 21 of the world’s best desert racers have survived the challenge of the five-race 2011 SCORE Desert Series to earn coveted 2011 SCORE Toyota Milestone Awards. The 21 drivers, competing in 10 different classes, earned their prestigious honors by finishing every required mile in the World’s foremost Desert Racing Series. The 2011 SCORE Desert Series ended last weekend with the 44th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.