Bryce Menzies gets it up on two wheels en route to his two Unlimted 2 victories over the weekend.

CORR spent several years ignoring the Arizona off-road market despite locals knowing it would be successful, but CORR has gone the way of the dinosaurs and the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series (LOORRS) took a chance and held Round 3 and 4 of the new series at the Speedworld Motorsports Complex in Surprise, AZ. That gamble paid off in spades with a sellout crowd for both rounds. Fast forward to present day and rounds 9 and 10 - the series made its return to Arizona with thousands more seats, more RV parking and more success. By the end of the weekend, new winners were be crowned, clean racecars would be crashed and a fistfight was narrowly avoided in turn one.

The series runs on three tracks throughout the 2009 season and each is unique in its own way, but Speedworld is unlike any other short-course track thanks to the menacing moguls between turns three and four. While the bumps have been shaved down and tamed from the first race months ago, they still took their toll on several racers.

Friday opened with two practice sessions and qualifying on the one-mile dirt track, and the track handed out crashes like food samples at Costco. Parker Grabowski (UL), Jesse Jones (U2), Josh Merrel (U4) and Jerry Daugherty (U4) all went wheels up in the tight hairpin of turn four. Jones rolled twice midair and stuck the landing rubber side down with the style of an Olympic gymnast, but the most carnage belonged to Daugherty. 

Miss-timed jumps and crashed were par for the course during the weekend in Surprise, Arizona.

“We have been chasing our truck and doing some things wrong.” Daugherty said after the crash. “We tried to make it stiffer thinking that would help get us through some of the ruts but we were way off.  The truck just hooks and rotates hard in the corners. I got Bill Smith to come down and help us out with the setup. We were 150-200 pounds off on all the spring rates. We have a lot of that sorted out now.” 

The damage was enough for Daugherty to switch to his backup truck for the rest of the weekend. 

“I’m running the spare truck now,” he said. “We could have fixed it but I built a spare truck for this reason so we don’t kill ourselves at the race track.”

The crowd was sparse on Friday, but when the mains started on Saturday the grandstands were full of fans ready for close wheel-to-wheel racing and flying fiberglass. Opening ceremonies began at 2:30 on Saturday and went right into the Unlimited 4 race. Tim Herbst started on the front row with Travis Coyne and Herbst got the holeshot and beat Coyne into turn one, but Coyne set up Herbst and passed him in turn two on the second lap. From there Coyne held the lead and put ground on the field with each lap.

Chris Brandt rebounded from a poor showing on Saturday to win on Sunday in Unlimited Lite.

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Carl Renezeder made three podiums but earned only one victory in Unlimited 4 at Speedworld.

Behind the leader Renezeder, Cenni and Tim Herbst all battled for second. At the mandatory caution flag it was Coyne, Renezeder, Tim Herbst and Alan Pflueger. Coyne got a clean start and held the lead at first but lost it in turn two. 

“I came into two a bit hot and got up on the bike,” Coyne said after the race. “When I came down I was back in fourth.” Coyne switched to a new Greaves built Unlimited 4 early in the season and is still coming to grips with the handling and weight of the new chassis.

Renezeder never looked back after taking the lead leaving the rest of the field clawing for second. When the checkers flew it was Renezeder, Alan Pflueger and Bryce Menzies (in Coyne’s old U4) atop the podium.

Brian Deegan earned the victory in Unlimited Lite at Round 9 of the LOORRS Series.

Unlimited Lite had a healthy field of 16 trucks, and it was Matt Loiodice who took the early lead followed by Rob Naughton and Chris Brandt. On Lap 6 Loiodice and Naughton got together and Loiodice rolled as a result. At the caution it was Brandt, Brian Deegan, Todd Cuffaro and Parker Grabowski, respectively. Deegan took the lead on the restart and held it to the end of the race with Cuffaro in second. Jimmy Stephensen finished third.

The final race of the day was Unlimited 2. Scheduled to go green at 4:45, the race was delayed and did not start until after 5:30. By that time the sun was very low in the October sky, which caused some visibility problems for the racers. Seventeen trucks started the race, but it was red flagged before the pack reached turn two. Just past the start line Dale Dondel launched off the front straight jump and promptly came down nose first, landing on the grill and going over. Jeff Seifert was right behind Dondel and, with nowhere to go, he hit Dondel while vertical.

Kevin Probst took the holeshot on the restart followed by Bryce Menzies and Greg Adler in second and third, respectively. Probst was running strong until he got a flat on lap five to han Menzies the lead. On the same lap, Renezeder moved from fourth to second passing Adler in third and they went into the caution in the same order. On the restart they held the same positions until lap 14 when Adler blew up his engine, which opened the door for Jeff Ward to slip into third. 

In the closing laps Menzies was feeling the pressure of a hot Renezeder behind him, but the young racer Menzies was able to hold off the veteran Renezeder for the win.

“It’s awesome, I couldn’t be happier,” Menzies said after the race. “We had a little trouble in qualifying; we came back with a win. Carl was behind me and pushing hard but I stuck with it and got a win.  He had gotten to me once when I made a mistake. I knew he was back there but I held it tight and came home with the win.”

The action, temperature and tempers would heat up even more during Round 10 on Sunday. In the morning, the LOORRS staff changed the day’s schedule moving it up 30 minutes after some complaints of vision problems from the sun during Round 9. Despite the schedule changes by the end of the day, the final race started over 45 minutes late.  While LOORRS does many things well, being on time and sticking to the published schedule is not one of them.

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Adrian Cenni showed he has the skills to win, earning a victory in Unlimited 4 on Sunday.

As with the day before, Opening Ceremonies were followed by the Unlimited 4 race.  Round 10 saw Adrian Cenni go from the “wild man” to the “mild man.” On the start, Cenni took the holeshot followed by Pflueger, Renezeder and Coyne. Renezeder made the pass into second place on lap two, and Tim Herbst moved up to fourth on lap five. They stayed in that order at the caution and the restart. At that point, Troy Herbst had moved to fifth behind his brother Tim but both pulled into the hot pits on lap 10. 

In the closing laps, Cenni’s large lead was being whittled away by Renezeder as he gained ground. The two went through the sweeper (turn six) side by side on the final lap, but Renezeder came up just short and had to settle for second. Pflueger filled in the final podium spot by finishing in third.  After the race, Cenni was happy with the win and noted that starting up front certainly helps.

“It helps starting on the front row obviously,” Cenni said. “I got around Alan [Pflueger] and then just basically pulled out a good lead. Some ruts and holes started to develop so in the second half of the race. I ran conservative and strong. I could see Carl [Renezeder] making up ground. The only place I was weak was the sweeper (turn 6), I was pushing really bad. Everywhere else he didn’t have anything for me. I gave him the inside on the sweeper except on the last lap. I knew if he was going to get around me I knew it would be there. He tried but it was too little too late.”   

Kevin Probst earned second place in Unlimited 2 on Sunday at Round 10.

When asked about driving a more conservative race than he is known for, Cenni said, “For the first half I was pushing hard, and then I got more conservative when I saw the holes and ruts. Carl was running clean and if I needed to step it up and take a chance I could have.”

In Sunday’s Unlimited Lite race, Deegan took an early lead again after getting the holeshot but Heath Carpenter and Chris Brandt were hot on his heels. On lap seven, Deegan hit Jacob Peron and dropped back to third. Brandt took the lead on the restart with Deegan in second and Capenter in third until he went out on lap 14 with a fire.  Chuck Dempsey made a charge to the front and was up to third on the last lap before giving up the position to Todd Cuffaro after a mistake.

This ugly crash between Greg Adler and Jerry Whelchel slowed action in Unlimited 2 on Sunday.

The Unlimited 2 race in Round 10 proved to be the most exciting and controversial of the year. The track was heavily watered and grip was scarce, as the racers did numerous laps behind the pace truck. When the green flag waved, the trucks barreled into turn one followed by a huge cloud of dust. When it settled, Greg Adler was upside down with Jerry Whelchel parked on top of him. Before the trucks were even pulled apart the drivers were out of the truck and exchanging words in a heated discussion. It degenerated to the point where Whelchel charged Adler with fists flying but he was held back by track workers before a punch could connect. The two came close to blows several times before Whelchel walked off the track with LOORRS staff.

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Both Adler (third from left) and Whelchel (far right) were heated after their crash on Sunday.

Both drivers had much to say after the incident. We were able to talk to Adler in the pits to explain his side of the situation.

“He claimed we got together in turn two on the start; it was a melee out there,” Adler said. “I heard Robbie [Pierce] spun and I was just trying to drive a straight line. I got hit and broke a tie rod, but I didn’t know right away, and when I went into the whoops I knew I was in trouble and I just tried to nurse it around. Whelchel assumed whatever happened was on purpose like I was trying to take him out. So he waited a whole lap to come around and he just belted the shit out of me.  He hit me in the rear at full speed while I was limping in turn one.

“He whacked me super hard and was hooked up to me; I tried to turn to get into the hot pits wondering who is the idiot that just smacked me, because I am clearly at half speed.  Then I realized whoever it was was hooked up to me. They stayed on the gas and put me up on my roof.  The truck is leaking gas, and it’s hot and I get out and ask Jerry, what the f&%k are you thinking?  He says you got into me.”

“I heard his truck was totally fine. I knew it wasn’t a stuck throttle but I thought maybe he got screwed up, he might have had something broken but I heard it was fine. It just makes Jerry look that much more stupid. He was mad and I was mad. He’s a f&$#ing idiot and you can quote me on that.  If he wants to talk about it man to man, face to face anytime and not use a 5000-pound truck to do it I’m open. I had a lot of respect for Jerry up until a few hours ago.”

Bryce Menzies' two wins put him in great shape heading into the final race weekend of the season.

Whelchel left the track shortly after the incident but I spoke with him on the phone this morning about it. 

“The track was wet and we scraped off the track for a few laps that did nothing. When the green dropped, Adler and Ampudia came barreling through as we went into turn one.  Adler was using everyone for brakes in turn one and two.  Exiting two he hit me and spun me around.  He slammed into the back of me and spun me off the jump sideways.  I knew Tony [Vanillo] would not do anything so I hit him coming into turn one on the next lap.”

“I didn’t even know he was over and I was on top of him. It was worse than I wanted it to be. I just wanted to spin him; I did not want to flip him. It was going too far and it was an accident, but Ampudia and Adler need to give it a lap or two to sort out then go racing. I got out of my truck and asked if Greg was ok then let him have it. I didn’t want to hurt him.”

Whelchel was critical of LOORRS Director Tony Vanillo as well. 

“As long as he has a good show [he] won’t do anything,” he said. “He needs to take action when people are taken out.  In Round 9, Ampudia was all over me and spun me and then hit Jesse [Jones] while we were racing. No black flag. There is a bit too much contact. I’m all for door banging, but spinning people out is going too far.”

After a significant delay to clean up the mess in turn one, the trucks were staged and took the green flag again. Jeff Ward took the lead and was putting distance on the pack fighting for second, which included Carl Renezeder, Kevin Probst and Bryce Menzies.  At the caution it was Ward, Probst, Menzies and Ampudia. Ward held the lead on the restart but he got up on the bike at the tabletop between three and four dropping back to fourth. Probst held the lead but with four laps to go Menzies put a move on him to take the lead. Menzies held the lead to the finish with Probst in tow. Ward moved up into third with two to go and held it.

Menzies’ sweep on Rounds 9 and 10 gives him three Unlimited 2 wins out of four held at Speedworld, and it puts him squarely in the points championship chase with two rounds to go. 

The season finale will take place November 14-15 in Primm, Nevada.