Chaplain Steve Hanson offered a somber prayer for Rick and Jeff Huseman to open the ceremonies for the latest Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend.  The Husemans and their friend Danny Hicks died in a plane crash just three weeks prior to the race, taking away one of LeDuc Racing’s closest competitors on the track.  Kevin Huseman led the Pro4 Unlimited field around the parade lap in the No. 36 truck to pay the final respect to his lost brothers.

When the racing started, Todd LeDuc was on the front row in the No. 4 ROCKSTAR Energy Drink / Makita Power Tools Ford with his brother Kyle on the second row.  Kyle had qualified first in the No. 99 ROCKSTAR Energy Drink / Makita Power Tools F-150 and was on the outside of row two after the inversion, while their father Curt was right behind them on the third row in his No. 43 Makita Power Tools / Truxxx Ford.  Kyle and Todd ran 3-4 for the first half of the race, moving up to 2-3 in the field when Josh Merrell rolled his truck.  Unfortunately Josh was not the only one who rolled, and Curt was also on his lid half way through the race.  Fortunately his Pro Power racing engine never skipped a beat and Curt went on to finish the race once his truck was righted.

Up front Kyle and Todd remained 2-3 in their ROCKSTAR Energy Drink / Makita Power Tools trucks until the last lap, when all the competitors upped the ante fighting for position.  Kyle dove under Carl Renezeder on the second to last turn of the race to take his third straight Pro4 Unlimited win in front of a full house.  Lady Luck was not as kind to Todd , who broke a tie rod and ended up back in seventh after hard contact from Greg Adler in Travis Coyne’s truck.

From the top of the podium Kyle jumped straight into his No. 99 Pro Lite Unlimited truck with a fresh Esslinger Engineering engine that helped him qualify second.  The wildest race of the day saw Kyle bicycle the truck several times, with the Toyo Tires managing to save him on most occasions.  Kyle did end up on his lid once; putting his ROCKSTAR Energy Drink / Toyo Tires truck at the back of the pack.  Never one to give up, Kyle worked his way through the 19 truck field to finish sixth, passing two trucks on the final corner and setting the fast lap along the way.  Makita tools were buzzing in the chilly pits on Saturday night to get all four LeDuc trucks ready for the next round of racing.  Kyle got off to a fast start in Pro Lite Unlimited on Sunday, but a faulty fuel pump ended his day early.

In Pro4 Unlimited, Curt started on the pole on Sunday with Todd on the outside of row two and Kyle right behind him.  Curt LeDuc maintained the lead for the first few laps in the No. 43 Makita Power Tools / Truxxx Ford until a spectacular crash by Josh Merrell brought out the yellow flag and bunched up the field.  Curt let Kyle by but left the door open for Carl Renezeder to pass as well.  Curt remodeled the rear of Carl’s truck shortly before rolling on turn two, ending his day.  This brought out the yellow flag and put Carl in a ROCKSTAR sandwich between Kyle and Todd.  On the last lap, Carl got his revenge for Kyle stealing the win on Saturday by putting Kyle on two wheels in turn two.  The truck stalled and Kyle lost ground, but in less than a lap he managed to get back to second, narrowly beating his own brother by rubbing and banging through the l ast turn in front of a roaring crowd and adding even more hardware to the LeDuc’s crowded mantle.

Check your check your local listings for door-to-door LOORRS action on CBS, the Speed Channel , Versus, and MavTV.  There is only one round of racing left in the 2011 season and then the exciting, big money ROCKSTAR Energy Drink / Lucas Oil Challenge Cup, where Kyle LeDuc took home $45,000 in one day of racing last year.  The final race of the year is on December 10th at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, and the Cup race is the following day.  If you are in the Phoenix metro area this is one race you will absolutely not want to miss, as ROCKSTAR Energy Drink / Makita Power Tools LeDuc Racing Team pulls out all of the stops.  You can get the latest information on Team LeDuc on their Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002206672633