Team Associated/RC10.COM drivers bring home the gold in rounds 5 & 6 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series!

Rounds 5 & 6 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) kicked off at the newly transformed Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex in Southern California. Originally a longtime local motocross track, Lake Elsinore has now been made into a world-class short course racing venue specifically to hold the LOORRS races.

The Team Associated/RC10.COM drivers have done very well in the previous four rounds of racing and rounds 5 & 6 would prove to be no exception. With the additions of Sheldon Creed and the Grabowski brothers you can expect to see Team Associated/RC10.COM on the podium in the trophy kart classes as well!

Team Associated was there in full effect with a big booth filled with products and a fun demo track where both pros and Joes ran their SC10s throughout the day. Both days of the LOORRS featured a celebrity race that saw Carl Renezeder, Travis Coyne, Rob "Fig" Naughton, Jeff Ward, Alan Pflueger and Sheldon Creed racing head-to-head with SC10s. The pro racer's big truck skills don't always transfer directly to R/C skills, making for an exciting race.

A very special event for the weekend was Team Associated's world record R/C car jump. Richard 'The King' Saxton piloted the RC8B, hitting the purpose-built ramp at over 50-mph! On Sunday Richard jumped 137 feet and 4 inches, and drove the RC8B away to further entertain the crowd with more jumps and a back flip!

LOORRS round 5, Lake Elsinore, CA
Saturday round 5 got off to a good start with Team Associated/ RC10.COM driver Sheldon Creed taking the checkered flag as well as the pole in Jr. Kart 1. In Kart Modified it was Sheldon Creed again qualifying in 2nd and taking 2nd in the end.

In the Unlimited Lite class it was the seemingly unbeatable Rob Naughton who took the pole position but this was the day his luck would run out. Due to a mechanical issues Rob could not get all the power out of his four cylinders that he is accustomed to. Making due with what he had, Rob managed to drive his truck to the podium for a 3rd place finish. Freestyle MX legend Brian Deegan was stoked to take his first win of the season, and always fast Rodrigo Ampudia came in 2nd place.

The Unlimited 2 class is always very competitive and today would be no exception. Carl Renezeder showed his dominance early on taking the pole position and scoring the checkered flag. Hard charging Jerry Whelchel was fast and he wasn't going to make it easy for Carl, but today Jerry was going to have to settle for 2nd, with Greg Adler rounding it out in 3rd. We all had a little scare seeing Rodrigo Ampudia cartwheel his U2 at the end of the front straight heading into turn one. It was a really gnarly crash but we were all relieved to see Rodrigo climb out and walk away. After tearing both ends off of his truck, it would unfortunately have to spend the rest of the weekend on the trailer.

Unlimited 4 again saw Carl Renezeder qualify 1st and claim the checkered flag with Travis Coyne doing everything he could to chase him down. Travis who qualified in 2nd had to settle for 2nd place on the podium after a hard fought battle with Tim Herbst who came in 3rd place.

LOORRS round 6, Lake Elsinore, CA
In the Jr. Kart 1 class it was Sheldon Creed that had a repeat performance of the day before by again taking the pole and the win with Jack Grabowski finishing in a respectable 4th place. Kart Modified saw Sheldon again with a stellar performance qualifying 3rd and driving it all the way to victory! Way to go Sheldon!

Round 6 Unlimited Lite saw Rob "Fig" Naughton's luck take a turn for the better as they got all the mechanical problems sorted out. After qualifying in 3rd Rob "drove it like he stole it" to the top of the podium, to claim the checkered flag. Round 5 proved that Rob is beatable but it was round 6 that let us know that he's not going to let happen again anytime soon.

The Unlimited 2 class was a really exciting race to watch as Jeff Ward who started in dead last, wheeled his way to the front and made a pass in the final corner to take his first short course win! Carl qualified 2nd and started strong but drew a DNF due to mechanical problems. Jerry Whelchel was running hard until he got bucked over in the front straight and went tumbling end-over-end. It was another gnarly wreck in the same place that took out Rodrigo's truck the day before. Jerry made it out of his wrecked truck and he took a moment to gather himself up, as he looked like he had his bell rung pretty hard. Fortunately Jerry was okay and we were all happy to see him walking back to the hot pits.

Unlimited 4 was as exciting as ever with Carl taking the TQ honors and Travis qualifying in 2nd again. This race saw a lot of action with many positions changing. At one point Carl got turned around and lost quite a few positions and it was this incident that brought out the yellow flags slowing down the field. It was then when all the trucks were behind the pace-truck it could be seen that Carl was running on a flat left rear tire. With many positions lost and a flat rear tire, it wasn't looking good for the 'Punisher' but in short course off road racing anything can happen, and it did. Miraculously Carl drove around the trucks in front of him to take the checkered flag on a flat rear tire! Tim Herbst came in 2nd place with Alan Pflueger coming in 3rd for another great weekend at the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series!

All in all it was another great weekend of intense off road action! Be sure not to miss the next Lucas Off Road Racing Series event in Lake Elsinore, California on the 25th & 26th of July. Team Associated will be there in all the racing action that you surely won't want to miss! For more information about the Lucas Oil Off Road Series, check out: www.lucasoiloffroad.com.