Ricky Johnson doubles down in Las Vegas for rounds 1 & 2 of the 2010 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series!

Ricky Johnson doubles down in Las Vegas for rounds 1 & 2 of the 2010 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series!

After a short off season, the highly anticipated 2010 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) kicked off at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Judging from the turnut, the 2010 LOORRS championship is going to be hotly contested with high-caliber driving talent (The LeDucs, Ricky Johnson, Rob MacCachren, Jeremy McGrath, Scott Douglas, Rick Huseman, Adrian Cenni, and Johnny Greaves, to name a few!) filling out the fields this year. When you throw these guys into the mix with drivers as talented as Carl Renezeder, Travis Coyne and Jeff Ward, you can expect one heck of an exciting brawl out on the track!

The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a new addition to the LOORRS circuit for 2010. Although the race was under the threat of rain all weekend the Las Vegas Motor Speedway proved to be a world-class facility for both racers and fans alike. Located very close to Nellis Air Force Base, the fans were treated to what sometimes looked a lot like an air show, as the Thunderbirds would take off for practice flights several times a day. The action didn't stop there. Nellis was also sending up B1 bombers, F18s, F16s, F15s, A10s, and a couple big jets that looked like aerial tankers. A few of the pilots were checking out the racing below as they flew in pretty low on their landing passes.

LOORRS round #1, Las Vegas
Round one got off to a good start with the kids racing the Trophy Karts. The weather was holding and the track was in prime condition for Sheldon Creed to take his first win in Jr. Kart 2. Sheldon won the 2009 LOORRS points championship in Jr. Kart 1 and has now aged into the Jr. Kart 2 program and is clearly not intimidated by the older kids!

Chris Brandt was back out there to take the win in his Unlimited Lite, as was Casie Curry taking 5th in his rent-a-ride!

The Unlimited-2 class was loaded full of talent. Half of the U-2 field had the right stuff to win but there can only be one winner and on this day it would be Ricky Johnson. Fighting him all the way was Rob MacCachren who took 2nd place just a few feet behind Ricky with Rodrigo Ampudia taking 3rd.

Unlimited-4 was an equally intense race with an amazingly talented field.Kyle LeDuc had everyone covered until he caught a rut in turn #1 and flipped his truck. Luckily for Kyle, he landed back on the wheels with little damage and was able to continue the race. Having gone from 1st to 5th due to the wreck, Kyle proceed to fight his way back to finish in 2nd on the podium. It was an amazing effort by Kyle and everyone was blown away! Scott Douglas took 1st place and our own Carl Renezeder came in 3rd.

LOORRS round #2, Las Vegas
The threat of rain had increased overnight, forcing the Lucas Oil crew to modify the race program to make sure everyone was able to race safely. The crew worked hard on keeping the track together and with a little luck we would get the race finished before the rain started pouring. They also passed out yellow rain slickers to everyone in the stands just in case it really started to pour.

Sheldon Creed had a repeat performance in Jr. Kart 2, taking 1st place with Paige Porter in 2nd and Jack Grabowski in 3rd. Sheldon also had a good day in Modified Kart taking 3rd in that class.

It was going to be Ricky Johnson's weekend as he drove his Red Bull U-2 to top of the podium for the second time in a row! Rob MacCachren was again in 2nd looking for a way around Ricky. Rob was only a little over a second behind first but just couldn't find a big enough hole to squeeze by Ricky. Luckily for RJ, Rob is a very clean racer! Just like round #1 Rodrigo Ampudia would take 3rd place in round #2. The Unlimited 2 class looks like it's going to be really exciting this year!

Round #2 would be especially unkind to Robby Woods, as he took what looked like a horrific tumble all the way down the face of the big jump after turn one. Happily, Robby was okay, and after towing what was left of his truck off the track, the race was restarted.

Rick Huseman took 1st place in the U-4 class with five seconds in front of Scott Douglas who drove into 2nd. Carl Renezeder rounded out the podium taking 3rd.

Once again the people at Lucas Oil provided an awesome weekend of intense off-road action! The 2010 LOORRS season is young and ambitions are high, with so much talent racing it's still anyones to win!

The next LOORRS event will be held at the Speedworld Off Road Park, in Surprise, Arizona on April 17-18. Team Associated will be there in all the racing action that you won't want to miss!