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The inaugural season of the Lucas Oil Off Road Series has concluded with a spectacular challenge of the sport’s top drivers dueling for large cash purses. With so much prestige on the line, many individuals and programs strategized and geared up with any available advantage to better their efforts. For some, this meant entering extra classes and vehicles for a chance at additional winnings. For others, it came down to cut throat and over-the-edge aggressive driving. One thing is for certain, the 2009 short course season will go down in the records books as a memorable turning point when the sport could rest on the stability of organization, excitement, growth, and competition.
Premiere Motorsports Group made the big gamble in 2009 and invested considerable resources when there was nothing but uncertainty in the future of short course racing. Not even a full year down the road, the operation has completely transformed into the “not your average” race team. Wise alliances, choice planning, and a whole lot of dedication has positioned Premiere Motorsports Group to help solidify the future of racing with a healthy dose of mainstream exposure and name brand talent. In Ryan Busnardo’s words, “We strive to deliver an accomplished track record and high performance entertainment value.”
The Challenge Cup can easily be considered the most entertaining race weekend of 2009. Not only was the racing charged with intense competition for the sports largest awards, but the division rivalries and class verses class smack talk made for crazy action on the track. It was truly amazing to watch and the Mav TV Hart and Huntington Race Team was up in the mix of it all.
Chris Brandt, the 2009 LOORRS Driver Of The Year displayed his expertise by qualifying 1st and then later led 26 Unlimited Buggies and U-L competitors for a good portion of the 15 lap event. Robert Naughton and Brian Deegan both raced hard and it looked like Brandt could fight off the buggies and take the win. Deegan thought otherwise and forced his way in ultimately taking himself out and shredding Brandt’s left rear tire along with any shot at a podium. Team mate and champion buggy driver, John Fitzgerald finished his first Unlimited Lite truck race as the 2nd truck to cross the line while Brandt hung on with the flat tire and crossed right behind. Later in the day, Chris stepped into the K&N Unlimited-4. Maintained by Carl Renezeder’s crew, the #82 U-4 was plagued by rear end issues all weekend and had to drop out early of the U-2 vs. U-4 event.
Earlier in the day Fitzgerald had one shot to gain off season bragging rights, John had nearly captured the 2009 Limited Buggy Championship and was the dominant driver in the division. Expecting the usual walk in the park race where Fitz makes his way to the top of the field and then peels off a big lead before taking the checkered flag, John was right on track up until Bruce Fraley tried to bogart Turn #2 and rode up inside and locked wheels with the #314 Mav TV Buggy. Both cars attempted several more laps and succumbed to mechanical failure resulting from the contact.
Chad Leising, the 2009 SuperLite Runner-Up is a serious personality rising through the ranks of short course racing. He was thought to be one of the contenders to take a fair share of the $35,000 up for grabs during the Super-Lite season finale. Even big name drivers like Robert Naughton and Todd Leduc were throwing their hat in, however in this division, they were on Chad Leising’s turf. Right from the start, an intense battle ensued with Ricky James and Chad George going 3 wide and sandwiching newcomer Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg. Leising drove the #17 Hart and Huntington SuperLite with reserve to avoid damage but soon tasted opportunity and followed Naughton up through the field. Leising charging to the front found himself door to door on the back stretch. Flying high off the main jump, the #88 made contact with Chad as he was landing. Forced off the line and off the elevated obstacle the #17 went barrel rolling into a cart wheel. With the front steering arms sheered off, Chad safely crawled out of the wreckage and accepted a devastating DNF.
Premiere Motorsports Group will be back in force for the 2010 season just a few short months away. In the mean time, make sure to catch the killer December issue of DirtSports Magazine for a very insightful article on the inner workings of the Hart and Huntington Off Road Team. You can catch all the Challenge Cup action on a special edition of NBC Sports airing on January 2nd 2010.
So much effort and dedication went into the development and maintenance of this adolescent race series and every employee deserves recognition. PMG would like to recognize the Lucas Oil Off Road Series staff for all the extraordinary hard work and for the tremendous opportunity to participate in such an exciting motorsport.
