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Limited Buggy
Bruce Fraley had wrapped up the Limited Buggy championship with his second place finish yesterday, so today’s race was all about the individual glory of taking the final race win of the season. Sean Geiser took the early lead in his #351 General Tires/Slednecks Geiser Bros buggy, followed by John Fitzgerald, Kenny Freeman, Bryan Freeman, and Kyle Quinn. Fraley moved his #312 BFGoodrich Tires/DFT Fraley up two spots to fourth on lap two, while up front, Geiser and Fitzgerald were pulling away from the field in a close battle for the lead. Fraley and Bryan Freeman then got by Kenny Freeman, just before Fraley got spun out in turn four and fell back to sixth. As the competition yellow waved, it was still Geiser up front, followed by Fitzgerald in the #314 Geico Powersports/Lucas Oil machine, Bryan Freeman in the #318 Lone Kid Racing/Patrick’s High Performance Graphix buggy, Kenny Freeman in the #302 Freeman’s Carpet Service buggy, and Quinn’s #311 Bugpack Products/McKenzie’s machine. On the restart lap, Fitzgerald lost it in the rhythm section and fell back to last place, while Fraley jumped from sixth to third. Bryan Freeman benefitted from Fitzgerald’s off, and was now on Geiser’s back bumper and challenging for the lead. After closely following Geiser for several laps, Freeman used a great run in the rhythm section to pass Geiser in turn two on the final lap. Freeman then seemed to find another gear, and pulled clear of the field to take the win. Geiser came home second, with Fraley rounding out the podium. Kenny Freeman took fourth and Ricky Gutierrez was fifth in the #393 G Brothers/Wicked Creations buggy. As both the driver and builder of his buggy, Fraley is a rare and dangerous combination in the racing world, and he was a happy man after being crowned as this year’s Limited Buggy champion.
Super Lite
The Bully Dog Super Lite class was up next, and the title fight had come down to a two-way battle between John Harrah and Chad Leising. With Harrah flying off the track on the opening lap, Leising’s chances were looking up, and he sat second behind Dawson Kirchner in the early going. Ricky James ran third in his #24 So Cal Super Trucks/Icon Vehicle Dynamics machine, followed by Joe Granatelli in the #40 XDP/Skin truck in fourth and Brandon Bailey in the #72 Lamb Energy machine in fifth. James soon assumed the lead, and quickly pulled out a big gap over the competition. Behind him, Kirchner spun his #16 NOS Energy Drink machine and dropped out of the top five, allowing Joey Granatelli to move up to fifth in his #20 Granatelli Motorsports/Verve! truck. At the drop of the competition yellow, James still led, with Leising second in the #17 Lucas Oil/Hart and Huntington machine, Joe Granatelli third, Bailey fourth, and Joey Granatelli fifth. After the restart, Harrah re-emerged in the #13 Speed Technologies truck, and a big crash by Joe Granatelli brought out a brief full course caution. On the restart, lots of shuffling occurred behind the leader James, leaving Kirchner second, Leising third, Bailey fourth and Joey Granatelli fifth with one lap to go. Leising and Kirchner had a good battle for second on the final lap, with the position going to Leising in the end. Up front, James took his fifth win in six career LOORRS starts. Joey Granatelli wound up fourth, and Bailey rounded out the top five. Despite missing several laps, Harrah had enough of a points cushion to take the championship, and said that as his first championship in any form of racing, “this is very very special.”
Unlimited Lite
With just six points separating Chris Brandt and Brian Deegan, the Unlimited Lite championship had come right down to the wire. Deegan assumed the early lead, followed by Robert Naughton in the #54 PosterHanger.com/Lucas Oil Ford, Brandt, Jimmy Stephenson in the #33 JS Pest Control/VP Racing Fuels Nissan, and Heath Carpenter. With the entire field running clean and very fast, drivers were holding their positions for the most part, with Todd Cuffaro, who moved up to fourth, being the only other driver to make it into the top five before the competition yellow. At this point, Deegan still led in the #38 Metal Mulisha/Makita Ford, with Naughton second, Brandt third in the #82 Rockstar/Hart and Huntington Toyota, Cuffaro fourth in the #46 Lucas Oil/BFGoodrich Tires Mazda, and Stephenson in fifth. Deegan picked up one bonus point for leading at the halfway point, but still needed one more truck between himself and Brandt to leapfrog Brandt and take the title. After the restart, Cuffaro and Stephenson got into each other in turn two, for which both drivers were black flagged. This allowed Matt Loiodice and Aaron Daugherty to move up into fourth and fifth. Up front, Naughton was now right on Deegan’s back bumper, and finally made a pass for the lead in turn one and made it stick. With one lap to go, Naughton, Deegan, and Brandt were very close in the top three spots, followed by Loiodice and Daugherty in fourth and fifth. Deegan passed Naughton to re-take the lead in turn two on the final lap, but Naughton got him back in the very next turn, and was able to hold on to take his seventh win of the season. Deegan came home second, Brandt took third, Loiodice finished fourth in his best race of the season, and Daugherty made it a fine return to competition with a fifth place finish. With his third place, it appeared as though Brandt had done enough to secure the title, but in a bizarre incident, post-race technical inspection found that his wheelbase was too long. Brandt was subsequently disqualified, and the championship now belonged to Deegan. Race winner Naughton bid a fond farewell to Unlimited Lite, as he will move on to Unlimited 2 full time next year, and thanked the fans for braving such frigid conditions to cheer the drivers on. Deegan, who, before finding out he was champion, said he was happy just to be able to run at Naughton’s pace at the end of his first full season of short course racing, built momentum all season and drove very well in the second half of the year to take the title. He is now a real threat in all races, and will have a target on his back bumper in 2010.
Unlimited 2
In yet another incredibly close points battle, Carl Renezeder and Jeff Ward came into the final Unlimited 2 race of the season with just five points separating them. At the end of the first lap, it was newly-crowned TORC Pro 2 champion Rob MacCachren holding the top spot in his #21 Rockstar/Mastercraft Ford, followed by Ward in the #3X Speed Technologies/Bully Dog Chevrolet, Todd LeDuc in the #8 Makita/Toyo Tires Ford, Robert Naughton in his new #54 Canidae/Ready Lift Ford, and Evan Evans in the #5 Speedco Truck Lube and Tires/Walker Evans Racing Chevrolet. A crash by Bryce Menzies in turn four brought out a full course caution, and on the restart, Renezeder jumped up to fifth in his #17 Lucas Oil/General Tires Ford when Evans looped it in turn two. With the competition yellow now out, it was still MacCachren, Ward, LeDuc, Naughton, and Renezeder in the top five spots. Renezeder moved up to fourth on the restart, but dropped back to fifth when he slid way wide in turn two, allowing Rodrigo Ampudia, who’d charged through the field after receiving a black flag early on, to move up to fourth. Ampudia and LeDuc then had a good scrap, with the two swapping third place several times before LeDuc used a new, very wide outside line in turn four to get a run on Ampudia and pass him for good. Up front, MacCachren was blitzing the field, and held a huge margin over Ward, LeDuc, Ampudia, and Renezeder with one lap to go. At this point, Ward had enough trucks between himself and Renezeder to snag the title by one point, but in the final lap, LeDuc became the true spoiler, using his outside line in the fourth and final turn to pass Ward and take second spot behind the winner MacCachren. Ward took third, with Ampudia fourth in the #36 Papas & Beer/Lucas Oil Ford, and Renezeder finishing fifth. Having been thwarted by LeDuc, Ward lost out on two points in the championship, giving Renezeder the title by just a single point!
