senor honda

[h=2]LOORRS: Kyle LeDuc wins Lucas Oil Challenge Cup[/h] Richard S. James (words & images)
ABOVE: RJ Anderson (left) and Kyle Leduc.

It's a long-standing tradition in short course off road, the end-of-year, we're-done-with-these-trucks-for-a-few-months, Pro 2 vs. Pro 4 bash. The Lucas Oil Challenge Cup has a history of wild races, but once this one got started – which took a few tries – the 2016 edition went flag to flag without a caution.


The Pro 4 trucks, about two seconds quicker on a 35- to 37-second lap track, were slated to start 15 seconds in arrears. Some drivers that had a choice of either a Pro 4 or Pro 2 truck made their choice before qualifying, such as Carl Renezeder who had already chosen his Pro 4. Rob MacCachren, however, qualified both trucks, putting both at the top of the time sheets before going with the Pro 4. It's usually a good choice, as the Pro 4s can choose different lines when passing the Pro 2s, but it's one he may be questioning for the offseason because of the way the race played out.
That left Brian Deegan atop the Pro 2 time sheets, followed by Saturday Pro 2 winner RJ Anderson, who would start on pole thanks to a two-position inversion. MacCachren was starting alongside Eric Barron at the front of the Pro 4 field, with Renezeder and Saturday Pro 4 winner (and champion) Kyle LeDuc in the second row.
When the green flag waved for the Pro 2s, the Pro 4s were in between Turns 2 and 3. MacCachren over-rotated in Turn 3, catching up Barron and LeDuc, and Greg Adler and Bradley Morris also got tangled together, bringing out the caution and setting up a full restart.
On the second attempt, Renezeder and Barron got into each other, leading to a second full restart. On both of the attempts, RJ Anderson jumped to the head of the Pro 2s while MacCachren led the Pro 4 field. On the third attempt, however, It was Barron who took command of the Pro 4s as they set about chasing down the Pro 2s.
MacCachren fell to third, with LeDuc chasing Barron. Anderson was leading the Pro 2s, pursued by Deegan's now-bodyless truck until something expired and Deegan was out. Right as the Pro 4s started catching the back of the Pro 2 field, LeDuc found his way past Barron and set about slicing through the Pro 2 field toward the front.
That's exactly what he did, getting up to Anderson with four laps left. It wasn't a pretty pass – perhaps in part because Anderson lost radio communication with his spotter early in the race – but LeDuc got the Monster Energy/Toyo Tires truck to the front and never looked back.
"Coming into the right-hander," said Anderson, "I thought, 'I hear motor. I hope it's a Pro 4, so I'm going down low.' We had some fireworks down in Turn 1 – we got stuck together, I'm glad we got separated. I had no idea how many laps were left; I was going to hold him off as long as I could. But there was no way I was going to fight off Kyle and the four-wheel drive."
Anderson finished second, the top Pro 2 in his Rockstar Energy/Polaris RAZR truck, ahead of Jeremy McGrath, who was third overall. LeDuc scored his third Challenge Cup win, to add to his fourth Pro 4 championship he secured by winning Saturday's race. Despite having to pass 11 racers to get to the front, he said the toughest competitor was the track itself, which had been reconfigured prior to the weekend.
"Every corner it could rip your tire off, it could flip you over," LeDuc (left) said. "I bicycled in the back in Turn 2 behind RJ; I biked it on the infield. I committed like crazy on some of these corners that did not want me to...and it didn't pay me back, it didn't bite me. I did what I could to be smart, haul ass and stay safe. I got up to RJ with three or four laps to go; I could have passed him cleaner, but we got it done. Just epic!"
The other Challenge Cup races were rather tame in comparison. Jerett Brooks, despite finishing second to Brandon Arthur in three races this season at Wild Horse Pass, got out front of the Pro Lite field immediately in his Rigid Industries/Bilstein Shock Absorbers Nissan and stayed there, adding a Challenge Cup win to his championship.
"I got an early lead and just kind of got in my groove," he said. "I knew I wanted to win this, and I knew I needed that $10,000. I pushed hard the whole time. The truck was dialed, and I don't think I made any mistakes, which was good for me."
Sterling Cling (below) had a similar race for the Pro Buggy win in his Cling's Aerospace/KyleGreenFabrication.com Alumi Craft. He was followed home by Garret George and Kevin McCullough. Nathan Barry won the Mod Kart Challenge Cup race.

senor honda

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