8/23/2020
RacinBoys
Worst to first: Mamer bounces back to win Pro Lites at Lucas Oil Off Road Shootout
By Lyndal Scrantn (Wheatland, MO) -- Cole Mamer enjoyed the ultimate turnaround on Saturday. One day after finishing last in the Pro Lite division at the Lucas Oil Off Road Shootout, Mamer was atop the podium.
“It’s super cool to have my team that backs me,” the Holtville, California, driver said after his victory by a margin of 3.5 seconds over Christopher Polvoorde on day two of the big weekend at Lucas Oil Speedway.
PHOTO: Cole Mamer raced to the Pro Lite victory on Saturday at the 3rd annual Lucas Oil Off Road Shootout at Lucas Oil Speedway. Action concludes on Sunday.--CREDIT: GS Stanek Racing Photography
Day one winner Brock Heger finished third after leading the first portion of the race and staging an epic battle with Mamer until near the end.
“I struggled yesterday. My fault,” Mamer said. “We regrouped today and came out on top.”
Heger, who ran away from the field in Friday’s weekend opener, started outside of Mamer on row one. Through the first four laps, it appeared that the El Centro, California, driver would make it back-to-back wins.
But entering the S-curve on lap five, with Mamer close behind, Heger’s truck went up on its left-side wheels and nearly tipped over. By the time he righted things, Mamer was able to make the pass. They continued to battle it out over the next few laps.
“It’s cool. Brock races me super clean,” Mamer said. “I wasn’t worried about any of banging, any of the bumping. I knew he wasn’t going to take me out. We’re going to race hard. What we’re here for is to put on a show. Brock and I did a pretty good job of that, I think.”
Heger lost second on the final lap when Christopher Polvoorde went past.
For the first half of the race, Polvoorde was hindered by visibility problems when his hood kept flopping in front of his windshield. When it finally flew off, Polvoorde was able to advance after falling back into fourth at one point.
“You always love to be on the podium, but you always want that top spot,” Polvoorde said. “After a race like today, getting second, I’m pretty thankful. I couldn’t see anything and I ran right into a tractor tire. I was barely holding on.
"Once (the hood) fell off, it was time to go the work. We were hunting the boys down up front, finally caught them and just didn’t have enough time to get up on top.”
Heger said he might have been overly cautious in protecting the lead and that’s what ended up costing him.
“I still had a fast truck today,” Heger said. “I was trying to super patient and trying to hit my marks. I think it bit me. I ended up making mistakes by trying not to make them. It is what it is. Overall, it was a good day.”
The final day of action begins at noon on Sunday. Here's a roundup of Saturday's other action on the 1.2-mile, nine-turn course:
Brooks captures Pro 2 win: Points leader Jerett Brooks, driving a new home-built truck, led all the way to win the Pro 2 but it wasn’t easy. Brooks held off Doug Mittag, who made repeated pass attempts over the final three laps.
Brooks, of San Diego, California, had to settle for a fourth-place finish in Friday’s opener when he had a flat tire while contending. He said it was gratifying to win in a truck making its debut. The team named it “El Diablo.”
“This is a full, brand-new truck,” Brooks said. “We didn’t copy anything. This is a straight, out-of-the-box truck. I had a lot of people tell me that this truck wouldn’t win. This pretty much proves all those guys wrong. We’re a small team and put so much truck into this, it’s like our baby.”
Mittag said he did all he could to overtake Brooks, but just couldn’t quite get past.
“My truck was hooked up for sure,” Mittag said. “Jerett was on rails. You have to give it up to that team for working hard on that truck, but I think ours was a little bit quicker today. We caught him and I was on him, putting pressure on him.
“I could get him in a couple of different corners, and he could get me in a couple of different corners. I made a small mistake and gave him a little bit of a gap and then when he made a mistake, I wasn’t there to capitalize.”
Mickey Thomas finished third with RJ Anderson, Friday’s winner, in fourth.
Weller takes Turbo UTV win: Bouncing back from a seventh-place finish on Friday after a flat tire, two-time reigning Turbo UTV champion Corry Weller of Chandler, Arizona, captured Saturday’s race. She finished 3.3 seconds in front of Ronnie Anderson.
Weller took over the lead from Anderson with four laps remaining after patiently following Anderson through the first half of the race. It was Weller’s third victory in four events of the season.
“Repeating wins is hard,” Weller said, mentioning that multi-day events take some of the pressure off. “If you have a bad day, you have a shot at redemption. After yesterday, you know you can’t control everything. But this was exactly what we needed.”
Derek Tidd of Olathe, Kansas, finished third for his first LOORRS podium finish, coming from seventh.
Two days, two Pro Buggy wins for Watson: Eliott Watson of El Centro, California, made it back-to-back wins at Wheatland in the Pro Buggy division, starting up front and leading every lap. Just like Friday, Trey Gibbs wound up a distant second, this time nine behind the winner.
Brady Whitlock advanced from fifth to the third podium position, getting past Matthew Brister with three laps remaining.
Heger takes Production 1000 UTV win: Flipping the script from a day earlier, Brock Heger beat Myles Cheek for the win in a two-way battle in Production 1000 UTV.
Heger and Cheek started on the front row and, while Heger led the entire way, Cheek made him earn it a day after Cheek beat Heger to the finish. Dallas Nord finished third for the second straight day.
Barry hangs on for Mod Kart triumph: Connor Barry regained the lead with one lap to go and held off Brody Eggleston for the Mod Kart victory in a lead-swapping event. It was his second win of the season in four attempts.
Barry, of Menifee, California, led the first five laps, but Eggleston took over on lap seven and led two circuits in pursuit of a second straight victory. But Barry, the 2018 LOORRS JR 2 Kart champion, regained command with Eggleston right on his rear crossing the finish line. John Holtger wound up in third.
Adler wires field in JR 2 Karts: Lake Adler started fourth, took the lead on the opening lap and held off a determined charge from Logan Leggitt to win the JR 2 Kart race for his first win in the class.
Adler, of Manhattan Beach, California, led by a second over Irie Bailey when the mandatory caution flew after five laps. After going back to green, Leggitt, who started sixth, moved from mid-pack and into the runner-up position. Chaden Zane Minder edged out Kaylee Federwisch for third.
Siewers repeats RZR 170 win: T.J. Siewers of Mesa, Arizona, made it two wins in two days and three on the season in the RZR 170 class.
Siewers grabbed the lead from George Llamosas with two laps remaining and held off Llamosas for the win, with Ian Torfi also earning a spot on the podium.
Saturday's unofficial results
Lucas Oil Off Road Shootout Presented by General Tire
Production 1000 UTV - 1, Brock Heger. 2, Myles Cheek. 3, Dallas Nord. 4, Robby Hornsby. 5, Bradley Morris. 6, Ben Booker. 7, Kenny Holt. 8, Billy Nichols. 9, Jim Price. 10, James Jaramillo. 11, Anthony Santos. 12, Josh Luketic. 13, Joshua Stephens. 14, Bronsen Chiaramonte. 15, Jason Luburgh.
Turbo UTV - 1, Corry Weller. 2, Ronnie Anderson. 3, Derek Tidd. 4, Chance Haugen. 5, Keith Brooks. 6, Chelsea Haugen. 7, Trevor Leighton. 8, Trey Gibbs. 9, James Maki. 10, Kyle Chaney. NS Josh True, Robert VanBeekum.
Pro Lite - 1, Cole Mamer. 2, Christopher Polvoorde. 3, Brock Heger. 4, Madix Bailey. 5, Ronnie Anderson. 6, Jimmy Weitzel. 7, Carson Parrish. 8, Mason Prater. 9, Matthew Brister. 10, Katie Vernola. 11, David Mason.
Pro Buggy - 1, Eliott Watson. 2, Trey Gibbs. 3, Brady Whitlock. 4, Matthew Brister. 5, Dale Ebberts. 6, Darren Hardesty. 7, Zachary Drapikin. 8, Adam Gruender. NS Michael Moore.
Mod Kart - 1, Connor Barry. 2, Brody Eggleston. 3, John Holtger. 4, Braden Chiaramonte. 5, Trey Eggleston. 6, Luke Knupp. 7, Ethan Ebert. 8, Talan Martin. 9, Jaden Uribe. 10, Cade Martin. 11, John Walls. 12, Karaston Hernandez. 13, Nick Plemons. 14, Holden Heitritter. 15, David Gasper.
JR 2 - 1, Luke Adler. 2, Logan Leggitt. 3, Chaden Zane Minder. 4, Kaylee Federwisch. 5, Dane Culver. 6, Rhyan Denney. 7, Talan Martin. 8, Brodie Martin. 9, Tyli Olsen. 10, Irie Bailey. 11, Olive Hoover.
RZR 170 - 1, TJ Siewers. 2, George Llomasas. 3, Ian Torfi. 4, Declan Shields. 5, Zoe Easton. 6, Ryder VanBeekum. 7, Caden Hall. 8, Samuel Gibbs. 9, Alixandra Easton. 10, Lily Saunders. 11, Tatum Foerster. NS Kody Krantz.
Lucas Oil Off Road Shootout Presented by General Tire
Sunday's schedule
10:30 a.m. - Gates open
Noon - Racing begins
2 p.m. - Opening ceremonies
Grandstand admission prices
SUNDAY, AUG. 23
(Advance online tickets)
Adults GA/Pit Pass Combo (16+)* $25
Senior (62+)/Military Military GA/Pit Pass Combo* $22
Youth (6-15) GA/Pit Pass Combo* $10
Kids (5 & under) GA/Pit Pass Combo* FREE
(Day of the Event tickets)
Adults GA/Pit Pass Combo (16+)* $30
Senior (62+)/Military Military GA/Pit Pass Combo* $27
Youth (6-15) GA/Pit Pass Combo* $10
Kids (5 & under) GA/Pit Pass Combo* FREE
Family GA/Pit Pass Combo** $70
*All tickets include access to the Off Road pit area.
**Family GA/Pit Pass Combo $70 Includes Admission for 2 Adults and Up to 3 Kids Ages (6-15) Can only be purchased day of event at the gate.
For ticket questions or information for any event at Lucas Oil Speedway, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
