Metal Mulisha General Brian Deegan snagged back to back podiums again this weekend at Lake Elisnore for the 3rd Round of Lucas Oil Off Road Racing. Closing out the action for the afternoon were the Pro 2 Unlimiteds, and in this one, top qualifier MacCachren’s spotter drew a zero for the inversion, meaning MacCachren would get to keep his top spot, as he started from pole, with RJ Anderson alongside on the front row. At the end of lap one, MacCachren led the way in his #21 Rockstar Energy Drink/Makita Industrial Power Tools Ford, ahead of Brian Deegan in the #38 NOS Energy Drink/Mickey Thompson Ford, Anderson in the #37 Rockstar Energy Drink/Polaris truck, Carl Renezeder in the #17 Lucas Oil/BFGoodrich Tires Ford, and Myan Spaccarelli in the #12 Tonka/Amsoil Toyota. A brief full course caution at the end of lap one put a temporary pause on the proceedings, but racing quickly resumed, with both Jeremy McGrath and Bryce Menzies passing Spaccarelli early on the restart lap. By lap five, Menzies was all over McGrath in the race for fifth, and he finally got by at turn one on lap six. McGrath got right back past going into turn two, though, but in turn three, Menzies got by again, this time more decisively. Three laps later, and the top five had now closed up noticeably, though no passes were made amongst them. On lap 12, though, Deegan picked up a right rear flat, which immediately made him more vulnerable to Anderson, who made a nice late dive inside into turn four to get by for second. Deegan dropped to sixth by the middle of the next lap, before he then headed to the Hot Pits for a change just as a full course yellow came out. Racing resumed at the end of lap 14, with MacCachren, Anderson, Renezeder, Menzies, and McGrath now running in the top five. Menzies was all over Renezeder on lap 16, but a full course caution for on-track debris at the end of lap 17 briefly paused their close race. On the restart lap, Renezeder sent himself sky high over the big jump into turn two, where miraculously, he managed not to land atop any of his competitors. He did, however, spin out amidst several other drivers around him; his banzai move didn’t pan out, as he soon limped to the sidelines with some kind of major breakage. At the white flag, it was still MacCachren leading the way ahead of Anderson, with Menzies now third, Deegan fourth, and McGrath fifth. On the final lap, Menzies tried to make an inside pass on Anderson at turn three, but instead, wound up getting slowly spun around from behind by Deegan, who got away without getting a call against him. A furious Menzies made it clear to Deegan how he felt as the field filed off track after the race (Menzies repeatedly nudged alongside Deegan), but the damage had already been done. At the finish, MacCachren scored maximum points today by taking the pole, leading the race at the halfway point, and grabbing the win, all of which will help him to extend his early championship lead. Second was Anderson, third was Deegan, fourth was McGrath in the #2 Maxxis/Traxxas truck, and fifth was Rodrigo Ampudia in the #36 Monster Energy/Lucas Oil Racing TV Ford.

Closing out the action for the weekend were the Pro 2 Unlimiteds, and at the end of the opening lap, Jeremy McGrath led the way in his #2 Maxxis/Carlyle by NAPA truck. Bryce Menzies ran second in the #7 Red Bull/Rigid Industries L.E.D. Lighting Ford, with Brian Deegan third, Myan Spaccarelli fourth, and RJ Anderson fifth. Debris on the front straight brought out a full course caution on lap three, and while under yellow, an apparent engine failure for Rodrigo Ampudia helped to extend the yellow flag period slightly. Racing picked up again on lap five, and on lap seven, Spaccarelli performed a beautiful but scary wall ride through the first part of turn one, and managed to land it safely and continue in fourth spot. However, Anderson did close in noticeably on Spaccarelli during the incident, putting him within striking distance for a pass. Anderson then got by Spaccarelli on the outside at turn four on the same lap to grab fourth, while just behind, Rob MacCachren was flying up the order after failing to make a lap in qualifying and having to start dead last. With his second multi-truck pass of the race, MacCachren got by Patrick Clark and Spaccarelli on the inside at turn one on lap eight to move from seventh to fifth. Three laps later, McGrath suddenly slowed at turn two with broken suspension, handing the lead to Menzies. McGrath struggled to stay off line as he limped back to the Hot Pits, but managed to hold up MacCachren in turn three, where Clark got by him to move up to fourth. MacCachren passed Clark back on the inside at turn four on the next lap, though, with Doug Mittag then getting by Clark down the inside at turn one on the next lap to move up to fifth. Eric Fitch came to a stop in turn three on lap 17, which forced another full course yellow, and while the field re-grouped under the yellow flag, it was now apparent that Mittag’s right rear tire was rubbing on his bodywork, which was causing some intermittent puffs of smoke to come from that area of Mittag’s truck. On the restart lap, Mittag got by MacCachren on the outside at turn two to move into fourth, but with a beautiful yet daring dive deep into turn three on the final lap, MacCachren made the move and passed Mittag back. Up front, Menzies was the winner for the second time this season in this class thanks to a flawless drive here this afternoon, with Deegan second in the #38 NOS Energy/4 Wheel Parts Ford, Anderson third in the #37 Rockstar Energy Drink/Walker Evans Racing truck, MacCachren fourth in the #21 Rockstar Energy Drink/Makita Industrial Power Tools Ford, and Mittag fifth in the #81 Maxxis/Amsoil Ford.