Monster Energy’s Rick Huseman 2nd/1st in LOORS @ Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Monster Energy off-road racer Rick Huseman (Toyota) was the fastest premier Pro 4 class racer this past weekend at round five of the 2010 Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series (LOORS) held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Huseman parlayed a 2^nd place come-from-behind finish on Saturday into a 1^st place finish on Sunday and took the overall Pro 4 class points lead from rival Carl Renezeder, 195-186.

Monster Energy’s Johnny Greaves (Pro 4), Jeremy McGrath (Pro 4) and Cameron Steele (Pro Buggy) also contested the LOORS in Vegas, with Greaves posting a weekend-best 4^th in the Pro 4 main event on Saturday and Steele a 4^th in the Pro Buggy Unlimited contest on Sunday.

But the weekend would belong to Huseman as, even during his 2^nd place run in Saturday’s Pro 4 race, the series points leader proved he was the fastest – clocking a weekend-best 1:07.293 in trying to chase down the leader Renezeder. Prior to that he (Huseman) got together with Adrian Cenni and left the track – which handed Renezeder, who was debuting a new truck, the lead.

“We pushed hard at the end but came up just a bit short,” said Huseman. “The Monster Energy/Traxxas/Toyota team was able to re-group and take what we learned in qualfiying on this new track and apply it to the main event. We’ve now got the overall points lead after six LOORS rounds and look forward to running it back in Utah in June.”

With the new venue at Vegas Motor Speedway providing what promoters called a “roller-coaster” for off-road vehicles, the second race of the 2010 LOORS season at Vegas Motor Speedway had Greaves on the all-Monster/Toyota starting line for Saturday’s main event – and led the entire field at the start of the race, only to be tracked down and passed by Huseman, who took the lead into lap two. Still well within podium position, Greaves got tied up with a lane barrier and dropped a couple spots back to 4^th. This would be all the momentum the rest of the podium placers would need to keep themselves ahead of the always-fast Greaves.

“One minor mistake cost us a podium,” said Greaves.

Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series, rounds five and six, Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Pro 4 (Sat.)

2^nd – Rick Huseman

4^th - Johnny Greaves

10^th – Jeremy McGrath

Pro 4 (Sun.)

1^st – Rick Huseman

12^th – Johnny Greaves

14^th – Jeremy McGrath

Pro Buggy (Sat.)

7^th – Cameron Steele

Pro Buggy (Sun.)

4^th – Cameron Steele

Next up for Monster off-road racers on the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series tour is the June 26-27 rounds at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.