SuperLite’s Fastest Driver Wins Round 5 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series

[baja619]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Orange County, CA (June 29, 2009)

SuperLite’s Fastest Driver Wins Round 5 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series​

Rockstar hart and Huntington Premiere Motorsports Group driver Chad Leising, brought the team their second consecutive SuperLite victory. This is a huge triumph for the season as it thins the Championship point’s margin between John Harrah and Chad Leising. Currently Harrah is ahead of Chad by a small lead.

The Rockstar Hart and Huntington PMG Team welcomed Lucas Oil as the title sponsor of Chad’s #17 SuperLite. For everyone involved with the program, it was important to put our best foot forward during the Lake Elsinore event and present Lucas Oil with positive results right on and off the track.

After an awesome first place qualifying session during Friday afternoon, Leising now held the fastest lap time of the SuperLite division going into Round 5 Racing. Starting from fourth position after the inversion, Chad would have to make moves throughout the 10 lap event to gain the lead position. On the opening lap, the young gun Joey Granatelli gets a little sideways and bangs into two other trucks as they were all going into Turn 1 three wide. Chad immediately capitalized and cruised up to 2nd position. The officials opt to restart the race because of the sloppy start. The field was restacked and the green flag waiving the SuperLites powered through the muddy track fighting for position. Chad comes out hauling in 3rd after getting around Granatelli once more. Keeping all the momentum he can muster Chad gains speed and makes a spectacular pass for 2nd over the huge backstretch table top. The action on the track was heating up and the body panels were peeling off several trucks due to the wheel to wheel brutality and contact between competitors. At some point Chad’s lost nearly all of his driver side skins.

The competition yellow was flagged to stack the SuperLites and prepare for an all out sprint to the finish. During the down time, the announcers from Totally Off Road Radio who were doing live commentating had nothing but positive comments about Chad, his consistent driving style and impressive career to date. The heat was intense but the fans seemed to be enjoying the days hot action.

With the green flag out, the spotters strongly encouraging each of their drivers, and loud whine of the Mazda Rotary spinning, The SuperLites powered through the Lake Elsinore Track which featured huge table tops, a rhythm section, 6 turns, and deep bowls making for a fast fun course. Chad chased John Harrah through the track during restart preparing to move in and steal the lead. Harrah spins his #13 SuperLite out in the last turn before the front straight away and Leising cruises into the lead. Chad immediately opens a huge gap over the second place. Harrah shows impressive resilience and closes the gap on the back stretch bringing the action side by side. Both drivers exchanged the lead back and forth bringing the filled to near capacity grandstands on their feet in anticipation. The white flag comes out with Chad in control of the race and running strong. The checkered flag drops with Chad flying through the front tabletop and earning an impressive 1st place victory.

Before the champagne celebration back in the PMG Pits, Chad was interviewed by the SPEED Production Team and then headed to the podium to thank Ryan Busnardo of Rockstar Hart and Huntington Premiere Motorsports Group and all the sponsors of the #17 Lucas Oil SuperLite including Forest Lucas, Bob Patison, and Tony Vanillo for all their hard work and dedication that has gone into the development of the Lucas Oil Off Road Series.

What makes this win even more impressive is during the start the alternator failed. This mechanical issue created a much more complicated scenario leaving Leising and a guest co-driver to fumble with the cars electronics the entire time on the course. Leising’s Crew Chief Craig Stevens determined the remaining battery power would be reserved for oil coolers, MSD box, and radio only. To preserve as much juice as possible they cut the power to the electrical fans for the radiator, cut the parker pumpers that provide fresh air, and switched off power steering down on the straight aways. It was concluded later there was likely only enough battery left for another lap as the voltage creeped below nine volts.

The SuperLite FPO Spec Trucks all retain identical power plants creating an even playing field. Chad proved throughout the weekend that he is the most consistent and fastest driver in his division by flying his #17 Lucas Oil SuperLite at speeds just under 50 MPH and lap times that were consistently getting faster. Starting out with a 1:15.5 from Friday’s practice, and a qualifying lap time of 1:15.2, Chad was able to improve his time scoring a 1:12.9 during Sunday’s event. Only John Harrah placed a faster time than Chad with a 1:12.2, also during Sunday.

Chad would like to give a special thanks to Rockstar Hart and Huntington Premier Motorsports group, Lucas Oil, Stevens Motorsports and Ryan Busnardo, for all of their support with bringing in another the great win! We’d like to thank General Tire for all of their support; their company and personnel really stood up and made a positive influence in the races today.


“You’re only as good as your last race. Tomorrow is a new day we are going right back at it for the win!” -#17 Chad Leising


For more information on the Rockstar Hart and Huntington PMG Racings is the product of numerous individuals and support of strong companies brought together to create this offroad racing powerhouse. The brands like Rockstar Energy, Hart & Huntington, Geico Powersports, Liquid Graphics, Fantasyoff-roadracing.com, Simpson, Chronic Tacos, and General Tire will ensure a number of achievements & results throughout the 2009 season. Additional support from KMC Wheels, JSTAR Motors, National Concrete Cutting, Century Collusion Center, NRGX, Screen Works, Corona Millworks Racing, Blurred Motion, Bully Dog Technologies, compounds the sustainability of Premiere Motorsports Group.

Premiere Motorsports Group please contact:
Briana Magowan- Public/Media Relations

Premiere Motorsports Group Inc.
Tel: (800) 213-2442
E-mail: Press@PremiereMotorsportsGroup.com

• Rockstar Energy, Bigger. Better. Faster. Stronger. ROCKSTAR is the world's most powerful energy drink.
• General Tire was founded in 1915 and is one of the top automotive suppliers worldwide.
• GEICO insures more than 15 million vehicles offering customers insurance products for their motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATV's), boats, homes, apartments, mobile homes and more.
• Simpson Performance Products has been the leading manufacturer of safety equipment for the Motorsports industry since 1959.
• Fantasy Off-Road Racing.com is the exclusive and premier place to get your Fantasy....Off-Road style game play in gear.
• Bully Dog Technologies # 1 In Performance is recognized as the leader in the diesel performance industry worldwide.

www.premiermotorsportsgroup.com​

 

[absolutmotoxxx]

Good job out there Chad!! You killed it all weekend!!!!

 

[pdailey]

Question??

If he is Superlites fastest driver, than why is he second in points behind the guy that out qualified him and won on Sunday? I'm just saying...LOL

 

[CMazzulla]

What happened between Chad and the Leader-Brandon in the Stronghold car? I was watching and next thing I see is a black flag.... Did I miss something?

 

[baja619]

During Sundays Race, Chad started from the 4th position.

On a mission and moving through the field to the front, Leising went hot into the Turn 6 before the front straight away and got into to Brandon Bailey who was on the brakes. Bailey spun and Chad went by taking the lead. It took awhile before the officials black flagged him. This led to the competition caution and Chad moved to the back of the field. On the restart, and now in 8th place with 3 laps to go, Chad moved up two positions to 5th right away. Making a run up to the leaders with Harrah in front, Granetelli right behind, and Bailey a ways back Chad caught up to 4th on the white flag lap and than found Brandon just in time going around Turn 6 and than beat him in a drag race to the finish to make the podium.

PDaily keep watching him, and you will see. All Chad needs to do is keep doing what he is doing and he will close the minimal points gap and than lead for the Championship.

 

[pdailey]

During Sundays Race, Chad started from the 4th position.

On a mission and moving through the field to the front, Leising went hot into the Turn 6 before the front straight away and got into to Brandon Bailey who was on the brakes. Bailey spun and Chad went by taking the lead. It took awhile before the officials black flagged him. This led to the competition caution and Chad moved to the back of the field. On the restart, and now in 8th place with 3 laps to go, Chad moved up two positions to 5th right away. Making a run up to the leaders with Harrah leading, Granetelli right behind, and Bailey a ways back Chad caught up to 4th on the white flag lap and than found Brandon just in time going around Turn 6 and than beat him in a drag race to the finish to make the podium.

PDaily keep watching him, and you will see. All Chad needs to do is keep doing what he is doing and he will close the minimal points gap and than lead for the Championship.

Cool. I love good racing. I just wouldn't crown him yet. Harrah is getting faster as well as Granatelli. Great racing though, loved it.

 

[Granatelli]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Orange County, CA (June 29, 2009)

SuperLite’s Fastest Driver Wins Round 5 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series​

Rockstar hart and Huntington Premiere Motorsports Group driver Chad Leising, brought the team their second consecutive SuperLite victory. This is a huge triumph for the season as it thins the Championship point’s margin between John Harrah and Chad Leising. Currently Harrah is ahead of Chad by a small lead.

After an awesome first place qualifying session during Friday afternoon, Leising now held the fastest lap time of the SuperLite division going into Round 5 Racing. Starting from fourth position after the inversion, Chad would have to make moves throughout the 10 lap event to gain the lead position. On the opening lap, the young gun Joey Granatelli gets a little sideways and bangs into two other trucks as they were all going into Turn 1 three wide. Chad immediately capitalized and cruised up to 2nd position. The officials opt to restart the race because of the sloppy start. The field was restacked and the green flag waiving the SuperLites powered through the muddy track fighting for position. Chad comes out hauling in 3rd after getting around Granatelli once more. Keeping all the momentum he can muster Chad gains speed and makes a spectacular pass for 2nd over the huge backstretch table top. The action on the track was heating up and the body panels were peeling off several trucks due to the wheel to wheel brutality and contact between competitors. At some point Chad’s lost nearly all of his driver side skins.

The competition yellow was flagged to stack the SuperLites and prepare for an all out sprint to the finish. During the down time, the announcers from Totally Off Road Radio who were doing live commentating had nothing but positive comments about Chad, his consistent driving style and impressive career to date. The heat was intense but the fans seemed to be enjoying the day’s hot action.

With the green flag out, the spotters strongly encouraging each of their drivers, and loud whine of the Mazda Rotary spinning, The SuperLites powered through the Lake Elsinore Track which featured huge table tops, a rhythm section, 6 turns, and deep bowls making for a fast fun course. Chad chased John Harrah through the track during restart preparing to move in and steal the lead. Harrah spins his #13 SuperLite out in the last turn before the front straight away and Leising cruises into the lead. Chad immediately opens a huge gap over the second place. Harrah shows impressive resilience and closes the gap on the back stretch bringing the action side by side. Both drivers exchanged the lead back and forth bringing the filled to near capacity grandstands on their feet in anticipation. The white flag comes out with Chad in control of the race and running strong. The checkered flag drops with Chad flying through the front tabletop and earning an impressive 1st place victory.

Chad would like to give a special thanks to Rockstar Hart and Huntington Premier Motorsports group, Lucas Oil, Stevens Motorsports and Ryan Busnardo, for all of their support with bringing in another the great win! We’d like to thank General Tire for all of their support; their company and personnel really stood up and made a positive influence in the races today.

Premiere Motorsports Group please contact:
Briana Magowan- Public/Media Relations

Premiere Motorsports Group Inc.
Tel: (800) 213-2442
E-mail: Press@PremiereMotorsportsGroup.com

www.premiermotorsportsgroup.com​

Nice Press Release and well written. However, I must have been watching a different race.

I agree Chad has been on a tear and based on his winning ways he could catch up to Harrah. My focus is on this past Saturday and Sunday.

On the opening lap, the young gun Joey Granatelli gets a little sideways and bangs into two other trucks as they were all going into Turn 1 three wide. Chad immediately capitalized and cruised up to 2nd position.

Based on the inversion Joey should have started 3rd but 1 & 2 (who qualified 5th and 6th) were either no shows or put in the back for missing the morning drivers meeting. That moved Joey from inside row 2 to inside row 1 (or pole) and what should have been row 3 with Chad became row 2. At the Green flag the pole sitter controls the start and that is what Joey did. He was first into turn 1 (a 180 degree left) and gone. He did not get sideways, he not cause anyone else to touch he just check out. A agree there was a manashatwa or threesome that briefly connected, this only increased joeys lead.

The officials opt to restart the race because of the sloppy start. The field was restacked and the green flag waiving the SuperLites powered through the muddy track fighting for position. Chad comes out hauling in 3rd after getting around Granatelli once more.

Again Granatelli pulled away and continued to increase his lead until to competition yellow waived. This allowed the pack to draw in closer to their pray. The restart was a continuation of the first half except this time the Young Granatelli got a bit excited and overdrove into a corner spinning himself out. (an example of youth out weighing experience) The spin put him back to 5th and he briefly fought his way back to a battle for 3rd but ended up 1 spot of the podium. Needless to say it was a rookie move that cost him his first win of the season.


Sunday – Joey Granatelli Qualifies #1 – Gets inverted 3 rows to 6th and as if there wasn’t enough trauma they moved him to dead last at the start because he had a strap come loose on his HANS device. From dead last Granatelli charged to the front posting the quicker lap times on lap 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9. Unfortunately starting dead last was more then he could overcome. It was “the Young Guns” first podium of the year and proved he would continue to be a force as the SuperLite season progresses.


In short I am not taking anything a way from any other driver – Chad is the reason we got into the series but Jojo did not slice anyone off or cause any pile ups. He has consistently been fast and with the pack all year.

 

[JoeyD23]

anyone get pics of Jason Ellis's wreck in the XDP super lite during practice??

 

[Granatelli]

Did I mention I liked the Rockstar Girlz

 

[baja619]

You can see some videos on Ellismania.com if you are a member.

I also think JoJo has great potential and will continue to improve. I did not write that with intentions of making Joey look bad or like the restart was his fault. The start was a bit sloppy because everyone wanting to get on and all jockeying before the green dropped; i.e. sloppy

As I was watching the race start on Saturday their were 3 cars that all got into each other going through Turn 1. From what I remember and from my notes that I took during the race Joey was in the middle of the 3 when they collected so to me that was just racing, no mistakes made.

It was a little difficult to describe for me, so now I understand that that part may read with a different interpretation.

 

[Granatelli]

You can see some videos on Ellismania.com if you are a member.

I also think JoJo has great potential and will continue to improve. I did not write that with intentions of making Joey look bad or like the restart was his fault.

It was a little difficult to describe for me, so now I understand that that part may read with a different interpretation.

We took no offence - We know Jojo is going to be great. He has a unique ability behind the wheel to adapt to many driving conditions. He just turned 16 and looks and acts like he is 13 - 14 on a good day Jeff from FPO said it best when he told a few guys at the track (speaking about Joey) "that kid is the driver? Are his arms strong enough to turn the wheel?"

Being a Granatelli and living in a racing world has its ups and downs. We have our stalkers (they know who they are - the kind of people that run up to you to let you know they are planning to race in the same series as you so they can show they're better - Rather then focus on themselves they get all caught up in the moment of others) and then we have our fans that support us good or bad. Joey is expected to ace every time he gets behind the wheel - he is put under a microscope and for some reason held to a higher standard. -

Understand as his father I am a bit protective so perhaps I am quick to give him is props. I keep hearing that Joey does not belong in the truck and that his skill set is not up to par with the speed of the trucks. They sight examples like his crash in AZ. It is easy to say he crashed came from inexperience, hell he only had 30 laps total behind the wheel of the truck combined but that is not the case. He cart wheeled the truck because he was going faster then the truck could over the hellified Whoops.

Lots of people had trouble there in all the classes. All due credit to the "Young Gun" Speedtech delivered his truck to him 2 days before the first race of the year. We tried to test but before he could get it off the trailer it had trany trouble. Therefore his first time in the truck was testing it on the track at Primm. He looked like everyone else out there - ALL OVER THE PLACE. There were multiple spin outs by all the drivers. Joey's learning curve was on par with the rest on Saturday - Sunday he was better (way better) Then his next time in the truck was Perris for SXS. In his first time out he was qualified number 1 and that included being faster then the UL truck with a 350 Chevy. In the race he was the fastest SuperLite on the track.

Now, armed with perhaps 25 laps of total driving experience he went to Surprise AZ where he qualified #1. That was the big surprise for everyone else, HE can drive!

I told Joey 1 billion if not a trillion times - DO NOT PASS in the center of the rhythm section but that is what he was doing while fight Chuck Dempsey for 3rd place. That stupid choice cost us $44k and 7 stitches to his left ankle.

From there it was off to VIR - Virginia International Raceway. Joey jumped in a Formula 2000 Scandia open wheel race car and made us proud again by qualifying #1 and then winning a rain soaked race by 6 seconds over others that had multiple years in the same cars. He is has been scouted and drafted to race Pro level open wheel cars as soon as he is 18. In open wheel your dad can not sign your life away like in off road - so he is not eligible to race "real" upscale cars until he is 18.

We flew home from VIR and drove straight to the SXS race in Perris. The trucks' set up was a mess as it was our maiden voyage with the new equipment. Agreeably he looked NOT SO GOOD. Rather then blame the equipment he quietly kept to himself. Then off to Elsinore where he qualified #1 again on Sunday. So Joey has raced the SuperLite 5 times and qualified #1 3 times

Again – I hope no one misunderstands me. I am Pro Jojo all the way

 

[GRANT@FUNCO]

Talk about a thread hi jack !!

 

[Leising]

“Understand as his father I am a bit protective so perhaps I am quick to give him is props. I keep hearing that Joey does not belong in the truck and that his skill set is not up to par with the speed of the trucks”



I am going to have to take Granatelli side with this unfortunate comment. Yes Joey has minimal seat time in the truck but has shown that he has the skills and the mind seat to be on the track with the rest of us. Maybe others had a different perspective from the stands but on the track the so called “kid” can hang with the rest of us and do so in the front of the pack. I am personally stoked to see his racing progressing so well so soon. Will Joey Granatelli be someone to watch out for in the upcoming rounds? I think very much so along with Brandon Bailey who along with Joey has stepped up tremendously over the past few rounds.



I want to also let everyone know that the cause of myself being black flagged was due to contact in turn 6 right before the mandatory caution on Sunday. Although the contact wasn’t in any way intended to be violent or overly aggressive, yet only to get a nose in on the line I was favoring to make the pass. After being braked checked multiple times in various corners as Brandon’s spotter was on the radio telling him to cut in on our truck every time the opportunity arose. We were simply intending to pull in tight behind him setting up to make the pass after the turn.



When Brandon got onto the brakes going into the turn, I had minimal time to react being what seemed to be merely inches from his rear bumper, causing my truck to make contact with the back of Bailey. This was partially the cause of Bailey’s spin out. Like I stated, this wasn’t our intentions and we respect the officials decision to black flag our truck to pay our dues placing us in the back of the field with only 3 laps remanding. I’ve always said rubbing is racing and if the tables were turned I only hope that things would have gone the same way for us as they did with Brandon. My hats off to both Joey and Brandon for the tremendous improvement they have shown over the last few months and I can only hope that with their dedication and determination, together we can do our small part to help grow the sport we all love. Looks like I’m going to have to go back to the tapes of last weekend before returning to Elsinore for Rounds 7&8. Goodluck to all the Racers out there!





Chad Leising

#17

 

[jessespenc]

congrats to everyone. wish i could have made it out there.

 

[kdm73091]

sick nice job dude congrats... keep it up!

 

[baja619]

Here is a highlight video from the weekend.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojJwPd2rVyE"]YouTube - HART&Huntington LUCAS OIL WRAP UP VIDEO // ROUND 5/6 LAKE ELSINORE,CA[/ame]

 

[Granatelli]

Talk about a thread hi jack!!

Not really

“Understand as his father I am a bit protective so perhaps I am quick to give him is props. I keep hearing that Joey does not belong in the truck and that his skill set is not up to par with the speed of the trucks”

I am going to have to take Granatelli side with this unfortunate comment. Yes Joey has minimal seat time in the truck but has shown that he has the skills and the mind seat to be on the track with the rest of us. Maybe others had a different perspective from the stands but on the track the so called “kid” can hang with the rest of us and do so in the front of the pack. I am personally stoked to see his racing progressing so well so soon. Will Joey Granatelli be someone to watch out for in the upcoming rounds? I think very much so along with Brandon Bailey who along with Joey has stepped up tremendously over the past few rounds.

My hats off to Joey for the tremendous improvement he has shown over the last few months and I can only hope that with their dedication and determination, together we can do our small part to help grow the sport we all love. Looks like I’m going to have to go back to the tapes of last weekend before returning to Elsinore for Rounds 7&8. Good luck to all the Racers out there!

Chad Leising

#17

As usual Chad you are a class act – Thanks for the help and support on and off the track. I know you know I never intended to take anything away from you

J.R.