Rob MacCachren being interviewed on the podium
La Mirada, CA - The Lucas Oil Off Road Season kicked off at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, AZ over the weekend. As always, a huge crowd of excited fans was there to greet their favorite drivers, and just as predictably, the Arizona sun shone brightly over a beautiful day at the races. Rob MacCachren and Todd LeDuc were dialed in and ready to take on the competition in their Rockstar Makita Ford trucks, with Rob Mac in the PRO 2 class and Todd in PRO 4's.
The first race with a new truck is never an easy task, even with the considerable talents of Rob MacCachren behind the wheel. MacCachren has already racked up wins in the desert this season at Laughlin, San Felipe, and the Mint 400, but the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) short course season is just heating up. Speaking of heat, it was an issue in qualifying where temperatures at Firebird International Raceway in Phoenix were in the 90s, revealing a cooling issue with MacCachren’s brand new Pro2 Unlimited truck. This limited Rob Mac’s practice time on the several high speed sections, spectacular jumps, and unique dual split line of Firebird's track.
Fueled by Rockstar Energy Drink and armed with a full complement of tools from Makita Power Tools, MacCachren’s talented crew resolved the cooling issue and performed some fine tuning of the suspension before Saturday’s opening round of LOORRS racing. MacCachren strapped into his MasterCraft Safety 3G seat and started on the inside of the third row for Saturday's race. The action started hot and heavy as soon as the green flag dropped and didn't stop until the checkers came out. After a generous dousing from the water truck prior to the race, other Pro2 Unlimiteds with lesser rubber weren’t able to match the traction of MacCachren’s BFGoodrich Tires and the field nearly piled up on the first lap. By the middle of the race MacCachren had patiently worked his way up to third place and was battling for second with Robby Woods in some of the best action of the weekend. With only two laps left to go MacCachren dove under Robby Woods at the hairpin at Turn 3 and never looked back. While he ran out of time to reel in the leader, MacCachren put Rockstar Energy Drink and Makita Power Tools on the podium in his first race of the season.
In PRO 4 action, Todd LeDuc found himself starting on the front row and he put it to good work. The reigning rookie of the year was fast all day and found himsef battling with his brother and fellow Makita athlete, Kyle LeDuc and his father Curt . Todd was consistent on each lap running second for most of the race and then towards the end of the race he began to have fuel issues which allowed a competitor to get by him on the final lap. Even with the fuel issues, Todd still managed to put his Rockstar Makita Ford up on the podium in third place. Todd managed to repeat his third place performance again on Sunday bringing home another podium finish. Todd now sits in third place in the overall points.
Check out the interviews with Rob and Todd in the video below.
The team will be back in action later this month at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park in Lake Elsinore, CA on April 21st & 22nd.
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