As racing season finales go, you could not have asked for more of the last round of the 2013 Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series and Challenge Cup. The races were filled with fender-banging action, rock-and-roll on the track, and nail-biting suspense. If you were sitting down the entire time, you were obviously not paying attention or enjoying yourself.

Although Carl Renezeder had already wrapped up the Pro 4 championship going into this final round held at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park, there were still plenty in hot pursuit of trophies, ego, and cold, hard cash.

The Pro 2 championship and runners-up spots in Pro Lite, Pro Buggy and Pro 2 were all wide-open for whomever had the guts, skill, luck and better machine that day to grab it.

Brian Deegan leads the pack during the early laps of the Pro Lite Main event.

Big Mac’s Day

Saturday began with the Pro 2 champ bout. Rob MacCachren had a slim eight-point lead over Carl Renezeder in Pro 2. He would have to beat Renezeder to win the title. Carl could overtake Rob, but if he failed to do that, he still had to hold off Brian Deegan, who was third in the standings.

Although Rob MacCachren didn’t finish the race, he had enough points to secure the Pro-2 crown for 2013 and celebrated with his crew on the podium.

However, Renezeder’s luck ran out. The rear suspension on this truck broke, and he dropped out on lap 13! With his biggest threat out now, Mac could forget about points racing, and go all-out for the win. But he soon developed problems of his own.

The engine on Mac’s truck began to fail just a few turns later, on the same unlucky lap 13! He limped around the track to gain as many points as possible, but quickly dropped to 17th before he was lapped by Menzies and Deegan.

A lap down, Mac parked it, but not without securing the Pro 2 championship. Deegan did win the race that day, and by doing so, overtook Renezeder for second place in the Pro 2 championship standings. Bryce Menzies finished the race in second, Marty Hart was third.

“I can’t thank my crew enough!” said Rob MacCachren “They gave it 110 percent; they deserved this! It was a long, hard-fought year. We have been the Pro 2 champs 2008 through 2010 in two different series, we needed to get that back. It’s very rewarding to win the championship in such a competitive class.”

Pro Lite Tumble

Sheldon Creed, who was second place in the Pro Lite standings coming into this event, had a crash during qualifying that put him in the back of the pack. Creed’s poor starting position would put his points standings in jeopardy, if third-place RJ Anderson did well.

RJ did do very well. As a matter of fact, he won the race. Creed valiantly fought his way back through the pack, but could only make it to sixth position at the stripe. Justin Smith finished the race on the podium in second place followed by Jimmy Fishback in third.

Brian Deegan’s truck started smoking around lap 8, so he parked it. He had already accrued enough points to clinch his third Pro Lite title, so while he was disappointed to not the win the last race of the season. he still kept the class crown for the season.

The Pro Lite drivers were going all-out during the race. Several trucks were banging doors off the big table-top jump. Kyle Hart went three-wide off the jump with Sheldon Creed and Noah Fouch.

All three trucks collided in midair; the contact causing Kyle to rotate; landing on his side. The result was one of the worst wrecks in memory. Kyle’s truck barrel rolled violently about eleven times, as can be seen in the “>video above. Thankfully he climbed out of the truck on his own. Taken to the hospital for observation, later reports came that Hart was not seriously injured.

Bugged Out

The Pro Buggy race continued the trend toward aggressive driving with several crashes and intense, wheel-to-wheel action. Steven Greinke had a huge lead in the title race, but Dave Mason trailed Bradley Morris by only seven points; second place was up for grabs.

Morris lost no time getting out front early, with points leader Greinke hot on his tail in second; Mason was busy working his way up to fourth. A full-course caution came out when Dillon Reimer rolled. As we’ve seen all year, Greinke started his methodical run to the front, eventually taking the top spot away from Morris.

On the following lap, Garrett George tried to put a move on Morris as well for the second spot. George banged wheels hard with Morris sending him wide toward the wall. The contact caused Morris to lose several spots in the running order.

This was the break Dave Mason needed to gain points on Morris in the championship. But Mason later spun on the second-to-last lap, dropping him back to seventh place, allowing Morris to finish in eighth place. Whoever takes second place in the Pro Buggy championship, will capture it by a razor thin margin. Greinke went on to win the race with Geoffrey Cooley second and John Fitzgerald third.

Action during the champ event at Elsinore was fast and furious right from the start of every race.

With the last round of racing now inked, the championships were settled. The following day would see the Challenge Cup races that paid big bucks to the top finishers. There was no strategy, and no points racing, just an all-out battle to get the win and the big paycheck.

Day Of Reckoning

Pro 4 racer Kyle LeDuc said of the impending day of competition, “There is no tomorrow.” Judging by the action on the track Sunday, Kyle had summed it up perfectly.

Justin Smith jumped out front early in the Pro Lite cup race, followed closely by RJ Anderson. Anderson dogged Smith the entire race sticking his nose in nearly every corner. He tried to out brake him, he tried the outside-inside move and the inside-outside move, but could not take the lead away.

Smith held on, despite several cautions that bunched up the field. In the final corner Anderson tried one last dive underneath, but Smith held a tight line, despite the contact to his rear quarter. Anderson got sideways heading for the wall, but Creed and Morris, who were banging door-to-door at full throttle, slammed into Anderson, actually helping to straighten him out.

The three were sandwiched together as they slid through the corner, until Creed broke free to finish second. Anderson crawled across the line in third. Morris was left in the wake. As he tried to continue with no steering and a broken wheel, Ray Griffith and the rest of the pack flew past him within sight of the finish line.

It was Justin Smith’s first Pro Lite victory since he moved from the Pro Buggy class. Justin knows how to win the Cup race; he took the victory in the Pro Buggy race in 2010.

“It was the last race of the season, so we felt comfortable making drastic changes to the truck,” said Justin Smith.

“We tried a different BF Goodrich tire and made some tuning changes to our FOX shocks that just kept getting better. After our second place on Saturday we knew as a team we could win the cup race on Sunday.”

Pro Buggy Bash

The Pro Buggy cup race mirrored the season. The young guns jumped out front early while the veteran Steven Greinke quietly reeled them in. “I used to be a young guy in the class,” said Greinke, “Now I’m the veteran, I’m racing against guys half my age and I’m only in my thirties.”

The Pro Buggy Cup was hard-fought too, with Greinke taking home the treasure, but with Mason collecting second, and Larry Job grabbing third.

After a full-course caution just after the start, Morris took the lead and began checking off competitors. Running clean out front, he then spun out; backing into the wall and collecting Dave Mason who could not avoid him.

Several cars then tangled after the following re-start; Sterling Cling ended up on his lid. After that caution, John Fitzgerald inherited the lead, with Eddie Tafoya second, Greinke in third. Mason then got by both to take second place; Tafoya and Greinke were left battling for third position.

Fitzgerald and Mason were checking each other when Fitzgerald spun, leaving Mason out front. The entire time Geoffrey Cooley was charging through the field despite a flat left front tire. After yet another caution, Greinke jumped Mason on the re-start and took the lead.

Greinke went on to win, Mason was second, Larry Job third and Cooley took fourth. As the leaders crossed the line there was a huge wreck involving John Fitzgerald and Eddie Tafoya. Fitzgerald’s transmission was popping out of gear. He slowed coming off the big jump, causing Tafoya to drive over the back of his car. Tafoya landed on top of Fitzgerald, and the two tumbled so violently that it ripped the engine completely out of Fitzgerald’s car.

2 x 4 Demo Derby

After removing the wreckage from the Pro Buggy race it was time for the Pro 2/Pro 4 cup race to begin. This race is set up from that start with the Pro 2 trucks getting a half-lap lead to compensate for the Pro 4 truck‘s four-wheel-drive advantage.

Often, the Pro 2 trucks catch up with the Pro 4 trucks within a handful of laps, depending upon changing track conditions, driver skill and pure luck — good and bad.

The race started out with a bang, and early on Eric Barron got spun, dropping him to the back of the Pro 4 group, and causing damage to his hood that blocked his vision. He charged back to the front, but collected a smoking Kyle LeDuc when he over rotated in the corner.

The resulting caution allowed Barron to dive into the hot pits and remove his hood. After the re-start it was Bryce Menzies running out front, followed by Robby Woods. The rear suspension on Bryce’s truck broke, allowing Woods to get out front.

Brian Deegan holds the 2013 Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Pro2/Pro4 Challenge Cup high after his win.

The leading Pro 4 truck of Carl Renezeder clipped Menzies as he slowed, taking out the brakes on Renezeder’s truck. Unable to stop, he flew past Brian Deegan and hit Woods in the side. Woods held on to the lead with Deegan stuck to his back bumper.

Woods looked like he would go on to take his first victory, but in the second-to-last corner, he caught a rut that put him sideways and scrubbed his speed. Barron, who had charged all the way to the front, hit Woods hard and shot out to the lead and the checkered flag.

Officials instantly made a call that Barron should be penalized for aggressive driving, dropped him to ninth. The benefactor was Brian Deegan, who was running in the third spot, but got past Woods for second after the contact. Deegan crossed the line in second place, but was awarded the win after Barron’s penalty. Every Robby Woods fan was crushed by the turn of events, but much to Robby’s credit, he was extremely gracious and positive on the podium.

The drivers racing in the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series know how to wrap up a season. Door-banging action on the track, and more than a little controversy, have generated enough buzz to keep the fans excited until the 2014 season rolls around again.

Stay tuned to Off Road Xtreme for full coverage of more off-road racing, including the always exciting 2014 Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series!