Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Competition Director Tony Vanillo promised some higher speeds and bigger features for the new track at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park, and he didn't exaggerate. It was enough that, after a few trucks did their best impression of lawn darts during Friday practice and qualifying, Saturday morning practice was canceled so the lips of a couple of the jumps could be reprofiled. The trucks were still soaring high, but the altitude stopped getting the attention of local air traffic control.

That move didn't please everybody, of course. Some of the drivers wanted that hang time while, of course, others were happy to lose some altitude.

“I like the track,” said seven-time short course champ Carl Renezeder on Saturday morning. “I especially like it because everybody's bellyaching so much that the jumps are too big and it's too gnarly of a track. What I don't like is I see the tractors out there tuning some of the jumps down. That's how this track differentiates itself from the other tracks, is that it's got those huge jumps.”

The track had a nice long front straight with two big tabletops – the first one put the big Pro 2 and Pro 4 Unlimited trucks right about eye level with the top row of the grandstands before it was filed down – a big, sweeping left-hand 170-degree turn that had a couple of little bumps before heading up a monster hill that featured a step-up into a big jump. After that was a tight 180 known as the Corkscrew, then the big ski jump that launched the trucks about 30 feet high, then the only right-hander, a 180-degree turn into the rhythm section known as the 10-pack. Quite a few drivers had trouble mastering that section. Another 180-degree left took the drivers back onto the front straight.

While the track was all new, the drivers at the top of the box were familiar, at least if one was paying attention during the opening weekend at Firebird.

So far, after two weekends and four rounds, Kyle LeDuc (ABOVE) looks unstoppable in his Monster Energy/Toyo truck. Two easy-looking wins left the fans in the packed grandstands to look farther back for excitement. They certainly got it on Sunday, as Josh Merrell started out front and led the early laps until Kyle got by him. Then it was Todd LeDuc's turn to attack Merrell. After one heck of a battle, Todd got by him, but not without a bit of banging. Then he set his sights on his brother, but only making it as far as Kyle's back bumper.

“[Merrell] is an amazing driver, he really is,” said Todd. “I just had to get by him to start attacking Kyle. I didn't mean to get Josh like that. As the track dries out, my truck gets faster and faster. I just tried to pressure Kyle into a mistake, but he never made any.”

And thus Kyle's fourth victory in four races and a command of the points lead while chief competitor Renezeder experienced more mechanical difficulties, this time the electronic gremlins getting him.

“Four in a row is hard to do and I can't believe we've done it. But I'm not done,” said Kyle.

As good as that race was, it was the Pro Lite guys, specifically Brian Deegan and RJ Anderson, that put on the biggest show. Of course, with 24 trucks on track, it was bound to be entertaining, but these two stepped it up a notch on both days of racing.

Chris Brandt started up front on Saturday, and naturally stayed there with the drop of the green. Behind him, Anderson and Deegan were marching toward the front, while second-place starter Justin “Bean” Smith had a meeting with a wall and dropped back. After the competition yellow/pit stop, Deegan charged hard and found his way in front. Anderson joined him to relegate Brandt to third. Anderson couldn't put a move on Deegan, but as it turned out, he was paying attention. Deegan took his first win of the season in his first race after switching to the V8 engine in his Rockstar Energy/Makita Ford.

With Matt Cook on pole, Deegan and Anderson were starting second and third for Sunday's race and proceeded to move quickly to the front, where they battled for the entire 16 laps. Anderson finally got a good run through the 10-pack rhythm section and move inside Deegan in Turn 5 to take the lead. Noah Fouch then began racing with Deegan until the two got crossed up into each other, allowing Brandt, one of the last competitors still using a race-prepped four-cylinder engine, into second. Anderson cruised to his second win of the season in his Monster Energy Dodge as something went sour under the hood of Deegan's truck.

“Yesterday we did a bit of battling, and he taught me some of his moves,” said Anderson. “I went back, did my homework and told these guys, tomorrow is the day.” Anderson proved that, even in his first full season in Pro Lite, he knows how to study his competitors and use that knowledge, even on a crafty veteran like defending Pro Lite (and Pro 2) champ Deegan.

Marty Hart (RIGHT), who took his first Pro 2 victory at Firebird last month in his return to the series after winning the 2010 Pro Lite title, rolled to an easy-looking win on Saturday in his ReadyLift/GearUp2Go.com Ford. It looked like he was going to do the same on Sunday, but Rob MacCachren had other ideas. MacCachren, running second, was working hard to keep Hart in sight and Deegan behind him in the first half of the race. But he began charging hard in the second half and he and Hart put on a spectacular show as they fought for the Pro 2 lead.

“We were running hard,” said MacCachren. “Marty was fast and we wanted to stay in touch with him. We wanted to make him feel pressured. But he was running good, he wasn't making any mistakes and I figured, get to the halfway point and see how it all shakes out. Brian Deegan was running strong in third, so I wanted to keep him behind me, then he started fading.

“After they threw the green for the second half of the race [Hart] started getting a little sideways, but I wasn't close enough to capitalize. He smoothed it out and started getting away from me. I had to dig hard to get back up to him so he didn't get into cruise mode. We just started pressuring hard, had a chance to dive underneath him, get close to him, then we had the chance to race side by side for a couple of corners.” MacCachren came out on top for the first time in 2012 in his Rockstar Energy/Makita Ford.

The Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series resumes action on May 18-20 at Speedworld Motorsports Park in Surprise, Ariz.

Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Round 1 winners
Firebird International Raceway, March 31
Pro 4 Unlimited: Kyle LeDuc
Pro 2 Unlimited: Marty Hart
Pro Lite Unlimited: Brian Deegan
Pro Buggy Unlimited: Cameron Steele
Super Lite: John Gable
Limited Buggy: Bruce Fraley
Modified Kart: Bradley Morris
Kart Jr. 2: Dylan Winbury
Kart Jr. 1: Broc Dickerson

Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Round 2 winners
Firebird International Raceway, April 1
Pro 4 Unlimited: Kyle LeDuc
Pro 2 Unlimited: Rob MacCachren
Pro Lite Unlimited: RJ Anderson
Pro Buggy Unlimited: Mike Porter
Super Lite: Jessie Johnson
Limited Buggy: John Fitzgerald
Modified Kart: Bradley Morris
Kart Jr. 2: Shelby Anderson
Kart Jr. 1: Broc Dickerson