Las Vegan MacCachren fastest from start to finish

Rob MacCachren used a home-dirt advantage to win Saturday's first round of Pro 2 Unlimited trucks in the Lucas Oil Off Road Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

MacCachren, a Las Vegas native, dominated his 13-lap race and beat runner-up Rodrigo Ampudia of Ensenada, Mexico, by 5.22 seconds to post his second consecutive win of the season before a crowd of about 5,000.

"Our truck was fast when we unloaded it on Friday," the 45-year-old MacCachren said. "All the hard work by the crew paid off and made it an easy race. We just kept increasing our lead."

MacCachren had the fastest truck in practice, qualifying and throughout the race. He hopes the pace continues in the final round that begins at 2 p.m. today.

This weekend continues a busy stretch for MacCachren. He heads to Southern California on Wednesday to test a SCORE Trophy Truck before going to Mexico the following day to trek the course that will be used in the June 5 SCORE Baja 500 in Ensenada.

"The similarities between short course and desert racing are minimal," he said, comparing 500-mile desert races to the 13 laps of a 1.1-mile stadium course. "This is sprint racing; take the gloves off and go at it. You only have 15 minutes to get the job done instead of eight hours."

One of his former SCORE competitors, Carl Renezeder, won the Pro 4-wheel-drive trucks feature. Renezeder of Montebello, Calif., the reigning champion in the class, last won a SCORE race in 2007 when he combined with MacCachren and Mark Post to win the Baja 1000.

Other winners in major Lucas classes were: Chad George (Super Lite Trucks), Marty Hart (Pro Lite Unlimited), Jerry Whelchel (Pro Buggy Unlimited) and John Fitzgerald (Limited Buggy).

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.