NEW LENOX, Ill. -- The Probst Motorsports team went to Surprise Arizona to compete in rounds 9&10 of the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series with Kevin Probst driving the #9 Unlimited 2 and Mikey Vanden Heuvel driving in the teams Unlimited Lite. Mikey was a late addition with the injury to Jon Probst and will finish the season for the team.

The Lite was poised to do battle with Mike behind the wheel, and during the second practice session, the timing tensioner in the Nissan 4 valve engine let go. The 300hp engine did not like the cams lack of movement, and the valves all bent. The teams backup engine was down due to a last minute problem before the trucks were loaded to leave for Arizona, so with no backup and a very ready and willing driver, the #5 entry was scratched for the remainder of the weekend. “We just came up short for Mikey this weekend!” said Kevin, “the engines have always been very reliable in the lite, and this one was fresh for the weekend. Parts break in racing for sure, but it is a big disappointment for the team to have a good truck in the pit and not on the track.” Mike will fill the seat for the Primm event and both engines will be at the track in case of issues. Mike did show some good laps and we look forward to the #5 E3 Spark Plugs Lucas Oil Nissan racing in November.

The Unlimited 2 #9 of Kevin had quite the opposite weekend. Kevin had great practice sessions due to the fact that the team installed a gear reduction unit from Stoney Automotive Engineering (SAE). The changes to the truck were remarkable and quickly evident with the lap times showing significant improvement from the last rounds in Surprise. By the end of qualifying for Saturday, Kevin was the 7th quick and with the 4 row inversion was slated on the outside of row 1 for the round 9 start.

At the green, Kevin took the lead into turn one, but a turn one roll by another truck caused a red flag and the full grid was to restart. Kevin took that start as well and led the race until close to the competition yellow when the loss of power steering caused the #9 to slow and pull in that same lap. End of day, but great hopes for the Sunday round 10.

Round 10 qualifying saw Kevin improve on Saturday with a top 5 spot. The 4 row inversion put Kevin on the outside of row 2 behind Renezeder. At the start, Kevin followed Carl for a good start through the first couple laps. The Lucas Oil #17 of Renezeder took control for second with Jeff Ward (Wardy) in the lead and Menzies 3rd, Probst 4th. Menzies and Renezeder tangled and Kevin took the 2nd spot. Jeff Ward, keeping a great pace with Kevin in tow, hooked an inside corner in turn 3 causing him to go (on the bicycle). This gave Kevin the lead coming to the competition yellow. Kevin took the #1 spot after the yellow with Menzies in tow. The 2 put on one heck of a race and coming to the white flag lap, Menzies got a run from turn 6 to take the lead from Kevin and the finish was in that order. Menzies 1st in the Superclean truck with Kevin second in the E3 Spark Plugs truck and Ward 3rd.

“It was great to make the podium,” said Kevin, “our team worked really hard over the break to get the #9 up to speed with the lead trucks, and it paid off! We look forward to finishing the season strong and entering the 2010 Lucas Oil Off Road Series Season with momentum”

To check out all the results and more information, visit: www.lucasoiloffroad.com

Thanks to all our supporting partners

E3 Spark Plugs www.e3sparkplugs.com
Lucas Oil Products www.lucasoil.com
MSD Ignitions www.msdignition.com
FOX Racing Shox www.foxracingshox.com
General Tire (Unlimited 2) www.generaltire.com
K&N Filters www.knfilter.com
FelPro www.federal-mogul.com
JMR Manufacturing www.jmrmfg.com
KMC Wheels www.kmcwheels.com
UWeld www.uweld.com
Ringers Gloves/Mechanics Boots www.ringersgloves.com
Phil’s Inc and MTS Graphics www.philsinc.com
Hypercoils www.hypercoils.com
Indicom Electric Company www.indicomelectricco.com
Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation www.milwaukeetool.com