The Rockstar Hart and Huntington PMG Team welcomed Lucas Oil as the title sponsor of Chad’s #17 SuperLite. For everyone involved with the program, it was important to put our best foot forward during the Lake Elsinore event and present Lucas Oil with positive results right on and off the track.
After an awesome first place qualifying session during Friday afternoon, Leising now held the fastest lap time of the SuperLite division going into Round 5 Racing. Starting from fourth position after the inversion, Chad would have to make moves throughout the 10 lap event to gain the lead position. On the opening lap, the young gun Joey Granatelli gets a little sideways and bangs into two other trucks as they were all going into Turn 1 three wide. Chad immediately capitalized and cruised up to 2nd position. The officials opt to restart the race because of the sloppy start. The field was restacked and the green flag waiving the SuperLites powered through the muddy track fighting for position. Chad comes out hauling in 3rd after getting around Granatelli once more. Keeping all the momentum he can muster Chad gains speed and makes a spectacular pass for 2nd over the huge backstretch table top. The action on the track was heating up and the body panels were peeling off several trucks due to the wheel to wheel brutality and contact between competitors. At some point Chad’s lost nearly all of his driver side skins.
The competition yellow was flagged to stack the SuperLites and prepare for an all out sprint to the finish. During the down time, the announcers from Totally Off Road Radio who were doing live commentating had nothing but positive comments about Chad, his consistent driving style and impressive career to date. The heat was intense but the fans seemed to be enjoying the days hot action.
With the green flag out, the spotters strongly encouraging each of their drivers, and loud whine of the Mazda Rotary spinning, The SuperLites powered through the Lake Elsinore Track which featured huge table tops, a rhythm section, 6 turns, and deep bowls making for a fast fun course. Chad chased John Harrah through the track during restart preparing to move in and steal the lead. Harrah spins his #13 SuperLite out in the last turn before the front straight away and Leising cruises into the lead. Chad immediately opens a huge gap over the second place. Harrah shows impressive resilience and closes the gap on the back stretch bringing the action side by side. Both drivers exchanged the lead back and forth bringing the filled to near capacity grandstands on their feet in anticipation. The white flag comes out with Chad in control of the race and running strong. The checkered flag drops with Chad flying through the front tabletop and earning an impressive 1st place victory.
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