Casey Currie Leaves Phoenix 2nd in LOORS Pro Lite Standings

UTV Weekly | March 25, 2013

CORONA, Calif. (March 19, 2013) – Casey Currie and the Monster Energy/General Tire Nissan team started the season off on a high note this weekend, leaving Phoenix’s Firebird International Raceway second in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Pro Lite standings. Despite having to pass nearly the entire field on both Saturday and Sunday, Currie brought home finishes of third and fifth, respectively.

After dialing in his Monster Energy/General Tire Nissan during Friday’s practice, Currie was excited to get the season started. A small change before qualifying didn’t work as well as he hoped, resulting in the 10^th fastest time. Despite the mid-pack start, Currie worked his way to the front of the field and into the top five. Near the halfway point of the race, Currie was t-boned in a corner, cutting down a tire and forcing him into the hot pit during the full-course yellow. After the restart, he methodically carved his way up from 29^th all the way to podium where he finished third.

“The race didn’t go exactly how we planned it,’ said Currie. “But we showed everyone out there that the Monster Energy/General Tire Nissan is going to be a fast truck all year long.”

During the second round of competition on Sunday, Currie was able to qualify fifth and patiently waited to get into the lead. As the race wore on, he tried to make a pass for third with an “outside/inside” move and was black-flagged by the race officials. With a limited amount of laps left, Currie raced hard to salvage as many points as possible and by the time the checkered flag flew, he had raced his way into fifth.

“I thought I had a good line going when I tried to make the pass into third,” said Currie. “He moved over on me a little because he knew I was going to be able to get him and the contact spun him out. Having to restart from the back of the field twice during the weekend is frustrating, but our results show we have the right equipment to win races.”