Rodrigo Ampudia stacks up podiums at Lucas Oil Off-Road season opener
The field of racers were stacked, the newly built track was prepped, and the stage was set for a great weekend of racing at the Lucas Oil Off-road season opener in Las Vegas. Rodrigo Ampudia and his team headed to the Las Vegas Motor speedway from their shop in Ensenada, Baja California prepared to battle for podiums in both the Pro-2 and Pro-lite class. Tension swelled as the vehicle counts began to climb to record numbers in all classes. The stage was set for an epic weekend of off-road racing at the Lucus Oil Off-road series season opener at the world famous Las Vegas Motor speedway.
Rodrigo quickly found his rhythm qualifying first in pro-lite and 3rd in Pro-2. The first race on Saturday for Rodrigo would be the racers class of Pro-lite. Rodrigo started in the 2nd row back and started gaining positions off the start. Unfortunately the race had to be restarted because of an immediate crash temporarily slowing the momentum. After the restart Rodrigo got tangled up with Metal Mulisha General Brian Deegan, which bent his front right rotor and damaged his tire. Rodrigo managed to weld the damaged truck with finesse to a 4th place finish in Pro-lite.
Rodrigo Ampudia flies over jump at Lucas Oil Off-Road series opener
Saturday also brought a heated battle for podiums in the Pro-2 division. With 28 trucks and many of them long time race veterans, Rodrigo would have his work cut out for him as traffic would be a major factor. Due to the inversion Rodrigo started on the outside of pole next to Ricky Johnson, which should have kept him out of the carnage, but McGrath tangled up with him and several cars got around him. Rodrigo got right back into the action and fought his way back up to 5th by the midway caution. From there Rodrigo battled back in forth with Bryce Menzies and Jeff Kincaid ultimately finishing third right behind off-road legends Rob MacCachren and Ricky Johnson.
Sunday would also prove to be challenging as practice and qualifying were canceled due to rain. In the Pro-lite class Rodrigo started in the 2nd row. The race quickly turned into a battle as off-road veteran Marty Hart took the lead and set a blistering pace. Rodrigo managed to stay in the front group of trucks avoiding much of the carnage in the back. By the Mandatory caution Rodrigo had fought his way to the front, and maintained the lead until the checkered flag finishing first in Pro-lite class.
In the Pro-2 class, after the inversion Rodrigo would start on the pole next to Robby Woods. At the drop of the flag Rodrigo went after the first spot until Woods rolled violently in turn one. The race was restarted with Rodrigo on the pole, he maintained the lead for the first few laps until Rob “Fig” Naughton got around him. Once behind Naughton, Rodrigo fell back to 4th, but fought his way around Naughton, ultimately finishing third in the Pro-2 class. In addition Rodrigo was also able to run the fastest lap of the day. Rodrigo Ampudia is off to an Impressive start, capturing three podiums, more than any other driver in the series.
Rodrigo Ampudia leads for another first place at Lucas Oil Off-Road Series
“It’s great to be racing against the best drivers in the world and get on podium. It’s validation for all the hard work me, my team, and my family have put into off-road racing. We love this sport! Thanks to all my sponsors Lucas Oil, Papas & Beer, Tecate, BFGoodrich, and the fans. This is going to be a great year of racing!” Rodrigo commented about the great weekend of racing.
Rodrigo’s next race will be Lucas Oil Off-Road Round 2-3 in Surprise, AZ on April 17th and 18th.
Come by the Papas & Bear pit area to check out Rodrigo’s Pro-lite and Pro-2 truck and pick up some free posters.
Check out Rodrigo’s website for race results, photos and video at: www.papasracing.com
Rodrigo Ampudia is sponsored by:
Papas & Beer, Lucas Oil, Tecate, BFGoodrich, Mastercraft Safety, Fox Shox, and Simpson
About Papas & Beer:
Papas & Beer is the original Mexican nightclub, bar, & restaurant established in Ensenada, Baja California in1983. Currently Papas & Beer has three locations in Rosarito, Ensenada, and La Paz but is undergoing an expansion with more locations set to open in the United States and Mexico.
Management & Media by:
Mad Media
Matt Martelli
(760) 721-3600 or matt@madmedia.com
For additional news and updates check out:
For Rodrigo Ampudia images, please visit: www.papasracing.com
High-resolution photos are also available upon request
Casey Currie battles for top five finish at Lucas Oil Off-Road season opener
The Season opener for Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series started in spectacular fashion with a stacked field of racers and magnificently constructed, technical track. The facility located at Las Vegas Motor speedway offered exciting racing and great spectating a like. After being notified two days before the race that he was to be there, Casey Currie scrambled and rented a Pro-lite from Garrit Wallace. The truck had been sitting in a trailer for 18 months with no prep or maintenance. Casey, his family, and his crew thrashed for 24 hours non-stop to get the truck ready.
Even though Casey had no time to test or set up the truck, he managed to qualify 9th, which set him up for a 4th row start. Near the beginning of the race the number #92 truck actually flipped into the hood of Casey’s #2 Monster Energy Pro-lite stopping him and send him to the last position. Casey turned on the heat and fought his way back up to 5th place pushing the rented truck to its limit. Casey crossed the finish line in a respectable 5th place.
Casey Currie flies during Lucas Oil Off-Road race season opener
After having some time in the truck, Casey made a lot of changes to improve the performance of the truck. Sunday’s qualifying was canceled due to rain and the divers were only given one lap to shake down their vehicles, making the slippery wet conditions even more of an obstacle. On Sunday Casey started on the poll and led the first few laps until Rodrigo Ampudia got around him. Casey stayed in the 2nd position until the restart. Two laps after the restart Casy’s truck began to lose power eventually stopping due to a mechanical failure with the carburetor.
Casey had this to say about the race: “We really had to scramble to make it here. On Tuesday I had no idea what I was going to drive! My team pulled together with support form our sponsors and we made is out to the race. On Saturday I had a hard time adaption to the rented truck, but by Sunday I felt it was working much better. I would have liked to finish on the podium, but making it to the race was a victory in itself. I had a great time battling some of the top racers in the Pro-lite class.”
Come by the pit area to check out Casey’s Pro-lite truck and pick up some free posters.
Check out Casey’s website for race results, photos and video at: http://www.caseycurrie.com/
Casey Curry is sponsored by:
Monster Energy, BFGoodrich Tires, Currie Enterprises, Magnaflow Exhaust, American Wire Harness, GoPro Cameras, Goodridge, Howe Performance, K&N Filters, Kawasaki, Kicker Audio, King Shocks, Leatt Brace, Light Force Lights, MasterCraft Safety, Motive Gear, Oakley, PWR Radiators, Race Line Wheels, Ringers Gloves, Sign Pros, Simple Green, Torco Oil
Management & Media by:
Mad Media
Matt Martelli
(760) 721-3600 or matt@madmedia.com
For additional news and updates check out: http://www.caseycurrie.com/
For Casey Currie images, please visit:http://www.caseycurrie.com/
High-resolution photos are also available upon request
Pro-lite racer Luke Johnson
Check out this photo we just shot of young off-road racing prodigy Luke Johnson.
He has big shoes to fill, but he is well on his way. Luke will be racing a full season of TORC in the Pro-lite Class. Photo was shot on location in Temecula, CA by our director of Still Photography Vincent Knakal.
Method Wheels promo poster
Check out the new Method Wheels promo poster we just finished, its of “Ballistic BJ Baldwin boosting some serious air! No we did not photoshop him higher! They are free, just swing by the Method booth during contingency at any race and say hi to Colbey . Shot by our own Brendon Klein. Oh yeah, buy lots of Method wheels and keep us employed.
BJ Baldwin Method Wheels Poster
“Ballistic” BJ Baldwin wins the Parker 425!
BJ Baldwin wins Parker 425!
The Best in the Desert Parker 425 started in 1972, known then as the Norra Dam “500”, by 1974 the race had evolved to the Parker “400”, and continued to develop into one of the premier off-road races on American soil. Taking place along the banks of the Colorado River, the race features time trials pitting racers against the clock in a short dash for start position. The 140-mile loop features some of the most challenging terrain in America including sandy whoops, rocky washes, high speed graded roads, silt beds, and the crowd pleasing ” Parker Python” a spectator friendly winding infield section of the course.
On Thursday despite being 77th car to start qualifying BJ had a solid qualifying run finishing 4th setting him up for a dust free first lap. The weather also worked in the favor of racers with frequent light rains dust would be much less of a factor than previous years. The race started at daybreak on Saturday February 6th as the vehicles rocketed out of downtown Parker off-into the treacherous Arizona desert. BJ was off to a good start keeping a constant pace, pressuring the top race field. On lap one BJ had a quick-release mechanism fail causing the spare tire to fall off the rear of the truck. Shortly their after BJ received his one and only flat while in the dust passing a fellow competitor. The tire held up until the truck was at 126 mph on fence line road. By lap 2 BJ had gained position on time but kept steadily moving up. By lap 3 BJ had the lead both physically and on corrected time.
“Ballistic” BJ Baldwin won the grueling race in domination fashion finishing 19 minutes ahead of the nearest vehicle and 39 minutes ahead of the next trophy truck. Shaking off a rough 2009 season BJ had this to say about the victory; “It feels great to be back on top of the podium. We had a great race with very little problems. The truck ran great and we came prepared. We had some radio issues after we knocked our antenna off, but other than that we ran pretty much problem free. I was just trying to be steady and let the race come to me. It was hard to not push hard the whole time. There was a lot of good competition, but I just tried to run my race and not worry too much about any body else. I have to thank my crew, my sponsors, and all the fans who came out to see the best racers in off-road do battle. The champ is back!”
BJ Baldwin’s next race will be the Mastercraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 March 12th – 14th
BJ Baldwin is sponsored by:
General Tire, Mastercraft Safety, Method Race Wheels, Vision-X lights, King Shocks and K&N Filters
Behind the scenes at Johnny Greaves world record jump
Here a few photos form the first day of practice for Johnny Greaves world record jump. The jump was built on Jeremy McGraths beautiful ranch just outside of San Diego.
Ken Block and BJ Baldwin at Baja 300 Powerdays!
Johnny Greaves world record warm-up!
We shot this ad for Method race wheels the day before Johnny Greaves set the world record. He was hitting this 100 foot table top like it was nothing! Shortly after this he jumped 260 feet just practicing. The locations was Jeremy McGrath’s private ranch just outside San Diego.
Johnny Greaves World Record Jump warm-up
Johnny Greaves jumps 301 feet to set new world record!
Johnny Greaves has pulled the sword from the stone by doing what many have talked about and contemplated. He jumped his Monster Energy Toyota Pro-2 truck over a 200 foot gap setting a new four wheel record at 301 feet!
Method Race Wheels Ad Campaign
Take a look at the first two ads in the Method Race Wheels Campaign we have been working on.
"Ballistic" BJ Baldwin Flies through the sky outside of Las Vegas, NV.
Bryce Menzies blasts out of a corner in Primm, NV.
Mad Media Produces Exclusive Viral Video Content for Codemasters DiRT 2 Video Game
This summer Mad Media produced exclusive viral video content for the worldwide video game developer and publisher Codemasters. Following up on their smash hit “Colin McRae’s DiRT”, Codemasters released “DiRT 2” this September to hordes of excited fans. DiRT 2 features an exhilarating off-road racing experience, powered by the third generation of Codemasters’ EGO™ Engine tech. It’s packed with thrilling new race types, big event atmosphere, stunning locations, and a peerless line-up of super-charged speed machines.
The new DiRT title features Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra, Ken Block and Tanner Faust, who have gained notoriety here in North America as superstars of the Rally America race series, and have appeared in Mad Media’s viral films showcasing the Subaru Rally Team USA for the past five years.
“We met with Ken Block and Codemasters earlier this year and discussed how the game was going to evolve into something much bigger than just rally and off-road racing,” said Joshua Martelli, Director of TV/Film Production at Mad Media. “It became clear right away that Codemasters needed help producing engaging, branded content to explain Ken’s involvement in the game, as well as hype the new features in the game, such as X-Games Super Special stages. So we scoured our existing library of rally and off-road footage, and began producing and shooting important promotional films for them about Ken and these new features.”
Mad Media produced six viral films for Codemasters, as well as an exclusive Colin McRae memorial tribute video that appears in-game. Mad Media video assets were also used to create the interactive menus for DiRT 2. Then as the games release date approached, Mad Media produced a custom DiRT 2 / DC Shoes promotional DVD that was awarded to those who pre-ordered the DiRT 2 title from local “Game Stop” stores.
“DiRT 2 is an amazing piece of work – and in many ways speaks to the new generation of racing fans in a way that most titles don’t,” commented Mad Media Creative Director, Matt Martelli. “The design and layout of the game, and the game-play itself were very well executed – the best we’ve seen. So it was a real treat to have our cinematography and editing work – which we work very hard to produce – alongside such a clean and professional title.”
Gymkhana 2 is The Number One Viral Video in the Country!
The Number One Viral Video in the Country! Need we say more!
Bajaflo 4 to feature world class line up of off-road veterans and rising stars in action packed documentary
The Bajaflo film series has become a staple in off-road culture. Just as action sports films are integral to the action sports industry Bajaflo has been an important tool in exposing the spirit of off-road culture to new audience, as well as launching careers within off-road racing. The Bajaflo series is the brainchild of award winning cinematographer/director Mike Flores. “ I started the Bajaflo film series to be an evolving exploration of the spirit, beauty, and power of off-road racing”, stated Flores.
The film will feature off-road racing legends Carl Renezeder and Rob MacCachren, as well as rising star Rodrigo Ampudia Jr. and Rick Huseman. The film will also star a ton of additional off-road racers including Roger Norman, Johny Greaves, Andy McMillin, Casey Currie, Robby Woods, BJ Baldwin, and Todd Leduc. Covering both short course and desert racing, Bajaflo 4 will bring you into the action.
“Bajaflo 4 will pick up where the previous films left off, continuing to explore the culture of off-road racing through a series of short stories. With each film I have evolved as a cinematographer, director and story-teller. With this one I intend to push myself and the genre into new and unexplored areas,” stated the enthusiastic Flores.
Creator and director Mike Flores has enlisted the branding and marketing expertise of Mad Media and the production experience of the Martlelli brothers to push his creation to the next level. The film will be distributed internationally and feature a viral web campaign building up to a March premier at the legendary MINT 400. Filming has already begun and will be completed by the end of January, 2010.
“This will be one of our most ambitious projects to date. We are going to employ equipment and camera methods previously not used to capture the action of off-road racing. We intend on pushing the envelope, ” stated Mad Media Director of Film and Television Josh Martelli.
Casey Currie on Last Call with Carson Daly!
Ballistic BJ Baldwin Featured in 0-60 Magazine!
Ballistic BJ Baldwin is featured in the fall issue of 0-60 Magazine. Get off your ass and buy the issue or subscribe now!
Click the pics below to check out the spread!
Mad Media geht nach Deutschland! (Mad Media goes to Germany!)
We traveled across the sea to film the first annual Baja 300 Powerdays. The event was an invitation-only exhibition race in the Lausitz region of Germany, just outside of Berlin. The SCORE International sanctioned event organized by SCORE racer and former WRC driver Armin Schwarz featured world-class drivers from off-road racing, rally, enduro motocross and freestyle motocross all on one track together.
Baja 300 Powerdays marked the first time Trophy Trucks and Class 1 cars have ever been on European soil. The event was also the first time in history that off-road and rally cars competed in the same venue.
Off-road Competitors included BJ Baldwin, Jesse James, Gustavo Vildósola, and Danny Sullivan in the Trophy Truck class and Armin Schwarz, Armin Kremer, Martin Christensen and Andreas Aigner in the Class 1 buggies. The rally class consisted of rally legends Petter Solberg, Gigi Galli, Ken Block and Nasser Al-Attiyah. Motocross featured Dakar champion Cyril Despres along with numerous other enduro racers and freestyle motocross riders.
The track was composed of separate lines for each class within the same course. At three separate points, the trophy trucks jumped over the rally cars, including a mega-jump where freestyle bikes jumped over trophy trucks, while jumping over rally cars, stacking the vehicles three tall in the air.
We are in charge of the US television coverage and got some killer footage that we can’t wait to share!
The event was a massive success with nearly 20,000 spectators as well as an unprecedented amount of media coverage including RKL, Europe’s largest TV network. The event will return even larger next year as a full-fledged race.
Robby Woods runs fastest lap and hangs with the front runners at Lucas Oil Off-Road Series in Lake Elsinore, CA
Event: Lucas Off-Road Racing Series Round 5+6
Date: June 26th –28th, 2009
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA
Robby Woods Photo Gallery:
High resolution photos available on request.
****
Robby Woods runs fastest lap and hangs with the front runners at Lucas Oil Off-Road Series in Lake Elsinore, CA
Robby Woods charged the field at the Lucas Off-Road Racing Series Round 5+6, at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex managing not only to challenge the front of the pack, but to run the three fastest laps of the weekend. The young upstart has already been on the podium this year managing to battle his way to a 2nd place finish at the Surprize, AZ race. Sporting new sponsorships from Lucas Oil’s Slick Mist and General Tire, Robby came out swinging finishing 5th on Saturday and breaking on Sunday while in 2nd place.
Saturday
Robby started 9th and immediately attacked the field working his way up to 5th by the 3rd lap. Then when he battled Jerry Whelchel for 4th, Robby lost oil pressure and was forced to retire. The issue was caused by damage incurred during a rollover during practice. Robby managed to shake it off and come out and finish 5th in the combined Unlimited 4 + Unlimited 2 race, making him the first Unlimited 2 to the checkered flag.
Sunday
Robby started in 6th position, but immediately moved up to 5th. By lap 3, Robby had moved to 2nd and held position for seven of twelve laps. Robby fell back to 5th after making a slight mistake in turn one causing him to lose his momentum. Robby fought his way back up passing Carl Renezeder, Bryce Menzies and Jerry Whelchel to get back to 2nd and on the heals of race leader Greg Adler. During a full course caution caused by Jerry Whelchel’s crash, Robby’s electrical system caught fire taking him out of the heated race. Only his 7th off-road race of his young carrier, Robby left an impression on the 6,000 plus crowd gathered to witness the no-holds barred spectacle of short course off-road. The message he sent was simple “ I am here to win and race as hard as I can.”
Robby had this to say about the effort; “We not only ran upfront until we had mechanical, issues but we ran the 3 fastest laps of the weekend. I think this proves I am going to challenge the podium at every race.”
“I really want thank all my sponsors, especially Slick Mist and General Tire. They really helped me get here. The General’s worked great. I also want to thank my family, friends and fans, they all have a part in getting me out to every race,” stated the enthusiastic Woods.
Check out Robby Woods website for race results, photos and video at http://www.robbywoods.com/
Robby’s next race will be round 7+8 of the Lucas Off-Road Racing Series at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex on July 25th –26th
Robby Woods is sponsored by:
Slick Mist, General Tire, King Shocks, Pro-Am, K&N, Mastercraft, and Sparco
Management & Media by:
Mad Media
Matt Martelli
(760) 721-3600 or matt@madmedia.com
For additional news and updates check out:
High-resolution photos are also available upon request