Justin Lofton Wins Stadium SUPER Trucks Round #2 at Long Beach

 

Long Beach, Calif. (April 23, 2013) – In a dominating performance, Justin Lofton overcame a practice mishap on Saturday by another driver to be the class of the field on Sunday on the way to winning his first ever SST race in the SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks Grand Prix of Long Beach.

As near perfect weather conditions blanketed Long Beach, Calif., the highly anticipated Round #2 of SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks took to the temporary constructed asphalt street course of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The starting line-up for the 10-lap SST Final would be determined by a complete invert of qualifying times in practice from Sunday morning. At the conclusion of the 20-minute practice session, Justin Lofton navigated through the 11 turns and over the four jumps of the 1.968 mi course the quickest of the 12 competitors with a blistering lap of 1:47:775. Nearly, two seconds faster than second place, Jeff Ward with a 1:49:615.

 As the green flag flew in front of jam packed grandstands, Nick Baumgartner and Greg Adler paced the field with Baumgartner jumping out to an early lead. The trucks of Justin Lofton, Robby Gordon, and Rob MacCachren wasted no time moving to the front passing truck after truck. Trouble found Justin Matney on Lap-2 as he spun backwards going over one of the jumps causing trucks to scramble every which way. Adler took the worst of the damage as he retired from the race on Lap-3 with transmission issues.

A restart on Lap-4 bunched the field back up, but that did not hinder leader Lofton in the Weekend Warriors Productions Yokohama truck as he went right back to work where he left off hitting all his marks on the tricky course to pull away from second place. The action behind Lofton became heated as trucks were beating and banging into each other battling for position.

Justin Lofton would go on to secure his name in the record books as SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks winner of the Grand Prix of Long Beach followed by second place finisher Robby Gordon and points leader Rob MacCachren rounding out the podium.

After the race Lofton commented on winning Stadium SUPER Trucks Round #2:

“I’m super stoked to capture my first Stadium SUPER Trucks win. The outcome from Round #1 at Phoenix was disappointing, but to come out here today and put on such a dominating performance racing through the complete field is simply just awesome.”

“Hats off to my crew and the SST crew for getting the truck back together after being rolled 7 times the day before by a fellow driver. The safety and engineering of these trucks is something truly amazing. Robby did a fantastic job! I appreciate the Grand Prix of Long Beach for giving us the opportunity to race in front of all these fans. I hope we are invited to come back next year.” Stated Lofton.

The Inaugural season of SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks continues Saturday night, April 27, in Los Angeles, Calif. at the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with a full slate of Stadium SUPER Trucks, Monster Trucks, SUPER Buggy, and SUPER Trophy Kart racing.

Tickets to SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum start at just $25 for adults and kid’s 12 & under ARE FREE with a purchased adult ticket at the stadium box office or through Ticketmaster at ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000. USC Trojans Students can buy tickets for $10 through the stadium box office by simply showing their student ID’s.

All 11 SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Truck events in 2013 will be televised on weekends and featured on NBC Sports: seven on NBC and five to be televised on the NBC Sports Network. Round 3 from the LA Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA will be shown the day after the race on Sunday, April 28 at 1 P.M. ET. on NBC Sports Network. Please check your local listings for channel.

Keep up with all the latest news and results on Robby Gordon OFF-ROAD’s Stadium SUPER Trucks Series by liking the series on Facebook at http://facebook.com/StadiumSuperTrucks as well as following on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SSuperTrucks. All information including where to purchase your tickets for the 2013 season can be found at https://stadiumsupertrucks.com.

Unofficial Results

Stadium SUPER Trucks Feature (8 Laps): 1. Justin Lofton; 2. Robby Gordon; 3. Rob MacCachren; 4. Ricky Johnson; 5. P.J. Jones; 6. Mike Jenkins; 7. Arie Lyendyk Jr.; 8. Jeff Ward; 9. Justin Matney; 10. Nick Baumgartner; 11. Greg Adler; 12. Lalo Laguna

Stadium SUPER Trucks Qualifying: 1. Justin Lofton 1:47:775; 2. Jeff Ward 1:49:615; 3. Robby Gordon 1:51:296; 4. Rob MacCachren 1:52:386; 5. Lalo Laguna 1:53:112; 6. Arie Luyendyk 1:53:733; 7. P.J. Jones 1:54:146; 8. Ricky Johnson 1:54:479; 9. Justin Matney 1:55:010; 10. Mike Jenkins 1:55:101; 11. Greg Adler 1:56:229; 12. Nick Baumgartner 1:57:321.

 

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Former ARCA Series Champion Justin Lofton To Compete in Stadium SUPER Trucks

Charlotte, N.C. (March 27, 2013) – 2009 ARCA/ REMAX Series Champion, veteran off-road competitor and current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Driver; Justin Lofton will compete in the 2013 Inaugural Stadium SUPER Trucks season driving the No.6 Imperial Valley Full Plate truck.

Stadium SUPER Trucks is modeled after the late Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship and will take off-road racing to 12 state of the art stadiums across the country and abroad offering the champion a year-end prize of $500,000. The first race for SST and Lofton will take place April 6 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

“I’m really excited to be a part of SST, I have watched it all come together, and I can’t wait to line up to the start line April 6th for the Inaugural race.” Stated Lofton.

A native of Brawley, Calif. Lofton will go back to his desert racing roots in a specially engineered 600-horsepower Stadium SUPER Truck with support from Imperial Valley Full Plate group.

Imperial Valley Full Plate consists of various vegetable, hay, and citrus farmers along with multiple electricians and cattleman who have combined with other business owners and friends of Southern California to utilize the national reach and fan base of Stadium SUPER Trucks to promote their products and services fully.

“I am proud to be carrying the colors for the Imperial Valley Full Plate group. Everyone has become great friends and we enjoy having their support on and off the race track.”

SST President Robby Gordon commented on Lofton as an addition to the Stadium SUPER Trucks for 2013.

“Justin has been a long time friend and competitor in SCORE and Best in the Desert, he is a very capable racecar driver that will be fun, and exciting to watch in Stadium SUPER Trucks. Being a past winner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck series, Justin brings a great amount of truck control, as he has tested the SST truck numerous occasions I am very excited and proud to have Justin compete with us in the Inaugural season of Stadium SUPER Trucks. “

Justin Lofton’s racing accomplishments:
•4th place finish in 2013 NCWTS NextEra Energy Resources 250 (Daytona)
•Currently Second in NCWTS Points Standings (2013)
•8th place in Final NCWTS Standings (2012)
•Winner of the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 Charlotte Motor Speedway (2012)
•8 Top 10’s NCWTS (2010)
•ARCA/REMAX Series Champion (2009)
•6 ARCA/REMAX Series Victories (2009)
•ARCA/REMAX Series :1 win, 3 top 5’s, 5 top 10’s (2008)
•BITD Class 1000 Champion (2004)
•BITD Class 1000 ROY (2004)

All 12 Stadium SUPER Truck events in 2013 will be televised via tape delay and featured on NBC: seven on NBC and five to be televised on the NBC Sports Channel. Check local listings for channel and times.

Venues include University of Phoenix Stadium (Glendale, Ariz.), Long Beach, Calif., Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Los Angeles, Calif.), Qualcomm Stadium (San Diego, Calif.), Edward Jones Dome (St. Louis, Mo.), Soldier Field (Chicago, Ill.), Georgia Dome (Atlanta, Ga.), Cowboys Stadium (Dallas/Arlington, Tex.), Metro Dome (Minneapolis, Minn.), Stadium SUPER Truck Finals (Las Vegas, Nev.), and one to-be-named international event.

Keep up with the latest news and results on Robby Gordon OFF-ROAD’s Stadium SUPER Trucks Series at facebook.com/StadiumSuperTrucks and twitter.com/SSuperTrucks. Visit https://stadiumsupertrucks.com for more information including where to purchase tickets for the 2013 season.