MUSTANG (Oct. 18) — The Wild West Motorsports Park hosted another first time visitor this weekend. The Nitto Tires Ultra 4 National Championship series pulled into the park on Friday for practice and qualifying during its season ending event.
Loren Healy heads for the checkered flag to cap a perfect season winning the Eastern, Western and Nitto Tires Ultra 4 National Championship.
For the first couple of laps Loren Healy and Shannon Campbell were this close as they roared around the track at the Wild West Motorsports Park. Unfotunately Campbell crashed after taking the lead, which gave the victory to Healy.
John Currie crosses the rock section in front the grandstands on his way to winning the Rubicon Express Modified class.
Matthew Peterson leads Ben Varozza and Mel Wade III down the rock face during the Pro Comp Stock main.
Rob Butler gets some air on his way to winning the Spec class main.
Darren Mitchell bounced his UTV across the rock section in front of the grandstands as he heads for victory in the UTV main.
On a track as rough as the one at the Wild West Motorsports Park not everyone is going to finish their race. Here Keith Ulinger’s Jeep is towed back to the pits after terminal overheating put him out of his main event.
Phillip Cagiero was on his way to winning the UTV main until something sent him tumbling down the front straight hill. Here his UTV is being hauled back to the pits. Fortunately he was uninjured in the scary looking incident.
The drivers found a cross between brutal rock sections as well as high-speed areas and some fast corners. Its a mix that tested all of a driver’s talents as well as their machines.
For one driver, Loren Healy from Farmington New Mexico, the day was his time to seal the deal on a perfect season and win the national championship.
“I am at the top of the points so this means the championship for me,” he said. “The course is brutally hard, one of the harder courses we’ve run all year and I think the car is good and ready to go. I’m all for as hard as they can throw at us.”
Beside him on the front row was Shannon Campbell, from Gilbert, Arizona, who wanted to finish his season on an upbeat.
“I had me a little bit of bad luck this year, was sixth then 10th I think coming. I’ve been leading a lot of laps but I’ve been wrecking a lot so hopefully we can finish it,” Campbell said. “This is one of the roughest courses we’ve been on and it’s short course so you’ve got to move as fast as you can and try not to wreck. Don’t know what is going to happen next but we’re going to try and keep it to the front.”
The starts were a bit different as the pack would parade around the Lucas Oil track then come down the hill leading to the front straight. Right in front of the north grandstands was a rock section but the green waved before the drivers reached that point.
Then it was a charge onto the rocks where most had to find a way over the rocks. First off was Healy with Campbell right behind him.
They spent the first two laps, including going up the switch back toward the top of the big hill where they crossed another rock garden before hurtling down a gully and back on the track. From there it down a small rock section then up a long rock section before reaching the top of the track and heading back down the front straight.
Both Healy and Campbell were nose-to-tail for the first two laps. Then roaring down the gully Campbell made a pass for the lead only to flip his car that landed on its wheels but was so damaged he stopped when they reached the bottom.
“You know Shannon and I had some good battles going for a couple of laps then he pulled off a pass in the dust, front flipped and tore his car up pretty bad,” Healy said. “So I kind got to back off a little bit.”
From that point Healy’s main problem was traffic. Although the race wasn’t in doubt he did have some difficulty getting up the big rock face due to bunches of slower cars.
“There were definitely some traffic jams but we didn’t get stuck too bad so we had some good opportunities to get some passes in,” he said.
In the end he reached the checkered flag first followed by Erik Miller and Levi Shirley. For Healy this ended a perfect season with championships in the Easter and Western regions as well as the National title.
Healy did express his appreciation to sponsors Nitto Tires, Ajax Wheels, Ready Lift, Top Road, King Shocks, Spider Trax Axel and Dynamax Exhaust.
The previous two races used a slightly different track configuration. While these drivers went up and over the large hill once back on the course they turned right, headed up the grade then went down the large rock face.
After the green in the Legends/Spec/Mod main John Currie was first off the rock section and led the charge in his Rubicon Express Modified Jeep.
Being first can be an advantage as the driver is in clean air and didn’t get caught in the huge bottleneck going up the switch back that leads to the top of the big hill.
Currie had a clear run until a couple of laps into the event when he began to catch the slower cars. In fact no one really got close to him during the race.
Doug Faloni was second with Jordan Townsend third.
One driver that exited the race early with an overheating racer was Keith Ulinger from Discovery Bay, Calif. and his co-driver Brian Whitford. Since most spectators really couldn’t see what goes on at the very top of the big hill he gave a description of that area as well as what happened to put him out of the race.
“We got a check engine light on lap 2 going into the S turn, went into limp mode and we didn’t have a whole lot of power going up,” he said. “Got up, made it up around the rough section at the top as it’s pretty brutal as everybody else had been there so there’s dust every where. It’s rocks, dust, you can’t see anything where you’re going and you just have to hunt for the right line.
“As you get up the hill you have to stay on the gas the entire time. Then, after you get to the top, you pop up, hook a sharp left and that’s when we come down the sweeping turn in the gully.”
Ulinger runs in the Everyman Challenge Class and of course was asked how Wild West compares to the other courses he’s raced on.
“I love this course, it’s got some of the short track aspects as we can get some fast cornering, some good jumps and the rocks out here are unbelievable brutal,” he said. “There’s some boulders the size of Volkswagens and if you look at the big down hill rock pile those rocks are the size of a car. And if you hit it wrong you’ve got to try and back up a little bit so you can get around so it’s not an easy feat.”
Then he gave thanks to sponsors Falcon Tires, Race Line Wheels, Crawl Magazine, Classis Unlimited, Metal Cloak and for the support of his wife Janet as well as his co-driver.
As he finished his comments it was time to have his Jeep towed back to the pits.
Back on the course Rob Butler won the 4700 Spec Class while Ernie Hardaway was the 4800 Legends Class winner. The Legends champion, Dave Schneider ended up fifth after having to repair his rear steer linkage that broke during his preliminary race.
The Pro Comp Stock main was a runaway victory for Matthew Peterson as he left everyone in his dust. Even going down the big rock face no one was able to catch him.
Taking second was Ben Varozza followed by Mel Wade III and Kevin Adler.
The first main of the afternoon was the UTV Sportsman class. And these little machines used a different configuration to run their race.
Like every other class they started before the rock section on the front straight. After the ski jump and sharp right hand turn they went up a short rock area then over the hill and back down onto the front straight.
Phillip Cagliero was the first to clear the rocks and left everyone in his dust. In fact he seemed well on his way to score a runaway victory.
However coming down the front stretch hill proved his undoing as something happened and he was sent tumbling down the hill. Fortunately he emerged uninjured although the same can’t be said for his UTV.
The beneficiary was Darren Mitchell, who went from a distant second to leading the scoring the victory. Behind him Andrew Gorman was second with Brian Hogue third.
Before the day really got rolling series boss Dave Cole was asked about the course and what he expected from this event.
“I think it’s the most amazing course we’ve ever had as far as a man made by a long stretch, it’s the best,” he said.
The series came to Northern Nevada due to the efforts of a couple of people including landowner Norm Dianda.
“They asked me to come up and put on a race here but I kind of put them off a little bit because there were competitors that were racing here. Once they backed out that opened the door for us to come in with a clean slate so we came in and put on a good race,” he said.
Cole added that the series will be here for the next two years as they’re under a three-year contract. He like many drivers were impressed and like the course.
“Oh man, it’s going to be crazy over here today. I’m nervous as I’m talking to ou as I’m watching them water it (the rock face.) and they don’t need more water on that section. But it’s going to work itself out and it’s going to be a great race,” he said.
• After the dust settled and racing ended most of the competitors, their crews and families went to the Atlantis Casino for the awards banquet. During the ceremonies Levi Shirley was honored as the Sportsman of the Year while Mike Bou won the Rookie of the Year award.
Class champions are listed after the results.
RESULTS
Nitto Tires Ultra 4 National Championship Series
Wild West Motorsports Park — Oct. 18
4400 Class:
Main (7-Laps) — 1. Loren Healy*, 2. Erik Miller, 3. Levi Shirley, 4. Tom Wayes, 5. Wayland Campbell, 6. Mike Coleville, 7. Clay Gilstrap, 8. Jake Hallenbeck, 9. Paul Horschel, 10. Doug Evans, 11. Bill Baird, 12. Brian Capraa, 13. Ben Swain, 14. Chris Garrison, 15. Rod Kaven, 16. Jason O’Neal, 17. Raul Gomez, 18. Shannon Campbell, 19. Jason Scherer, 20. Greg Adler, 21. Rick Waterbury
DNF — Brendon Thompson, Jason Blanton, Jesse Haines, Gary Ferravanti Sr., Matt Rager
4500 Rubicon Express Modified Class:
Main (7-Laps) — 1. John Currie, 2. Doug Faloni, 3. Jordan Townsend, 4. Mike Bedwell, 5. Steve Lopez, 6. Morgan Derodeff, 7. Justin Hall, 8. Shawn Rants, 9. Keith Ulinger, 10. Jimmy Jack
4600 Pro Comp Stock Class:
Main (6-Laps) — 1. Matthew Peterson, 2. Ben Varozza, 3. Mel Wade III, 4. Kevin Adler, 5. Brian Calhoun, 6. Sean McNamara, 7. Justin Reece, 8. Bret Scheiding, 9. Bailey Cole, 10. Brian Behrend, 11. Robert Coty
4700 Spec Class:
Main (6-Laps) — 1. Rob Butler, 2. Axel Burmann, 3. Jessi Combs, 4. Jim Marsden
4800 Legends Class:
Main (6-Laps) — 1. Ernie Hardaway, 2. Jade Wickham, 3. Jim Brown, 4. Rory Romero, 5. Dave Schneider, 6. Richard Fenton, 7. Ross Glave, 8. Sean Leonardini, 9. Kurtis Harryman, 10. Mike Ortega
UTV Sportsman:
Main (5-Laps) — 1. Darren Mitchell, 2. Andrew Gorman, 3. Brian Hogue, 4. Melvin Wade IV, 5. Phillip Cagliero
• 2014 Class Champions:
4400 Unlimited — Loren Healy
4500 Mod — John Currie
4600 Stock Class — Ben Varozza
4700 Spec Class — Jessi Combs
4800 Legends — Dave Schneider
UTV Sportsman — Mel Wade IV
