Fallon 250 was very different as two series combined forces to stage a day into night desert racing event.

SALT WELLS (Aug. 29) – This year’s Fallon 250, the last desert race on VORRA’s (Valley Off Road Racing Association) calendar, was a bit different. This time the event was a western regional for Ultra4 series and drivers could use it to qualify for their nationals in October.

As a result, 50 Unlimiteds showed up plus around 70 for VORRA. The race was split for all the VORRA and limited classes raced into the daylight while the Ultra4 Unlimiteds raced into the night.

First Ultra 4 driver to complete all six laps on the over 40-mile course was Loren Healy, who comes from Farmington, New Mexico.

Loren Healy was on the gas when the Ultra4 part of the Fallon 250 started.

“I cut three tires and had to work my butt off,” he said. “Man, it was a crazy race, guess I forgot what it’s like to race in the desert. This course is insane, the rocks are just getting you everywhere and the second Horschel pulled in behind me into the pits I pushed a little too hard and started killing tires. I had to back off a little bit, get back on my pace and it worked out.”

The launch order went by points and each of the 50-cars started 30-seconds apart. With the winds picking up many times the dust was blown clear of the course unless drivers were racing into it then visibility could be very sketchy.

Healy’s first lap was completed in 41:25 as he roared through the start/finish transponder sensor. A few minutes passed then Horschel roared through with Wayland Campbell only 30-seconds behind him.

Paul Horschel and his co-driver brother Luke on their way to second place in the Ultra4 western regional at the Fallon 250.

Shannon Campbell was in fourth at that time, coming from his ninth starting spot but would later fade.

Somewhere about 40 to 45 minutes later Healy once again passed the transponder loop followed by Horschel, who was less than a minute behind him. Further behind the leaders Campbell was almost five minutes behind the leaders.

At the start of the fourth lap Campbell was in the lead followed by Horschel and Healy, who was now about four and a half minutes behind the leader. After that the gap began to close.

When the fifth lap began Campbell was still in the lead with Horschel just about 32 seconds behind him while Healy was within two minutes of them. Then Campbell had problems and fell back giving Horschel the lead.

By now Healy was charging his way toward the front and when the final lap began he was on point with Horschel about 30-seconds behind him. Further back Campbell got his problems fixed and was starting to charge but he was around nine and a half minutes behind the lead duo.

After leading then having to make repairs, Wayland Campbell goes through the finish area on his way back out into the night. He would finish third for the night.

At the finish they ended up Healy, Horschel and Campbell while fourth place Brian Caprara was just over 20-minutes further back.

A steady drive earned Brian Caprara fourth place in the Ultra4 part of the Fallon 250 race.

Not knowing this Healy had to wait 25-minutes to see if he truly won the race. Since everyone was launched individually the scoring uses scoring uses corrected time to determine a driver’s finishing place.

As it turned out the top three were far enough ahead they all kept their finish places.

After being told he would get the win, Healy thanked sponsors, Ready Lit Lights, Nitto Tires, KMC Wheels, King Shocks, Spidertrax Axels and Jimmy’s 4X4 that built the race car.

Healy ran the race with an elapsed time of 4:26:09 while runner up Paul Horschel ran a 4:31:09 and third place Campbell was 4:40:08..

After runner up Horschel and his co-driver climbed out of their rig, he said, “The race was pretty good but brutal, a combination of the dust and no visor on my helmet but the rest of it wasn’t too bad.”

His visor it got muddy when he tried to use a wet cloth to clean it so he had to open it to see. Once he crossed the finish line Horschel made sure to wipe the dust out of his eyes.

Asked about problems he said, “Mainly just passing in the dust, trying to get around people.

Then he thanked, his wife Hillary, B.F. Goodrich Tires, Jimmy’s 4X4, and his brother Luke, who was the co-driver.

While Healy posted a 42:05 final lap, Horschel with his visibility problems did a 48:02 while Campbell did a 46:49.

Asked about the race Campbell said, “It was good, I kind of got a little lazy the first lap and Paul (Horschel) gave me a little bump and kind of woke me up, made me realize I can’t get too comfortable so I got on the pace a little bit. Loren (Healy) and Paul both had their own issues I got past them and I lost a belt on the second to last lap, hit a rock and blew up a wheel so they all passed me when I was fixing stuff. I was having a blast, this course is so much fun, it’s my first longer distance race in a single seat car.”

Then he thanked his parents, Monster Energy, Nitto Tires and a bunch to other sponsors.”

While the Ultra4 part of the race started at 4:05 p.m. the VORRA part began first at 6 a.m. when the production classes, including Full Metal, Class 11 and 9. Then the remainder of the limited classes, including the UTVs, started at 7 a.m.

Very light winds complicated things for the morning drivers as once they began to overtake a slower car, buggy or truck, they really couldn’t see much. This made passing somewhat sketchy for everyone, including the UTV’s as so many were faster than they were.

Broc Ross and co-driver Jay Goodman head out for another lap in the VORRA part of the Fallon 250. They would win Class T.

Broc Ross, with co-driver Jay Goodman, completed the six laps of the race first. Based out of Deer Island, Oregon they won the Group T class and it was a special moment for the team due to challenges they’ve had with the truck.

“The race was pretty good, that’s our first finish for this truck so it’s sweet, very sweet. This is the first time we went this far without any major issues and its awesome.”

Asked about the course Ross said he liked it then added, “About five miles out in the canyon it’s a little rocky then about 15 miles from the finish there’s a lava bed there but other than that it was pretty nice.”

The run wasn’t trouble free as they once got off course and “killed two tires.” Fortunately their truck had two spares so they were able to repair it and raced carefully back to the pits where the spares were replaced.

Then Ross thanked his friends and crew as well as the workers at Ross Diesel and Auto, Clark Signs, Rugged Radios, Pyro Tech Fuel Cells, B.F. Goodrich Tires and VORRA for putting what he considered to be an awesome race.

The second driver team to cross the finish line was Jason Caufield with co-driver Phil Holcomb, both from Rancho Cucamonga.

Jason Caufield and co-driver Phil Holcomb take the checkered flag as they win the 4700 class.

“We launched around 7 a.m. and were 10th off the line,” Caufield said. “We had a a lot of good luck today, Phil is awesome, just telling me every turn but I think we blew one turn really hard, hit a rock but didn’t suffer any flats today.”

They also found the dust to be a challenge.

“The dust was horrible and when overtaking you had to be real patient and wait for them to move over. We had to nerf one guy lightly but it was all good,” Caufield said.

He added there was one slight hold up after a car rolled over just before the Pro Pits.

When asked who to thank he said, “Ricky Johnson, this is kind of his ride and we’re filling in for him and Luke Johnson this weekend. And I need to thank my father Frank and son Cory as well as sponsors, KMC, B.F. Goodrich, Rugged Radios, Undead Power, B.H. Construction and McKenna Engineering.

Shawn Rants was the 4500 winner in the VORRA part of the Fallon 250 desert race.

Some other winners were Matthew Peterson in 4600’s, Anthony Arreola in 4800’s and Shawn Rants the 4500’s victory. In the UTV classes Raul Gomez took the pro division while the sportsman winner was Phil Blurton.

Raul Gomez was the UTV Pro winner in the Fallon 250.

The UTV Sportsman winner at the Fallon 250 was Phil Blurton.

Attrition was a factor, as 17 of the 50 Ultra4 Unlimiteds never finished their race. On the VORRA side, the 4500 and 4800 classes lost at least half of the numbers as did Class 10.

None of the entries in Class 9 or Full Metal made it to the finish although the one driven by Chad Hall was actually a test for the upcoming Baja 1000 later this year.

The event also had time limits due to two races being run on the same day.

There was a 3 p.m. cut off on the VORRA side so staring around 2 p.m. any racer the officials thought couldn’t complete the course in time was shown the checkered while the others got the white flag. Some of those that broke down were left where they were as there was no time to recover them.

The Ultra4 event also had a time frame and their cutoff for all racing was midnight.

Both series have one more race at Wild West Motorsports Park. VORRA will be there October 3 and 4th.

After one more race, Ultra4 also visits Wild West Motorsports Park with a two day show. Friday, Oct.16th is a day race while the following day, starting at 8 p.m. is a night race.

OTHER RACING NEWS

• NASCAR’s Xfinity series took to the classic road course at Road American this Saturday and two Las Vegas natives were in the field. Brendan Gaughan started and finished 16th while Dylan Kwasniewski started 18th and ended up 33rd.

• Fernley 95A Speedway was in action Saturday and the IMCA points leaders, Robert Miller and Jake Holland finished one-two in their main. Other winners were, Rob Grace in Pro Stocks, Rick Miller in Street Stocks, Joe Frock in Dwarf Cars while Justin Busch picked up another Super Stock 4 victory and Rich Innis Jr. won the Pure Stock main.

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RESULTS

ULTRA 4 Unlimited:

Overall: 1. Loren Healy, 4:26:09 2, Paul Horschel, 4:31:08, 3. Wayland Campbell, 4:40:30, 4. Brian Caprara, 5. Greg Adler, 6. Randy Slawson, 7. Michael Klensin, 8 David Gomez, 9. Jon Cagliero, 10. Andrew McLaughlin, 11. Alex Hardaway, 12. Brian Wood, 13. Dustin Isenhour, 14. Donald Fisher, 15. Rod Kaven, 16. Jeremy Hammer, 17. Michael Trebino, 18. Mike Bou, 19. Thomas Chadd, 20. Andy Brown, 21. Joseph Varga, 22. Justin Foxworthy, 23. Kevin      Yoder, 24. James Mahoney, 25. Matt Trebino, 26. Cody Addington, 27. Brendon Thompson, 28. Bailey Campbell, 29. Wayne Hartwig, 30. Shannon Campbell, 31. Brad Falin, 32. David Bovich, 33. Eric Anderson,

(DNFs) Chris Hoyt, Bruce Szember, Levi Shirley, Jake Yoeman, Tom Wayes, Alex Wacker, Jason Waits, Marcos Gomez, Darren Henke, Derek West, Troy Stone, Jeremy Ealand, Kenneth Goodall, Tim Preiss, Dustin Sexton, Eric      Miramon, Brent Geogebuer

VORRA Limited Classes:

4500: 1. Shawn Rants, 2. Jason Wilkins, 3. Michael Bedwell, 4. Jordan Townsend, 5. Sean McBride, (DNFs) Justin Hall, Morgan Derodeff, Keith Ulinger, Josh Nieburhr, Andrew Gorman

4600: 1. Matthew Peterson, 2. Sean McNamara, (DNFs) Ben Varozza, Brian Hayes, Brian Behrend

4700: 1. Jason Caufield/Phil Holcomb, 2. Luke Johnson*, 3. Larry Nickell, 4. Bailey Cole

4800: 1. Anthony Arreola, 2. Rick Waterbury, 3. Sean Leonardini, 4. Ernie Hardaway, 5. Robert Daily, (DNFs) Matthew Kile, Justin Day, Richard Fenton, Jade Wickham, Dennis Lapp, Dave Schnieder, Michael Amaral

Class 1: 1. Ryan Sargent, 2. Rob Parsons

Class 10: 1. Dave Broome, 2. Derek Boarman,  (DNFs) Jeren Gunter. J.J. Schnarr, Eric Verling, Bill Minteer, Gary Steele

Class 11: (DNF) Desert Dingo Racing

Class 9: (DNF) Jay Schroeder, Cameron Taylor

Full Metal: (DNF) Evan Fine, Chad Hall, Brian Thompson

Group T: 1. Broc Ross, 2. John Wood, 3. Roger Ceballos, 4. Kory Van Norman, (DNF) Frank Bushman, Rick Fehrman, Scott Sibbald, Robert Laubscher

UTV Pro: 1. Raul Gomez, (DNF) John Duckworth, Andrew Gorman, Buzz Bronsema

UTV Sportsman: 1. Phil Blurton, 2. Ben Wilson, 3. Bill Hermant, 4. Logan Goodall – Ultra4 1, 5. Brian Powell, 6. Brian Hogue – Ultra4 2, (DNF) Phil Cagliero – Ultra 4 3, Brendan Child, Darren Mitchell, Salvatore  Cucci, Leon Privett, Dennis Jean

* – Not sure of the driver’s name for this.