Ultra4 returns to Northern Nevada with its brand of wild racing.

SPARKS (Oct. 17) – The Nitto Tires Ultra4 Nationals visited Wilde West Motorsports Park this weekend. They brought their crowd-pleasing mayhem as drivers not only had to get around the track but also had to race over fields of boulders.

And the big race of the day was the 4400 main.

“It was an amazing race, we did start out a little slower this weekend but everything kind of pulled together and we’re able to get back up front,” Loren Healy said after taking the checkered flag. “Everybody was just driving another 10 or 20 percent this weekend, it’s crazy how its elevated every race.”

Loren Healy on his way to winning the 4400 main at the Ultra4 Nationals.

He added that the lap traffic was also a challenge as a slower car could have an effect on the outcome. Then he thanks his team, sponsors Ready Lift, King Shocks, Spyder Tracks, Dynomax, his family for being there and Wild West Motorsports Park.

The race begins coming down the hill toward the start finish line. This year the starter held the green until the first row was almost into the rock field set in front of the north grandstands.

First on point was Gary Ferravanti Sr., who was soon deposed when Clay Gilstrap took over the lead. Behind them Healy, who started in the second row, was on a charge and closing fast.

Loren Healy (red car) chases early leader Clay Gilstrap in the 4400 main.

Coming down the very fast downhill, off the biggest hill on the course, Healy put the hammer down and rocketed into the lead then chased and passed Gilstrap while Jason Scherer took over second.

Then Erik Miller slipped into third pushing Gilstrap to fourth. They finished in that order.

When they got to the podium, runner up Scherer said, “That was really fun, it was a great run out there for sure. I’m not sore because the Fox Shocks really do work that good and thank everyone at Rubicon Express. I came into the first two corners and bicycled it up in both of them so thanks to Loren for giving me enough room that we didn’t have a mayhem in Turn 1.

“Got to hand it to my crew, they’ve been working tirelessly on this car to get everything ready. It’s kind of our local race, between Sacramento and here, this is where all our friends are.”

Then third place Miller added, “I felt like Déjà vu from last year as we came across the line the same way. We came out here from Maryland, always come out there to race with these guys as they are the best of the best. We’re happy to put this car on the box again as we’re one of the last with straight axles.”

Miller also thanked Healy and his team for lending them tired and wheels so they could make the race. And added they’ll be back in February for King of the Hammers.

The announcer also mentioned that for the second year in a row, Nitto Tire cars won the top three places.

Next up was a combined race with classes 4800, 4500 and 4600 Spec. The field was around 30 as they made their way on the parade lap.

With so many cars the charge through the rock field was as close to chaos as possible with some order.

Ricky Johnson, of Supercross fame, heads over the rocks on his way to winning the 4700 Class.

Back in the pack Ricky Johnson started strong and would top the 4700 field winning that title. In the 4500 Class Justin Hall was able to hold Shawn Rants at bay for that victory.

But the race within a race was between Anthony Arreola and Spanish Springs resident Dave Schneider, who already had the 4800 Class championship sewn up.

Heading across the rocks for the final time Dave Schneider chases Anthony Arreola as they race for the 4700 Class victory.

It all came down to the final charge through the rocks on the main straight. Arreola and Schneider were almost side-by-side.

Then Arreola just about got turned sideways while Schneider kept pushing. As they both reached the end of the rocks Arreola had a slight advantage but Schneider was on the gas as soon as he could.

At the finish line Anthony Arreola beats Dave Schneider (right) by .034 seconds. It was the closest finish of the day.

At the finish line Arreola won by 34 hundreths of a second. However even though he lost the battle Schneider clinched his second national championship in as many years.

At the top of the podium Arreola said, “It was really bouncy, feel like I’m bouncing on the course and beating my head against my brain inside. Once we came around that last corner I thought Dave had us for sure and once I saw him at the finish line it’s like, ‘ah oh,’ and I grabbed first instead of second, over revved the motor and we barely had him, barely. We got lucky.”

For his part Schneider explained he chose not to push it while on the rocks as he could have crashed and didn’t want to throw away the race.

Then he said, “Definitely wasn’t easy, we run a less aggressive tires than these guys so a lot more tire spin, a little less control.”

There were a few changed this year to the course and one big one was that many classes would race down and not up the rock face that leads onto the main straight.

The other was after the big classes reached the top of the biggest hill they now run along the top then make a sharp left turn that heads them down a slanted road back to the course.

Two races were also run in the opposite direction as they  didn’t race the rock face although they did go through the rock field in front of the north grandstands.

One of the exceptions was the Stock/Mod main and they were started just before the rock field. After that they ran up the hill in reverse of what is normal.

Coming down the hill toward the course they would go down a small rock face then back up another shorter one before running the infield.

Charging through the rocks Matthew Peterson was chasing Ben Varozza’s Jeep. However after a couple of laps, while crossing the rock field Varozza blew a radiator hose ending his race and handing the lead to Peterson.

Mathew Peterson on his way to winning the 4600 Class main.

On point Peterson took off leaving everyone in his dust. Brian Behrend tried to make a race of it but had to settle for second.

Brian Behrend tried to make a race of it but had to settle for runner-up in the 4600 Class main.

The first races of the day were when the 4400 cars ran their heats and B main. However the first main of the day was for the UTVs, who also ran the course backwards.

It was a strange race to say the least. After the green at least 30% of the UTVs never made it through the rocks on the front straight.

In face about a lap later one of the suvivors rolled but since they are so small the track crew simply rolled it back on to its wheels and the driver took off again.

Although he was unable to finish the UTV main, Andrew Gorman did win the Pro division.

The lead was Pro UTV driver Andrew Gorman, who blew a tire in the first lap but soldiered on. Sportsman leader Phillip Cagliero was having none of that and roared off.

Soon Cagliero had a lap on everyone as all but the two leaders fell out of the race. Then things got weird.

Although he was unable to finish the race, UTV Sportsman driver got the furthest and was awarded first overall.

On the final lap, after running through the rocks Cagliero started having transmission troubles. Later, when he was a half a lap from the checkered flag his UTV gave up the ghost and came to a stop.

Behind him Gorman was also having problems as he broke the steering on one side of his UTV. He was able to get up the hill and down the small rock face but then couldn’t make the left turn to get back up to the track proper.

With both leaders dead in the water the officials finally called it and awarded Cagliero the overall victory with Gorman second. And it’s not often that a race has 100% DNFs where no one finished all the laps.

On the podium Gorman said, “The stress of winning I thought was gone after blowing a tire on the first lap so I think it allowed me to focus on the rock sections and I just kept getting through.”

“Kind of stopped a couple of times so I decided to find a new line and I’m happy about that,” Cagliero said after he won the sportsman class. “I think I lost a tranny, couldn’t get it to shift, I could get it through the rocks in low range but couldn’t get it to high.”

Even though rain, and the slick rocks were a challenge everyone got through the morning and then in the afternoon things dried out.

This year both qualifying day and race day were streamed live on www.livestream.com.

Finally after everything settled down there was a country music concert. By then the sun came out and it marked the end of this year’s season but late January 2016 everyone will assemble back on the desert for the King Of The Hammers race.

OTHER RACING NEWS

• NASCAR’s Nevada Quartet was at Kansas this weekend. In Saturday’s Exfinity event Kyle Busch won, Brandon Gaughan was 10th and T.J. Bell ended up 36th.

In Sunday’s Sprint Cup event Kyle started third and finished fifth while older brother Kurt Busch started ninth and finished sixth.

Right now Kyle is listed ninth in the chase standings and really needs a victory as he might be eliminated after next week’s race. Kurt will continue on as he’s ranked higher.

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RESULTS*

Nitto Tires Ultra 4 National Championships

Wild West Motorsports Park – Oct. 17

• 4400 Main (8-laps): 1. Loren Healy, 2. Jason Scherer, 3. Erik Miller, 4. Clay Gilstrap, 5. Levi Shirley, 6. Shannon Campbell, 7. Derek West, 8. J.P.  West, 9. Wayland Campbell, 10. Andrew McLaughlin, 11. Bailey Campbell, 12.      Greg Adler, 13. Alex Wacker, 14. Jon Cagliero, 15. Eric Miramon, 16. Don Fisher, 17. Raul Gomez, 18. Scott Foley, 19. Charley McDowell, 20. Cody Addington, 21. Tom Wayes, 22. Doug Jackson, 23. Gary Ferravanti Sr., 24 Brendon Thompson, 25. Gary Ferravanti Jr.

• 4500 Main: 1. Justin Hall, 2. Shawn Rants, 3. Steve Lopez, 4. Mike Bedwell, 5. Duane Garretson, 6. Keith Kanig, 7. Morgan Derodeff, 8. Cody McBride

• 4600 Main: 1. Matthew Peterson, 2. Brian Behrend, 3. Justin Reece, 4. Sean McNamara, 5. Ben Varozza, 6. Brian Hays, 7. Melvin Eugene Wade

• 4700 Spec: 1. Ricky Johnson, 2. Larry Nickell, 3. Bailey Cole

• 4800 Main: 1. Anthony Arreola, 2. Dave Schneider, 3. Mike Amaral, 4. Kyle/Jade Wickham, 5. Keith Ratzburg, 6. Ernie Hardaway, 7 Todd McCullen, 8. Robby Flandro, 9. Ross Glave, 10. Dennis Lapp, 11. Rick Waterbury, 12. James      Hubbard, 13. Matthew Kile, 14. Rory Romero, 15. Sean Leonardini, 16. Richard Fenton, 17. Tylor Trammell, 18. Robert Daly

• UTV Pro: 1. Andrew Gorman, 2. Buzz Bronsema, 3. John Duckworth, 4. Darian Gomez, 5. Luke Horschel

• UTV Sportsman: 1. Phillip Cagliero, 2. Darren Mitchell, 3. Nathan Unruh, 4.      Brian Hogue

*- Unofficial Results, posted Saturday afternoon.