First Look at the 2016 racing season has something for almost any race fan.

The upcoming season is like looking at a puzzle where most of the pieces are already in place. But there are a few more to be added including three events, two of which are new.

As is usual the desert racers in the MRANN (Motorcycle Racing Association of Northern Nevada.) will begin the season with two events in February.

MRANN will once again kick off racing in this region with their annual event north of the Nightingale exit east of Fernley.

The first is in the traditional area north of the Nixon off ramp located east of Fernley on I-80. It’s the first of the spring series.

Due to the summer’s heat MRANN divides its season in two parts; first a spring series then at the end of summer a fall series that wraps up their season.

The Fireball Ridge 100 is on the weekend of February 13-14. As usual the Pee Wee, Mini Bikes and Saturdaywomen plus the bomber bikes will occupy the first day. New this year will be team races on Saturday.

To find out more about the schedule please check their website,www.racemrann.com.

The local motocross schedule hasn’t been set yet but soon will be.

As of this article the spring motocross season hasn’t been set. If the club in Alturas is added there will be a five race spring series.

In addition the popular Sand Box Grand Prix as well as national rounds for the Over The Hill Gang and Old Timers clubs will extend the season.

On Friday, May 6 the Nitro Circus will be visiting Aces Stadium for a wild show of freestyle motocross and pyro. It should be an action packed evening.

This year’s Virginia City Grand Prix will be run on April 30 and May 1. The pros race on Saturday in a four-hour long timed race while the Amateurs have a three-hour timed event on Sunday.

And the pits will be at their new location although the start will remain on the main street. For further information that website is; www.vcgp.com.

Closer to Reno the Northern Nevada Kart Club has already published its schedule. While the initial one was published a couple of weeks ago it has been tweaked.

The NNKC season this year should be another one of hard racing and close finishes.

The go kart year begins with a tune up race on March 20 followed by the first points event on April 10.

NNKC’s schedule can be accessed at, www.nnkc.com.

On the off road scene VORRA has already published its schedule although the locations weren’t noted. Once again there will only be two desert races while the others are short course and, if it is like last year, a pair of them will be at the Wild West Motorsports Park east of Sparks.

Last year two of VORRA’s short course races were at the Wild West Motorsports Park east of Sparks.

And once again the Fallon 250 will be a combined VORRA and Ultra 4 Regional as it was last year and it appears that event will be run on the weekend of September 3-4. It’s an all day spectacular of high speed desert racing.

Lucas Oil Off Road series will once again visit the Wild West Motorsports Park the weekend of August 13-14. As of now the Ultra 4 Nationals will return in October but the actual date hasn’t been posted.

New last year was the Silver State Rock Crawling Championship staged at the top of a hill at Wild West Motorsports Park. While no date has been published the promoter is working for sponsorship and intends to have another event this year.

Area drag racers get going in March for a full season of straight line racing.

Area drag racers will begin their year at the Top Gun Raceway, located 15 miles south of Fallon, on Saturday, March 19 with a test and tune session. Their points season begins the weekend of April 16-17.

One event many drag racers might want to attend happened on Saturday, March 26 at Summit Racing in Sparks. That’s when NHRA will be doing chassis inspections from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

March is a busy time for oval track racers as the tracks start hosting testing days prior to their seasons. Of course all this depends what the weather does on those days.

Should be another wild season at Rattlesnake in Fallon this season.

Rattlesnake Raceway in Fallon starts things with a session on Saturday, March 5 while Fernley 95A Speedway hosts its first practice session on Saturday, March 12. Then on March 19 both tracks host another test session.

When Fernley 95A Speedway begins its season the 4-wide salute to the crowd prior to the IMCA main should return.

Rattlesnake’s season starts on Saturday, April 2 while 95A Speedway’s season starts on Saturday, April 9.

This year the speedway in Hawthorne, which has been dark for years, is coming back to life and their test date is May 7 with the first race, that starts at 2 p.m., will be on May 14.

Currently the track’s website is down so the best way to keep in touch with them is on their Face Book page.

Lovelock Speedway is another late starter as their test day is April 30 with their first race on Friday, May 6.

There are two California tracks that are part of this region, American Valley Speedway in Quincy and Diamond Mountain in Susanville, but neither of them seem to have posted a schedule.

The Northern Nevada Pro Stock Association is once again looking at a series but this time they will rotate through different tracks rather and just being at one. Their Face Book page has the details but one of their $1,000 to win events will be on June 18 at Tonopah Speedway.

The Rare Bear takes off at the Reno Air Races.

And once again the annual Reno National Championship Air Races will be held on September 14-18 at the Stead Airport. One thing new this year comes on March 27 when NBC Sports broadcasts a one hour special on the event.

Two years ago was the final Ironman series for IMCA racers and the sponsor was Evenson Law Office in Fallon.

Steve Evenson, shown here after winning a race at Fernley, is working on bringing back the Iron Man series for the IMCA drivers.

Lawyer and racer Steve Evenson is breathing life back into that series and he gave a few comments about the effort this weekend.

“It’s a really good event for all the racers and all the tracks, it was a fun time and it was something I liked having my name associated with,” he said.

Right now the choice is between two formats.

“Basically five or six races in six days and nine or ten races in ten days. There are pluses and minuses both ways and a lot of drivers have strong opinions both ways and I’ve had a lot of contact both ways. Both sides have merits.” he said.

Evenson mentioned he needs to get the “moving parts,” together and one challenge is tracks looking at having midweek events. He did add that the response from the tracks has been very good.

“Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday shows are really tough,” he said.

He hopes to have the schedule set by tomorrow, January 19, but at this writing nothing has been confirmed. He also mentioned he’s doing this “pro bono,” and is not making any money.

“If we get the moving parts all fall into place, we’ll get the website together and we’re going to have a lot of fun activities. It’s just printing it out and getting it out to the people,” he said.

He mentioned the dates will center around the 4th of July and be run that week.

Right now there is not website for the series but Evenson is on Face Book. As soon as things are settled there will be a website and we hope to bring that news to you here on this site.

So that’s a look at what’s ahead on this Martin Luther King Day. In the next few weeks the puzzle will be complete so stay tuned as we’ll have them here for you to see.

If you enjoyed this article please “like,” it and share as widely as possible. Comments are welcome.

Subscribers have articles posted to their inbox as soon as they are up on this site.