BLENDING TWO SERIES TOGETHER LEADS TO A FULL DAY OF WILD RACING.

MUSTANG (July 16) – Nor Cal Rock Racing held the second event since Hammer King bought VORRA. This sale combined those that race in Ultra 4 as well as the desert racers from VORRA.

Due to the combining of both series, as well as the car count, it was decided to run all the heats and mains on a single day, Saturday.

Most of the day’s events combined classes and the final one had the 4400’s and 4800’s running together. These are Ultra 4 classes and they not only used an extra part of the course cut across the hill above the short course but drivers also had to negotiate about 200 feet of a downhill rock face.

J.P. Gomez gives a thumbs up after winning both the overall victory as well as the 4400 class.

“Oh man, my hands are still shaking as the adrenaline is still going, “J.P. Gomez said after winning the race. “I blew a turn up there and thought my brother was going to pass me so I got back on track and he was right on me but the lappers were making it difficult.”

Then he thanked his team, family as well as sponsors Mountain Enterprises and Pro Comp.

When the field got the green light they stormed up the hill, made a quick turn and sailed over the ski jump. From there it was through the infield then on to the new section, given the name “The Dust Bowl,” for good reason.

At Turn 3 the field makes a quick right and left to head on a new route that goes across the face of the hill. There is also a dip, kind of like driving into a bowl then out again.

Then it swings left, goes down a bit and the drivers make a right to head to the top of the short track before heading down the rock face.

Soon after the start  both Gomez brothers, J.P. and Raul, had turned the event into a family contest as they dueled for the lead.

One area Gomez was careful at was where they made a hard left to get back onto the straight. That’s where he rolled his car during the first heat race.

In the first of two heat races, J.P. Gomez rolls his racer over.

“It was really slick and that’s where I rolled earlier so just going easy right there,” J.P. Gomez said.

Lap after lap they ran sometimes close together and then there would be a gap. But in the end J.P. won the day with brother Raul not far behind in second.

J.P. Gomez leads the charge off the rock fact on his way to winning the 4400/4800 race.

Even though he mounted a challenge Raul was racing with a slight handicap.

“I was right there, but lost brakes so decided to use my tranny for the rest of the race,” he said. “The track was sweet, it was fast and we liked it.

When certain classes used the Dust Bowl the result was pretty impressive as they seemed to disappear then reappear for a few seconds..

Asked about this Raul said, “Every time I hit the dust bowl I was blinded so was plowing through rocks up there trying to get through. I wasn’t slowing down, was pinned and just following the sun, looking right at it going up the hill.”

Then the thanked his brothers, their company Mountain enterprises, John Goodby at Nor Cal Rock Racing and ATO Transmissions. He also added both he and his brother were one and two here as well in the season’s first race.

Due to attrition the 4800 hundred racers sat out the second heat but raced in the final. Kurtis Harryman was first in class followed by Sparks local Vance Demars and Dan Wyrick.

Local Vance Demars was the highest placed of three Nevada drivers as he finished 2nd in the 4800 class.

The other race that used both the dust bowl and rock fact combined two Sportsman classes as well as the 4500 and 4600 cars.

When the green flag waved they were off with Jimmy Jack second and the chase was on. Then the leader Morgan Derodeff came to grief and was stuck in the preferred line down the rock face.

Jimmy Jack heads for victory in the 4500 class.

One of the track crew was able to use a gap in traffic to reach the stranded vehicle then use a towrope to pull it out of harm’s way. This was also a gift for Jimmy Jack as he took the lead and sped off to the victory.

The Class 9 and 10 main turned into a David vs Golaith contest at first. On the green Brandon Thompson, who was driving a Pilot, a small single seat racer, took off and left the field behind him.

When the Class 9 and 10 main began Brendon Thompson, in a Pilot, got the hole shot but would finish second overall.

By the second lap he had a 10 second lead. That’s when Max Bagget wound up his buggy and the chase was on. Two laps later the gap was at 2 seconds and after a lap of nose-to-tail running Bagget took the lead.

Max Baggett on his way to winning the overall and Class 10 victory. First however he had to run down the Class 9 Pilot of Brendon Thompson.

By now both Baggett and Thompson had a huge gap over the field and they finished in that order.

The trucks, Group T, were combined with three pre-runners and one sportsman. On the green Broc Ross took off and led the charge.

Broc Ross led the Class T race from green to checkered.

Behind him Matt Kinney’s Jeep came alive and began to pick off others in the pack. Eventually he claimed and finished in second but there would be no catching Ross as he was flying in his truck.

UTVs are a cost effective way to get into this type of racing not to mention being very popular. And there were a bunch of them racing in three different classes.

First up was the UTV 1000 Class. Right off the bat Beau Judge took off and left everyone in his dust.

Beau Judge gets some air on is way to winning the UTV 1000 main.

In the end Judge won the main followed by Rob Parsons and Reno driver Mark Levrett. Another local was entered but a roll over kept him out of the main and that was go-kart racer Steve Ryckebosch.

Both Brendon Thompson and Scott Melville were driving Pilots but were out classed in the UTV 800 and 900 groups.

When that race began eventual 900 and overall winner Kyle Stanfill was up front and collected the victory. Coming home second was Ronan Lancaster while Andrew Khasigian and Thompson were third and fourth.

Kyle Stanfill was the UTV 900 winner.

Next up were the UTV Turbo racers and Phil Blurton got the hole shot as they launched for the uphill run to the ski jump. After one lap Jeff Barabrick and Randy Slawson were holding down second and third.

Later in the race Rob Parsons took over third and finished in that position behind Barbarick. But up front Blurton was not about to be caught and took the win.

Phil Blurton flying over a jump on his way to winning the UTV Turbo main.

There was one scary moment when Darian Gomez rolled his UTV coming down the hill on the front straight. Fortunately he was uninjured although the same can’t be said for his UTV.

Earlier during the heat races there was a very scary moment when one of the cars going down the rock face rolled on its side. This caused some fluid to leak onto an exhaust header and start a fire.

Officials quickly stopped the race and they rushed to the driver and co-driver’s aid with extinguishers. Fortunately both men were able to exit the vehicle safely although the co-driver said later he was a bit disorientated at first but all their safety gear worked perfectly.

Track crew members help both drivers out of their burning racer.

It took track official nine extinguishers to put out the flames as the passenger side front tire also caught on fire.

Once the course was cleaned up the racers were gathered on the front straight then sent off for the final three laps of their heat.

Fortunately there were no more emergencies like that although several cars fell to mechanical problems. All in all it was a good day for racing even though it was hot.

The full results are listed at the end of this article.

Next up for this group is the Fallon 250 on the weekend of September 3 and 4. This event is more of an all out desert race.

The next event for Wild West Motorsports Park will be the annual visit from the Lucas Oil Off Road Series. They’ll be here on August 13 and 14 for two days of fast off road style racing.

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RESULTS

2016 NCRR/VORRA – Round 2

Wild West Motorsports Park – July 16

Overall Results:

+4400: 1. J.P. Gomez, 2. Raul Gomez, 3. Brendon      Thompson, 4. Brian Caprara, 5. Mike Bou, 6. David Weese, 7. Marcos Gomez, 8. Tom Liu, 9. Jake Yeoman, 10. Jeren Gunter.

DNF: Jimmy Haughy, Jared Palant

+4500: 1.Jimmy Jack, 2. Joseph Milligan.

DNF: Morgan Derodeff

+ 4600: 1. Caleb Bacsi.

+ 4800: 1. Kurtis Harryman, 2. Vance Demars, 3. Dan Wyrick, 4. Jay Sadler.

DNF: Rick Waterbury, James Hubbard.

+ Class 10: 1. Max Baggett, 2. Bill Minteer.

+ Class 9: 1. Brendon Thompson, 2. Kurt Schnell, 3. John Heimstra.

+ Group T: 1. Broc Ross, 2. Ian Murray, 3. Darren Williamson, 4. Destiny Epps

DNF: Justin Radford.

+ Pre-Runner: 1. Matt Kinney, 2. Kevin Dube.

DNF: Jeff Mello.

+ Sportsman: 1. Christian Jaklevick.

+ UTV 1000: 1. Beau Judge, 2. Rob Parsons, 3. Mark Levrett, 4. Ryan Davis, 5. Cameron Barbarick, 6. Sean Provost, 7. E. Brooke Parker, 8. Alan Khasigian, 9. Ben Booker, 10. Steve Ryckebosch.

+ UTV 800: 1. Scott Melville.

+ UTV 900: 1. Kyle Stanfill, 2. Ronan Lancaster, 3. Andrew Khasigian, 4. Brendon Thompson, 5. Russ Tweed, 6. Malcolm Plessinger.

+ UTV Turbo: 1. Phil Blurton, 2. Jeff Barbarick, 3. Rob Parsons, 4. Randy Slawson, 5. Justin Bor, 6. Ben January, 7. Dustin Emick, 8. Darian Gomez.

DNF: Marc Martinez, Ben Booker, Pauly Hart, Joel Counts.

+ V4-6 Sportsman: 1. Sean McBride.

+ V8 Sportsman: 1. Steve Sayre.