This Off Road Season for the four-wheel bunch has been a good one in this area. There were several races in our region and the Wild West Motorsports Park hosted four of them.
Valley Off Road Racing Association kicked things off with their first desert race on Memorial Day weekend with an event in Hawthorne. This after they began their season in Prairie City.
Earlier in the season Hammer King, which owns the Ultra4 Series and runs the annual King of the Hammers race, bought VORRA and now that series is run by NorCal Rock Racing.
Both VORRA and Ultra4 staged a combined race at Wild West Motorsports Park on the weekend of July 16. The field ranged from UTVs, which had four classes, through trucks, buggies and the Ultra4 classes.
In this event the regular short course was used although the Ultra 4 competitors had a longer section that ran across the face of the hill across from the bleacher section then down the rock face, about 200 feet of what are basically small boulders.
As usual it was a pretty wild event with several rollovers and some intense racing. In fact the 4400 winner J.P. Gomez rolled his racer during a heat but then won the main event.
One thing about racing at Wild West is that drivers expect getting some big air as the course has many jumps including the ski jump, which comes after the hill at the end of the front straight. Former Supercross champion Ricky Johnson told this reporter that all you see is sky when a driver launches his truck off this.
Next event there was the annual visit by the Lucas Oil Off Road series. This brings pros that race not only in this series but Best in the Desert as well the recent Baja 1000 event.
It’s two days of hard racing by all competitors over the short courts. And there were the usual spills during the racing.
Among the winners was Rob MacCachren, Garrett George and Kevin McCullough in Pro Buggy.
Lucas Oil also brings its top Pro Kart division, which has teenaged drivers that are going to move up into the larger classes. This year winner was Hailee Deegan, who is following in the father’s tire tracks.
In early August both VORRA and Ultra 4 returned for their Labor Day classic the Fallon 250.
In this race the restricted classes from VORRA and Ultra 4 start racing at 6 a.m. and go into the daylight. Once again it was a combination of trucks, buggies, UTVs (Only one class this time.) and Ultra 4 with the exception of the unlimited 4800 Class.
In the end a buggy won although the first racer to cross the line, in a truck, actually was second over all on corrected time.
Then in the early afternoon, when the early race was over and course cleared the 4800 competitors took off. Like in the early race they left the starting line one at a time and their finishing positions were from corrected time.
This group races through the afternoon into the night.
Jason Scherer won the overall after a couple hours of very hard driving on a desert course that combined not only wide-open high-speed sections as well as technical sections.
After taking the checkered flag Scherer tried to do some donuts but he caught a wheel in the soft dirt and rolled his racer thus doing the first ever “Donut Roll.” He never got out and after the track crew rolled the car back on his wheels he drove over to where the interviews were being conducted.
A few weeks before this event NBC Sports began a Thursday night program called “Road to the Hammers.” Series co-founder Dave Cole was featured as the year’s races from the King of the Hammers to the final event were going to be covered.
One very different off road event was the second annual Super Crawl at Wild West in late September. Last year’s event had a very good turn out and this year’s had even more competitors as well as spectators.
The site is on top of a hill on the west side of the parking lot at Wild West.
Rock Crawling is a technical, low speed event using vehicles that range from slightly modified to purpose built racers. While it might be slow watching these competitors can be thrilling as they negotiate the tight technical courses within a time limit.
And sometimes it doesn’t work as they go rolling down the hill. Fortunately they come to a stop after only a very short distance.
Then in the fall VORRA heads back to Prairie City, where their season began, and the series ended the year with two races.
Ultra 4 returned in mid-October for their season ending event at Wild West Motorsports Park. The title is a long one as the race is called the 4-Wheel Parts Nitto National Championships presented by Metal Cloak.
Once again there was a shortened course for the UTVs and buggies while the other classes ran a long course that included going up and down the high hill on the east side of the track.
There is also a field of boulders put on the front straight in front of the north grandstands. All the classes began their races when they reached that rock field.
The UTV race ran the course in reverse as they use a shortened course.
For the other classes in addition to the hill competitors would make a sharp right when the came down and reached the track then a sharp left to race down the rock face. After that it was a hard right and left that brought them back on the front straight rock field.
Friday was for practice and qualifying while the heats, B mail and LCQ races plus the main were on Saturday.
In the end, Rick Waterbury won the 4800 main but Jason Scherer’s podium finish secured the national championship.
After the awards were handed out Ultra4 boss Dave Cole said he feels this is a season they will build off. Now, just like at the Lucas Oil event, the racers in Ultra 4 are getting exposure on TV and making their programs even more solid.
All in all it was a banner off road season with a mix of events here in Northwest Nevada. And next year looks very promising.
Note: There is a random photo gallery from the events at the end of this article.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
- This year’s 49th annual Baja 1000 had several Northern Nevada competitors racing in the event.
Hall Racing at a pit stop where Chad Hall and Chris Woo are getting out so Frank DeAngelo and Alexander Baker can take over for the next leg. Photo courtesy – Randall Timmer.
Rod Hall Racing won the 8100 class with an elapsed time of 32 hours, 13 minutes and 58 seconds.
Chad Hall with is father Rod Hall as co-driver finish the 49th Baja 1000 and win the 8100 Class. Photo courtesy – Randall Timmer.
The drivers on the team were Rod Hall, Chad Hall, Shelby Hall Baker, Alexander Baker and Chris Woo.
There was also motorcycle team that competed riding a KTM 500 XCW and they ended up 3rd in the Pro Moto 40 class.
Those riders were Alan Cameron, Mark Weirich, Tim Fitzpatrick and Dennis Belingheri. The last two are well know to anyone that competes or follows the MRANN series.
We hear at nvracingnews.com offer our congratulations to all of them and their teams that supported the effort. Way to go guys and gals.
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Here is the Photo Gallery from the various events covered this year.
