DOYLE, CA (Nov. 2) – In its first Northern California off road event the newly reborn Valley Off Road Racing Association (VORRA) chose the Fort Sage OHV area east of Doyle. The title was the Battle at Fort Sage, a day full of speed in the desert, silt and dust.
After Friday’s pre-running and Saturday’s registration as well as tech inspection, everyone was ready to go.
VORRA head B.J. Butcher in the driver’s meeting explained the course and also the silt drivers would face. He also mentioned there was a “100 mile an hour,” road section where drivers could really wind their vehicles out.
Four motos, or 90-minutes races were on tap although things were a bit delayed at the start. Once a minor problem was sorted out it was time to go.
First to line up were the Sportsmen, Vintage as well as Classes 9 and 11. Every vehicle had a 30 second gap between them selves but their finish position would depend on a driver’s position at the checkered flag.
First truck in line, driven by Duke Craft had to get a jump-start. Once that was done they were ready to it was time to put the hammer down.
During the race the dust did cause some problem clogging air filters. An air hose in the hot pits was a handy thing to have.
Also during the first moto BLM issued a warning that was given to all drivers as there were some wild horses near the track. Fortunately there were no incidents and they probably were chased away due to the noise.
After Craft left the line there was a 30-second pause then the father-son team of Jim and Sean Berryman took off in hot pursuit. Further back Michael Eaton was the fifth when he was sent onto the course.
By the end of the first lap the Berryman team was on point as Craft was slipping back while Eaton was heading toward the front. When the second lap ended the top two were Berryman and Eaton and they were leaving everyone in their dust.
In the end Eaton won the race, and Sportsman class while the Berryman team finished second and won the Vintage class. The interesting part of the father-son Berryman team was that the buggy they raced last was used in 1987.
After winning Eaton said, “It was rough, got rougher and rougher each lap, lots of square edged stuff towards the end. Some of the cars in front of me broke down, sometimes you get lucky.”
Asked about the pass for the lead he said, ”about five miles in on a straightaway going up a hill there’s a hard left and that section is where I made three passes.”
Then he thanked his co-driver Valerie Burns for her help and actually doing the race with him. He also thanked friends Dennis and Pat Bonzi as well as sponsorWoody’s Towing out of Hawthorne Nevada. For Eaton a NHP trooper this was his second race with VORRA.
Next up was the UTV race, these little racers have been exploding in the world of off road racing, in fact 16 of them took the green flag. Although they still cost money they’re inexpensive compared to some of the buggies and trucks.
First off the line was Timothy Gard in his stock turbo UTV, further back Jason Pruyn was turned loose and even further back, driving a brand new stock turbo UTV was Phil Blurton.
Gard was still on point when the first lap ended while Blurton had moved into sixth and Pruyn was ninth. During the race one of the UTV’s rolled over but both the driver and co-driver were uninjured.
Later there was a second roll over with the same results.
Heading into the white flag lap Gard was on point with Blurton closing in fast from second place. First car to take the checkered was Blurton and his co-driver Bo Judge.
“I think we started second to last, was fun to kind of battle everybody on the way up,” he said. “Loop races are fun cause you get to try different lines each time and I get to memorize the track. This car is bone stock as we took it out of a box last night, welded some window nets in it and came out.”
The decision to race was last minute so he and the crew spent the night getting things ready.
Then he thanked Can Am, No Limit, BF Goodrich Tires as well as his co driver and a couple of friends he said, “were dumb enough to hop in the truck at 3 this morning with me.
Then after checking the elapsed times it turned out the actually winner, also in the stock Turbo UTV class was Jason Pruyn. He had two co-drivers as Ben Wright was first then his wife Schiara.
“After the first lap we decided, ‘hey it isn’t that bad,’ every body kind of put a lot of anxiety in our eyes and in our minds when we started. It actually turned out to be a pretty fun course. The silt was bad but we found a way around it and were able to come out on top,” he said.
Then he thanked local sponsor UTV Addiction of Reno, Terra Master Tires, KC Highlights, Keller Ball Joints and Quick Saw Racing.
Next race, three out of four, combined Pro Turbo UTV and Class 10 buggy racers with one Class 1-2 1600 buggy in the 13-car field. Here again, first to the checkered wasn’t the overall winner due to elapsed time and the face all racers are started one at a time with a 30-second gap between them.
Although mechanical problems ended his day early one driver in was probably the oldest competitor out there. Bill Minteer is 83 years young and said he’ll give this up when he can’t get into his buggy any more.
First off the line was 16-year-old Ezra Ebberts with his father Dale as the co-driver, followed by Roget Tiscareno and Bill Minteer. Further back sixth off the line was Randy Adams while ninth off the line was Pauly Hart.
When he first lap ended Tiscareno was on point with Ebberts in second while Adams had climbed to third and Hart was eighth.
When the third lap ended Tiscareno was still first but Ebberts was close behind him with Adams on his tail. By now Hart was third and had his sights set on the leaders.
A couple of cars fell out while another ended up side down on the course but again all the safety equipment did their job and the drivers were uninjured.
First to receive the checkered was Ezra Ebberts although Adams actually won the overall on elapsed time.
“It was fun, really fast and not do many rocks. The course was excellent and they did a great job,” Ezra said.
Then he thanked his father Dale, who was the co-driver and B.F. Goodrich Tires as they never had a flat.
Finally as he sun was getting close to setting behind a ridge it was time for the fourth race. This time it would be Group T, UL Trucks, Class One, Group T and 4400’s so lap times would be fast and many would be using their lights by the time it ended.
When the green waved Dennis Jean took off in a huge cloud of dust. Following him was John Walton, Dale Ebberts, now in the driver’s seat with son Ezra as the co-driver, John Wood. As the 17-car field left the winds began to shift so now the start/finish area was in at least light dust.
When the first lap ended Jean and Walton were the first two to go through the timing area while further back in sixth was Don German.
Dust and mechanical problems plus at least one roll over eliminated eight of the 17 that took the green flag.
Up front the lead trio held their positions but by the end of the fourth lap German had moved to fourth while Wood took over fifth dropping Ebberts to sixth. They headed out onto the white flag lap in that order but corrected time adjusted their final positions.
Lights shining Jean reached the checkered flag first with Walton with Walton reaching the finish next.
“I had some clean air, used it to my advantage but man when you got behind somebody it was white out conditions,” he said. “The best place to pass were there are sweepers on the backside but it was tough.”
He gave special thanks to his 14-year-olld co driver Jeanie as she talked him through the race. Later she mentioned that in the future driving is her goal.
Then he thanked sponsors XFM for the prep of the truck and Danzio Performance for the new motor.
Once again the first to finish didn’t win the overall as that went to Don German who closed the time gap between his seventh place starting position and Jean. So in the end he took the overall victory.
Now that the first Battle at Ft. Sage race is over it won’t be the last. VORRA owners B.J. and Laura Butcher has planning for much more to come and he commented on how much appreciated assistance from the BLM office in Susanville, California.
“Normally it takes 6 months with BLM to do a race. We’ve been talking with Marisa and she’s been working with us, kind of giving us ideas, and she said ‘we can probably push this through.’ We got to a point where we had a race we were going to do and that kind of fell through, and we had a couple of other ideas and that kind of fell through,” he said. “Then she said we can do this one. So in three weeks we went from having no permit to having permit, which is unheard of.”
Then Laura said, “It’s not just a permit but we’ve got a 5-year permit.”
Butcher added the BLM has been out widening roads, cutting down vegetation as well as going around and building the race course bigger.
There is another 5-year permit for another possible race this one either up at or will include the Dry Valley OHV area. One possible event under consideration would go from Dry Valley back to the Ft. Sage area and maybe a loop that would be around 100 miles total.
B.J. mentioned this could be the premier race for VORRA. That however is still in the future but the race at Ft. Sage is assured.
Those wishing further information should check the website at www.vorraracing.com or the Face Book page.
REPORTER’S NOTE: There is a photo gallery after the results.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
• Reno Cars & Coffee started the month with its usual first weekend of the month meet by the Keitzke Starbucks. As usual there was a mix from exotic and not so exotic cars and trucks.
One interesting one was an immaculate 1966 Citroen VC owned by John Peterson. He’s owned the car for 30 years and it is in pristine condition.
Powered by a 30 horsepower, two cylinder motor the car will get up to speeds of around 60 miles an hour. In fact he drives it at least once a week.
One feature of the car are the front seats. Peterson said they are “picnic seats,” so can be taken out and used at a picnic.
• Teresa’s Garage Radio Show will be on the air from 2 until 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. The show covers all things automotive and this week should discuss some more safety items that one should have in their vehicle.
I have a preview section at 2:15. The show can be heard over the air, streaming on the Internet or live on Face Book.
• If you enjoyed this article please “like,” and share it as widely as possible. Comments are welcome.
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Our newest sponsor is a fantastic race photographer Melissa Coker. If you have raced at Summit in Elko, Battle Mountain, Lovelock, Rattlesnake or Diamond Mountain Speedway she probably has a photograph of your car on the track.
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RESULTS*:
Valley Off Road Racing Association – Nov. 2
Battle at Ft. Sage – Doyle, California
* – Overall places on cumulative times.
Race 1: 1. Michael Eaton, Sportsman, 2. Jim Berryman. Vintage, 3. Jerry Baker, 4. Jonathan Knight, 5. Tom Piggott, Class 9, 6. Eric Stelger, 7. Jesse Haines, Group T Sport, 8. Duke Craft, 9. Kory Van Norman, 10. Armand Croft, 11. Shane Williamson, 12. Ashley Robinson.
DNF: Tom Sunday, Dina Smith.
Race 2: 1. Jason Pruyn, Stock turbo UTV, 2. Phil Burton, 3. Timothy Gard, 4. Matt Rager Stock UTV, 5. Matthew Myers, 6. Jay Dunne, 7. Zack Anaya, 8. Ron Lewis, 9. Brock Randolph, 10. Ken Keegal, 11. Hailey McCalla, 12. Ed Conrad, 13. Joe Payone, 14. Matthew Harris, 15. Chad Heishman, 16. Mark Levrett.
DNF: Gil Medrano.
Race 3: 1. Randy Adams, Pro Turbo UTV, 2. Ezra Ebberts, Class 10, 3. Pauly Hart, 4. Roger Tiscareno, 5. Bill Hemant, 6. Cody Caudle, 7. David Meek Jr., Class 1600, 8. Don Gray, 9. Randy Brunelli, 10. Cory Dean, 11. Mathwew Cochems Pro UTV, 12. Cody Stutsman, 13. Bill Minteer.
Race 4: 1. Don German, Group T, 2. Dennis Jean, UTL Truck, 3. John Walton, 4. John Wood, Class 1, 5. Dale Ebberts, 6. Jeff Hamilton, 7. Ed Sellers, 8. Bruce Field, 9. Trevor Kendall, Class 4400, 10. Brad Falin, 11. Sean Leonardini, 12. Nick Harvey, 13. Broc Ross, 14. Travid McCalla, 15. Danny Maciel.
DNF: Andrew Mitchell
PHOTO GALLERY:
Don German in his Group T truck won the final overall victory bringing the race day to a close. 
The vintage winner in Race 1 was raced by Jim and Sean Berryman. Sportsman racer Duck Kraft had the honor of being the first racer out on the course. 
Gary Taylor raced his Group T vintage Dodge in the final race of the day. 
Although he led from green to checkered in his Unlimited Truck Dennis Jean ended up second overall in the day’s last race. 
In the final race seventh place was the 4400 Class winner Trevor Kendall. 
Fourth place earned Group T racer John Wood was the overall winner in the final race at the Battle of Fort Sage. 
John Walton ended up third overall in the day’s final race. Bill Minteer was the oldest racer at 83 years young. He drove this Class 10 buggy. 
Third overall in Race 3 was Pauly Hart. Although he reached the checkered flag first Ezra Ebberts, with his father as co-driver, ended up second overall in their Class 10 buggy.. The overall winner in race 3 was Randy Adams driving a Pro Turbo UTV. 
Fourth place was good enough to give Matt Ragen the Stock UTV class win. Jason Pruyn was first overall in his stock turbo UTV First racer to reach the checkered flag in the UTV race was Phil Blurton, who ended up driving a fresh out of the box UTV. At the end of the first race Vintage winners Jim and son Sean Berryman pose by their car, whose last race was in 1987. Michael Eaton in his Sportsman wins the first race of the day. 
Michael Eaton on his way to winning the Sportsman and first overall in Race 1.
