SPARKS, NV (April 21) – Norcal Rock Racing brought its off-road show to the Wild West Motorsports Park this weekend. All types of racers from Pre-Runners to 4400’s were on hand to face the challenge this track offers, especially since it was run in reverse.
J.P. Gomez celebrates after winning the 4400 main.
“It was good practice out here, it was high speed fast driving like a desert race, a rush the whole time,” J.P. Gomez said after winning the 4400 main. “It’s one of my favorite tracks, I love coming out here, running this way clockwise or counter clockwise. The lap traffic you kind of have to guess, go for it and hope they don’t clip you or take you out.”
Then he thanked Mountain Enterprise, King, ATO and Pro Comp.
When the race started the field stormed down the front straight and up the hill. From there every one made two right turns to bring them to the downhill section of rocks.
That’s where things started to go wrong. While Gomez and Brendon Thompson got through a stalled car blocked most of the way down then Raul Gomez used an outside line to get around the traffic jam.
The officials stopped the race so the track crew could clear the obstacle. While that was happening all the cars were lined up on the front straight single file.
On his way to winning the 4400 main J.P. Gomez flies past the stands.
Once the green waved Gomez was off and running while Thompson was trying his best to catch up. But in the end Gomez won the day followed by Thompson, Raul Gomez and Mike Bou.
The UTV’s are becoming more and more popular in off road racing as they are relatively inexpensive. On this day there were three UTV mains.
When the UTV turbo main began Beau Judge took off with Brian Van Dyke giving chase. Behind them Breckin Miramon had a roll over on the infield and later Daniel Markley bicycled through the same turn and bounced off the K-rail but was able to keep going.
Judge went on to score the victory ahead of Van Dyke. Following them were Darrin Nelson and Justin Bor.
In the UTV 1000 main it was all Jeff Barbarick but he was chased the entire race so there was never a time to relax. Ben Brooker appeared to have a good run going until a flat tire put him out of the race.
Up front Barbarick took the victory followed by Tim Compton and Mark Olson.
After the race there was some kind of issues with transponders so at this writing only the top three finishers are known.
Branden Judge won the UTV 170 race.
When the youngsters in the UTV 170 Class began their race Braden Judge was under pressure from Austin Thompson. Unfortunately Thompson went into the first turn a bit too hard and after contact with the leader in the first two laps he dropped back and ended up 8th.
These UTV’s very light an when one rolled and landed on its side track manager Eric Pender was able to roll it back onto its wheels by himself.
When Wyatt Blevins UTV 170 tipped over, Wild West track manager Eric Pender rolled the UTV back on its wheels.
Up front Judge was on his way to victory although Shelby Waterbury tried to catch him but had to settle for second. Coming home third was Wyatt Blevins and fourth place was Dylan Trent from Sparks.
Next up were the 4800 cars and a couple of drivers had some interesting rides.
William Malcomson had a long rolling slide down the big rock face finally stopping near the bottom. Another driver, Seth Van Dyke’s car wound up on its lid in the sharp lefthander on the infield.
Both drivers were uninjured and the crews got them back on their wheels. That infield turn claimed many drivers during the day.
Up front Wade Coleman had the lead well in hand so he won followed by Jeren Gunter and Justin Day.
The next race combined the 4500 and 4600 Classes.
Only three were in the 4600 class and Peter Turgeon was the winner followed by Josh Bacsi an Anthony Thomas.
The biggest group was in the 4700 Class. But the race it self got off to a rough start.
While the leader’s car got through the up hill another didn’t and caused such a bottleneck the race was halted to the track could be cleared.
Up front the car of Dustyn Friesen was driven by his friend Dave Schneider with the usual co-driver, Woody Rose in the right seat. When the race was restarted Schneider took off and actually used a slightly different line to climb the small rock face.
In the end Schneider won the race, his first drive in 18-months, followed by Mike Bedwell and Justin Hall.
For Schneider, who works at Trent Fabrication, it was a effort to help a friend.
Dave Schneider and Woody Rose drove the car of Dustyn Friesen to victory in the 4500 main.
“I’m replacing Dustyn Friesen, he’s a customer, he lives up in Vancouver, BC and has a family emergency. At 10 p.m. Wednesday he calls me and says, ‘if you can meet me in Seattle tomorrow you can race my car this weekend.’ So 25 hours round trip, picked the car up by myself, non-stop, drinking nothing but energy drink, a couple of power naps at gas stations, got back here,” he said.
The car was taken to the shop so it could be checked and make sure everything was ready to go. Then with about four hours of sleep he brought it to Wild West Motorsports Park.
“I’ve never driven that car before and it’s been 18 months since I’ve driven a car. Woody told me what Dustyn would do and how he would set it up,” he said. “The kid told me to how drive it, we took it up to the top of the hill and I’m like, ‘what do I do now,’ and he said, ‘turn right.’ Woody coached me all weekend and it was great.”
Then he thanked Trent Fabrication, the shop that built the car. Dustyn’s sponsors are Enrico’s Differential Solution, a shop that has sponsored him since day one and Maxxis Tires Canada.
And finally another combined race, which was actually the first one, with the Pre-Runners and Class 10 Buggies. Both groups had a 15-second gap between their starts.
This group, like the UTVs did not use the rock sections.
First off the line were the Pre-Runners and Justin Radford soon was on point. Early on in the race Radford built a huge lead for himself.
Back in the Group 10 division Max Baggett led the charge his buggy with Ryan Sargent doing his best to chase him
By the end of the race the fastest buggies had passed the slowest Pre-Runners.
Justin Radford on his way to winning the Pre-Runner main.
When the checkered waved Radford won the Pre-Runner class followed by Zach Merrill and Travis McCalla. In Class 10 the winner was Baggett followed by Ryan Sargent and two Nevaa drivers, Kameron Kallas and Bill Minteer.
Norcal is actually two series; Rock Racing and SXS. Next stop for the series is at its home track at Prairie City on June 23rd.
Unlike previous years this race at Wild West Motorsports Park is the only event in Nevada this year for the series.
REPORTER’S NOTE: There is a photo gallery after the results.
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RESULTS:
Norcal Rock Racing – Round 2
Wild West Motorsports Park – April 21
+4400 Main: 1. J.P. Gomez, 2. Brendon Thompson, 3. Raul Gomez, 4. Mike Bou, 5. Brian Caprana, 6. Aaron Thompson, 7. Mark Nicholson, 8. John Hall, 9. Rick Waterbury.
DNF: Neil Masters, James Haskins, Alex Hardaway.
+UTV Turbo: 1. Beau Judge, 2. Brian Van Dyke, 3. Darrin Nelson, 4. Justin Bor, 5. Mitchell Derosa, 6. Danile Markley, 7. Wyatt Casper, 8. Dan Waller, 9. Jeff Barbarick, 10. Bryan Price, 11. Jeff Coale, 12. Heather Smith, 13. Steven Rearick, 14. Breckin Miramon.
DNF: Tim Comption -T
+ UTV 1000*: 1. Jeff Barbarick, 2. Tim Compton, 3. Mark Olson.
+ UTV 170: 1. Braden Judge, 2. Shelby Waterbury, 3. Wyatt Blevins, 4. Dylan Trent, 5. Madison Croff, 6. Jordyn Skaggs, 7. Landon Smith, 8. Austin Thompson, 9. Kayden McCalla, 10. Taryn McCalla, 11. Cruz Almendariz, 12. Bella Blackburn, 13. Kamrynn Blevis, 14. Justin Mello.
+4800: 1. Wade Coleman, 2. Jeren Gunter, 3. Justin Day, 4. James Hubbard, 5. Seth Van Dyke, 6. Jeremy Jones, 7. William Malcomson, 8. Matthew Kile, 9. Chris Brown, 10. Matthew Young.
DNF: Dixon Allen, Dennis Lapp, Keith Ratzburg, Ross Glave.
+ 4600: 1. Peter Turgeon, 2. Josh Bacsi, 3. Anthony Thomas.
+ 4500: 1. Dustyn Friesen (Dave Schneider & Woody Rose drove the car.), 2. Mike Bedwell, 3. Justin Hall, 4. Morgan Derodeff, 5. Chuck Crossland, 6. William Milligan, 7. Jesse Balter.
+ Class 10: 1. Max Baggett, 2. Ryan Sargent, 3. Kameron Kallas, 4. Bill Minteer.
+ Pre-Runner: 1. Justin Radford, 2. Zach Merrill, 3. Travis McCalla, 4. Mark Harris, 5. Matt Taylor, 6. Phillip Nolan, 7. Ian Murray.
PHOTO GALLERY:
