Contingency day at the Primm race, is, as usual, hot and muggy, with hovering clouds that may deliver some more rain to the course overnight. It did rain Thursday night, making the course “nice” and cutting the dust. Hopes are for more rain tonight, so it’ll be good on Saturday.
This year’s course is exactly the same as last year’s, except that because of last night’s rain, there are more rocks. Bryan Freeman says that those who pre-ran this morning and won’t race until tomorrow afternoon’s second race, will be seeing an entirely different course from what they saw on the pre-run.
A new team for this race is the pairing of Darren Ebberts and Chuck Sacks in the SCORE Lite car #1203. It’s a Chenowth. Both are highly experienced drivers and it should be a good team. Darren’s brother, Danny, the sprit car racer, who did so well at the BITD Vegas to Reno, isn’t racing here. The other brother, Dale, is once again teamed with Ernie Castro in their Toyota powered Class 1 Jimco, and they’re always a team to watch. Mike Horner has great hopes for his 7S Toyota Tacoma. He says Bob Graham built both the motor and transmission, and he’s looking for a good finish. He went with a different motor builder, who gave him a less stock power plant at the 500, and it didn’t last. Graham, who’s racing his Nissan here, or at least is supposed to, is stuck in Orange, working on the truck, which when last heard from was stuck in third gear.
On the subject of Class 7S, which allows 3 liter motors, and 7SX which allows 4 liter motors, Horner thinks SCORE should open 7S up to the bigger motors, and combine the two classes into one. He says those 7S rules are “left over” from 15 years ago.
Rick Geiser is signed on with Bob Shepard in the #1 Trophy Truck, but Shepard says he’ll get to drive only “if it gets rough.” Geiser is feeling pretty sure he’ll get to drive. Dave Richardson, co-driver with John Cooley in the #1000 Class 10 AlumiCraft car, will get to start the race (second off the line in the first race) because he also has a ride in the #102 Class 1 car of Mark Peterson. He’s going to be second off the line in that car also.
Todd Wyllie has finally got his new Trophy Truck done. It’s a Chevy, and he seems most excited by the fact that he’s got an air-conditioned blower for his pumper helmet. He’s put about 300 miles of testing on the Geiser built truck. Says it’s “all a little bit better than the old Class 8”. He’s proud of the fact that he’s running the “big” Fox shocks.
Bekki Freeman Wik is back racing again, after the birth of her daughter, Ava. Ava’s four months old now. Bekki will start in the car tomorrow morning. She hasn’t raced since San Felipe 2005, but has done some testing. Husband Adam Wik will do the last two laps. He drove solo last year because they’d just discovered that Bekki was pregnant. And he was the Class 10 winner last year. Jeff Geiser (Rick’s brother) is the standby driver on Ron Whitton’s Ford Trophy Truck #39. He thinks he’ll probably get in on the third lap.
Darren Hardesty, who will be first off the line tomorrow morning thinks this is a “fast course.” He is “excited about being first on the road.” He’s concerned about what visor to use on his helmet, however, because the race is supposed to start at 6.a..m., and he’s noticed that it’s not really light at that time. If he wears his tinted shield he won’t be able to see very well for the beginning of the race, and if he wears a clear one, he’ll be blinded by the sun later on. The team was trying to think up a solution to that problem.
Ron Dalke, who had such a good duel with Hardesty at the Terrible’s race in July, is still wearing a brace on his injured right hand. He says it doesn’t hurt as long as he wears it, and it lets him shift better. He’s currently doing therapy to rebuild the strength in the arm which he broke in a race back in about June. Ron’s driving solo tomorrow and says “If we do well, we can move up in the points and then we’ll think about going to the Baja 1000.” Andy Grider, biker racer, has moved into a Class 10 Honda powered Tatum. He and his co-driver, Kevin Curtis are #1021 tomorrow. Andy and Kevin have raced twice and don’t have a finish yet, but they’re hopeful tomorrow will be the first finish. Andy says, “We’re still learning everything – the car, how to set up the pits – everything.” He’s done some testing at speed with Pat Dean, which taught him a lot. He says he may be at a disadvantage because he’s new to cars, but he brings with him a couple of things from bikes that’ll help. He believes he’s learned to “read the terrain” really well while racing the bike, and he also says his reaction times are fast. “I don’t have to retrain my brain.” He says he’s always wanted to race in an off-road car.
Cesar Fuentes, from Mexico, and last year’s winner in class 1, has a new car, a Herman Motorsports Class 1, built by Damen Jefferies. He should be fun to watch. Pete Sohren, who drives the #2 Trophy Truck, has a new Geiser built Trophy Truck coming. It’s a Ford with a five-speed transmission. “I need to go faster!” says Pete. He’s taken possession of the rolling chassis, but there’s a lot left for him to do himself. He plans to have it ready for the next Laughlin race, in 2007. The John Griffin team, in the big white Hummer, has been the Class champion for the last five years. Today they say, “We’re not here to have fun, we’re here to win! We’ve been #860 for five years, we’re not gonna give it up yet!”
Jeremy James, son of Class 1 racer Mike James, and nephew of Kevin James, is racing a 1600 car in this race. Married to Jenn, just last Saturday, they’re starting their honeymoon off with the race, and then plan to go on to Hawaii. This is his first SCORE race, he’s done MDR and MORE events. Wally Palmer, off Off Road Warehouse, will co-drive. Mike Julson, Jimco, has a brand new transmission in his Trophy Truck, and has moved the clutch to the rear of the car and put in a torque limiter. He’s also put in a torsion bar as an input shaft, which will flex instead of breaking. He’s hoping these changes will get him a finish The number 1213 SCORE Lite car is a brand new Meco, but they’ve used all old VW technology. No coil overs for example. They say it’s like a “big 1600 car.” This is its first race and Blaise Jackson will drive it.
Dave and Billy Gasper have repainted their Porter Class 10 car white, with silver and orange trim, and even orange bead locks. It’s definitely one of the better looking cars, kind of a shame to take it out and get it all dusty and scratched up. Billy’s going to start, and Dave is signed on, but if Billy’s leading they probably won’t take time for a driver change, because they know the competition will be very tight in that class. Kash Vessels is entered in his Alpha chassis (model AC06). He says he’s put 300 miles of testing on it since the Baja 500 and has got the suspension “a lot better.” Dan Chamlee, #701, says he had to put a whole new body on his Class 7 Ford Ranger after competing in the SCORE short course Terrible’s Cup in July, but he’s ready to go again. #1015, is the Kreger Honda of Mark and C. J. Hutchins, one of the very competitive Class 10 teams. It’s sporting a new bright yellow-green paint job, that should make it stand out.
The Class 10 race should be the best, most competitive race tomorrow, with about 20 entries, and probably 15 who are good enough, and have good enough cars to win. end
|
 |
Off-Road.com Newsletter Join our Weekly Newsletter to get the latest off-road news, reviews, events, and alerts! |
Follow @Off-Road
Your Privacy Choices