Industry News

2017 Ultra4 MetalCloak Stampede UTV Race

Casey Scherer

The 2017 Ultra4 MetalCloak Stampede was held at Prairie City State Vehicle Recreation Area on June 9-10, 2017. This is the fifth annual Stampede held in Sacramento, CA and is part of the Ultra4 West Series which also includes Sierra Blanca, TX and Fallon 250. The National Championship is held in Reno in October.

John Goodby of NorCal Rock Racing creates the course for the MetalCloak Stampede which consisted of a 2 mile lap, filled with man-made rock obstacles, tight turns, jumps, whoops and go fast sections.  This venue is awesome for spectators because most of the track can be seen from the stands.

We had some rain and cooler weather roll through Northern California for the weekend and this made for near perfect conditions.  Last year’s race held earlier in the season turned into a full blow mud-fest (see 2016 MetalCloak Stampede UTV Race), so this was welcome news to racers and spectators.

Ultra4 Stampede

George Lisenbery in his Yamaha YXZ1000R during practice

UTVs got their first look at the track during practice on Friday.  This year’s course was lighter on hard core rock sections as compared to the 2016 Stampede. Two short rock sections that other classes ran were not part of course for UTVs and this probably helped boost up the car count a bit. 12 UTVs had registered for the race which included two Can-Am Maverick X3, two Yamaha YXZ1000R’s and eight Polaris RZRs.

Phil Cagliero

Phil Cagliero in his RZR XP Turbo

Darian Gomez

Darian Gomez is always a strong contender at Prairie City

Qualifying was held Friday afternoon with each racer on the track running solo against the clock.

UTV Qualifying Results:

  UTV Pro 79 CASEY SCHERER DANVILLE CA 02:45.9
  UTV Pro 21 PHILLIP CAGLIERO SAN MIGUEL CA 02:47.5
  UTV Pro 90 DARIAN GOMEZ LOTUS CA 02:49.9
  UTV Pro 1028 SEAN STROUD     02:55.4
  UTV Pro 1966 GEORGE LISENBERY PORTERVILLE CA 03:00.3
  UTV Pro 1987 MATT LIPPMAN SAN BRUNO CA 03:03.7
  UTV Pro 1944 GREG UFFENS TRACY CA 03:08.8
  UTV Pro 777 RICK MARKLEY OAKHURST CA 03:15.3
  UTV Pro 485 JAMI PELEGRINO SIMI VALLEY CA 03:18.0
  UTV Pro 1908 CRAIG HONNOLL     03:21.3
  UTV Pro 1904 ANTONIO COSTA MTN HOUSE CA 04:29.0
  UTV Pro 1911 PAULY HART SACRAMENTO CA DNF

UTV Prelims were held Saturday morning and this is where all hell broke loose. Racer Sean Stroud tangled with Phil Cagliero in the first lap, then hit Casey Scherer and then he also hit Paul Hart in the air after a jump on the last lap.  While Scherer and Cagliero were able to make repairs and compete in the main event, the last crash took Stroud and Hart out of competition for the weekend. Several complaints were lodged against Stroud after the prelims.

Greg Uffens

Greg Uffens finished in second place

Ultra4 Stampede

Casey Scherer in his Can-Am Maverick X3

During the UTV main event Darian Gomez (Polaris RZR XP Turbo) led with Casey Scherer (Can-Am Maverick X3) on his heels for most of the race. Then Gomez had a mechanical and Scherer jumped into the lead and crossed the finish line first.  Rounding out the podium for the UTVs were Greg Uffens and Matt Lippman.

Casey Scherer

Casey Scherer Takes First Place

2017 Ultra4 MetalCloak Stampede UTV Race Results:

1 79 CASEY SCHERER 8 2:12:55 PM
2 1944 GREG UFFENS 8 2:14:09 PM
3 1987 MATT LIPPMAN 8 2:14:48 PM
4 1966 GEORGE LISENBERY 8 2:15:01 PM
5 485 JAMI PELEGRINO 8 2:15:02 PM
6 777 RICK MARKLEY 8 2:16:06 PM
7 1908 CRAIG HONNOLL 7 2:13:17 PM
8 21 PHILLIP CAGLIERO 7 2:15:10 PM
9 90 DARIAN GOMEZ 4 2:01:04 PM

 

The next race for the Ultra4 West Series will be the Fallon 250 on September 1, 2017.

About Ultra4 Racing:

Ultra4 Racing is the sanctioning body behind King of The Hammers: The toughest one day off road race on the planet. Ultra4 cars are unlimited 4 wheel-drive endurance racing. Rocks, deserts, hill climbs, whoops, trees, you name it, we race it.

ULTRA4 is a vehicle type, class and series.  ULTRA4 Racing was born from the popularity of the annual Nitto King of the Hammers Powered by Optima Batteries, considered to be the toughest one-day off-road race. The vehicles are unlimited four-wheel drive, capable of competing in multiple racing disciplines – extreme rock crawling, high-speed desert racing and short course.  In ten years, the sport has grown significantly from the inaugural King of the Hammers to an eight race national series including a National Championship. ULTRA4 Racing is managed by Hammerking Productions located in Temecula, CA.  

Can-Am, a leader in the side by side industry, is the Official UTV of ULTRA4 Racing for the 2017 season. The sponsorship also includes title sponsorship of the Can-Am King of the Hammers (KOH) UTV Race.

More information on the race can be found at www.ultra4racing.com

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