RENO,NV SEPTEMBER 8, 2010: The VORRA Hawthorne 225 desert race Labor Day Weekend was a great success. There were over 40 entries with more than half finishing in a perfectly executed desert race. The weekend also included a parade of off road desert cars through downtown Hawthorne, and the movie premier of Dezert People 8 at the El Capitan Lodge and Casino. The Hawthorne 225 is the fourth desert race in the 2010, eight race VORRA series that includes an additional four short course races.
Wes Harbor, VORRA Director, took the opportunity at the mandatory drivers meeting to reinforce BLM’s commitment to help promoters be successful while enforcing new safety procedures. There was not one incident over the course of the whole weekend.
“The Hawthorne 225 track starts and finishes with some gnarly sections featuring deep sand, rough rocky terrain and some very deep silt beds, but even so we had a great finishing rate. At mid lap, racers are rewarded with the Hawthorne roller coaster that is just a blast,” said Wes Harbor, VORRA Director. The course was a 55-mile loop that drivers had to complete 4 times to finish within the allotted 9 hours.
The winner of the race was Class One driver Sam Berri in 4 hours 18 minutes, completing each 55-mile lap like clockwork. Fast lap for the day was at 1 hour, 2 minutes and 8 seconds that went to Tom Wood traveling from Arizona to his first VORRA race. Second in Class One, and third overall, was Mike Viola. JJ Schnarr in the Punisher Class One car owned by Mike Decker came in third.
Sam Cothrun, in the SamCo Group T truck, had an amazing day placing first in class and second overall only 28 minutes behind Berri. Ben Phillips finished second and Marty Morehead not far behind in third.
Finishing eighth overall was Sportsman driver Terry Shelton who drove to his third class win in as many races. Gary Steele finished second and David Ackles finished third. 60 year old Susan Austin completed her first desert race ever in 4th place.
Red Team Racing had their fair share of problems on lap 2 snapping an a-arm and nearly rolling the car, but they finished 1st in Class 10 while also getting the award for the longest lap time. Alex Hall took second and Greg Kudrna placed third.
In the UTV Class, Jon Crowley and Dennis Jean had a good battle going all day, with Jon Crowley taking the win in his Kawasaki Teryx. Also finishing first was Jay Schroeder in Class 9 and Gary Herrod in Class 11.
The season points battle continues to be close, with two short course races remaining after the Hawthorne 225. Mike Koenig fell to second overall but holds onto first place in Group T points. Class 1 driver Sam Berri finally regained the overall points lead with this first place finish. Red Team Racing moved into third overall and into first place in their class.
VORRA is in its 35th year of producing high quality yet affordable racing while also creating fun events around the race. The desert portion of the VORRA series is now complete with two more short course races at Prairie City OHV area in October which finishes the entire 8 race series.
You Tube Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIeWgbZX3Lo
Direct Link to Schedule and Information: http://vorra.net
2010 VORRA Race Series Race Schedule
Date Race Type Location
March 20 – 21, 2010 Short Course COMPLETED
April 17 – 18, 2010 Short Course COMPLETED
May 28 – 31, 2010 Desert Race – 300 Miles COMPLETED
JUNE 17-20, 2010 Xtreme Outlaws 250 COMPLETED
July 16 – 18, 2010 Desert Night Race – 250 Miles COMPLETED
September 4 – 6, 2010 Desert Race – 225 Miles COMPLETED
October 9 – 10, 2010 Short Course Prairie City, CA
October 30 – 31, 2010 Short Course – Halloween BBQ Prairie City, CA
November 13th, 2010 Awards Banquet TBA
Valley Off Road Racing Association (VORRA) was established in 1975 as a family-oriented organization and is led by current promoter Wes Harbor who believes that “off road racing has its roots in people’s garages”. VORRA is the only organization to offer both four short course races and four desert races as part of its overall season championship. Each race draws over 60 racers between multiple classes available for Cars, Trucks, Pilots, ATV, UTV and Trophy Karts. In 2010 VORRA has added two additional truck classes and a stand alone ATV Race Series. More information can be found at www.vorra.net
Sponsors – BFGoodrich, Trick Fuels, Sunbelt Rentals, El Capitan Lodge and Casino
Picture Credit: Bower Motorsports Media
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