500 entries from 3 States and Mexico
Cool weather and fast cars make a great race!
PHOENIX – Two cars shy of the all time record turn out for Whiplash Racing’s, “THE RACE’ in Snowflake, Arizona. Every labor day weekend since the mid 1980’s Whiplash has been putting on one of the best off-road races in Arizona. Trucks & buggies, pro’s and sportsmen, bikes, mini’s, atv’s, utv’s, china lites and trophy karts all participated in the biggest family off-road events in Arizona.
Despite high gas prices and a weak economy all was right in the pines of northern Arizona as 70 degree weather, a mix of sunshine and rain blessed all who attended. The entire event was centered around Saturday afternoon as the eighty trucks and buggies took to the thirty mile course.
Staging was at 3 o’clock so we could start on time at 5 o’clock. First off the starting line, in the bright daylight sun were the trophy trucks followed by class 1 then class 10. The first half of the course is an all out blast that must feel like rally racing as trucks and buggies easily reached over 100 miles per hour. The weather was perfect. Even the dust was often swept away by the cool breeze we had all evening.
The first lap saw the trophy trucks of Brandon McNeil and Jason Thomas within seconds of each other followed closely by class 1 and class 10. Further back in the pack John McNeil and Fawn Finchum in her husbands new Trophylite battled it out in class 7. John would take the win and Fawn is ready to do battle in her next race. If we had two more Trophylites they could have had their own class and kept their numbers!! Rumor has it that Arizona is to far for those guys??? Matt, if you want to sell trucks in Arizona you will have to race here!
The biggest class 8 field in a long time saw Mike Lowe take the win followed by Lon Samford. It was good to see the big trucks thundering around the forest at night! The biggest news were the 27, yes 27 entries in the 1450 class. The class is a sportsman truck class based on a truck frame and cab. I don’t know much about them but I’m thinking of building one for myself. With a class of 27 they put on a great show. Neil Weaver from Phoenix took the win followed by Kevin McMurray from Peoria who was 3 minutes and 15 seconds behind. Then third went to Scott Bricknell, just ten minutes behind. In class 1450 there were 10 trucks on the lead lap at the finish. Great job guys!
As night began to fall the race encountered its first big accident as the Rick Thomas truck driven by his son endowed and flipped several times on the fast early section of the course. Luckily everyone was alright, but the truck suffered a lot of damage.
Newcomer to Whiplash Mike Szlauko from Tucson was moving up fast in class 1 followed by Randy Miller from Gila Bend, Charles Lathrem from Tucson, Ron Dalke from Tucson and Albert McMullen and the class 1 champ, John Martensen both from Phoenix. The next lap would see John fall to a broken axle. Who would have thought my 4 cylinder could snap a 930 axle?
Moving up into the class 1 cars was another newbie to Whiplash Lonnie Hart in class 10. Lonnie and long time Whiplash racer Ed Beard were battling it out as was Scott Martenson, no relation but a nice guy anyway, until Scott put his Tatum on it’s lid trying to catch my dad, Ed Martensen a 30 year veteran of off-road racing and a long time Whiplash regular. Ed would get out when it got dark and scott would get his car going again.
At the four hour mark the first sportsman cars started finishing their 6 laps. It was now around 9:00 PM and dark when Neil Weaver of the 1450 class finished first out of the sportsman cars. He was followed by Michael Kennedy for second in sportsman and first place in sportsman unlimited class. Third in sportsman was Kevin McMurry in another 1450 truck and fourth was Troy Reimer in the sportsman 4 seat prerunner class.
Other notable sportsman racers were Jerome Cutler and Bart Van Oostendorr, second and third in sportsman unlimited. Bob Myers, Jim Jerger and Mark Fisk, first, second and third in the sport 10 class. Christopher Peterson, John Nightingale and the beautiful Chrissy Sullivan in the top three positions in sportsman limited respectively. Sheldon Gould and Taylor Rawak also finish on the lead lap in second and third in the sportsman 4 seat pre-runner class. Great job guys and gals! Hope racing with the pro’s was exciting and fun!
Now around 10 PM the first overall pro finished with a time of 4:35:35. It was class 1 driver Mike Szlauko followed by second overall, another class 1 car driven by Randy Miller, 4:42:03. Third overall was the trophy Truck of Brandon McNeil in at 4:44:06. Forth overall was class 10 winner Lonnie Hart with a time of 4:44:20 and fifth overall was Edgar Avalos second in class 10 with a time of 4:46:11.
Other notable pro finishers were third in class 1, Charles Lathrem with a time of 4:47:01 and Ron Dalke, forth in class 1 with a time of 4::50:05. Third place in class 10 went to Robert Scarla with a time of 4:49:29. Tim Jones another whiplash regular finished forth in class 10 with a time of 4:55:30. Finally the real pro’s. Class 1-2 1600. Bruce Johnston finished seven laps in 4:36:33 to take the win. One minute faster and you would not have been lapped and got to do another lap! What a great drive to hold off the overall winner for 7 laps! Second in 1-2 1600 was Brent McKee at 4:38:59 two minutes behind the winner! Third was Louie Serna with a time of 4:39:37, just 38 seconds back!!! You guys had an awesome race!!! Well done guys.
As the sun set in the mountains of northern Arizona a light sprinkle fell. Thousands of spectators stood next to their camp fires as drivers from Heber, Tucson, Phoenix, Mesa, Peoria, Flagstaff, Gila Bend, Buckeye, Chino Valley, Anthem, Cave Creek, Waddell, Camp Verde, El Mirage, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Queen Creek, Desert Hills and New River represented the Arizona crowd. Scattered all over the 30 mile course spectators also got to see the skills of drivers from Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Pena Blanca and Rio Rancho New Mexico. What a great bunch of guys! I hope you all come racing in Arizona more often.
We even had a driver all the way from Mission Viejo California! See California guys, you can make it to this great race!
But most of all we’d like to thank Edgar Avalos from Mexico who made it to snowflake despite not even knowing English! Luckily my adventures to Baja paid off and I was able to communicate with him. Funny side note when I broke down he came up to me with a flat and a flat spare, so I gave him mine. But the funny part is here is the only guy in the race that speaks Spanish and he happens to get a flat next to the only guy he’s been talking to all weekend. Fate or luck?
As most of you know this was my first event as the truck and buggy promoter. It was a lot of work but worth it to see so many of you guys show up at the race. Thank you to everyone who came and participated in this race!
Official Overall Results! (More Posted Soon!)
1- Mike Szlauko Class 1 4:35:35 Tucson, AZ.
2- Randy Miller Class 1 4:42:03 Gila Bend, AZ.
3- Brandon McNeil - Trophy Truck 4:44:06 Mesa, AZ.
4- Lonny Hart Class 10 4:44:20 Desert Hills, AZ.
5- Edgar Avolos Class 10 4:46:11 El Paso Texas
6- Charles Lathrem Class 1 4:47:01 Tucson, AZ
7- Robert Scarla Class 10 4:49:29 Scottsdale, AZ.
8- Ron Dalke Class 1 4:50:05 Tucson, AZ.
9- Tim Jones Class 10 4:55:30 Glendale, AZ.
10- Ed Beard Class 10 5:00:38 Buckeye, AZ.
XX-Mike Doherty LAST OVERALL
80 car and truck entries
Sport 1450
1- Neil Weiver 3:44:07
2- Kevin McMurray 3:48:03
3- Scott Bricknell 3:59:45
4- Gary Michael 4:14:59
5- Jason Perdue 4:27:14
27 entries in this class!!
Over 500 entries including Utv's Bikes, quads and mini's!
GO TO http:www.whiplashracing.com - FOR MORE INFO!
ARIZONA OFF-ROAD RACING IS BACK!!!