Round 1 of the 2020 WORCS racing season stung a little after Saturday’s race, but I was able to recover quickly on Sunday.
My team and I headed out to Primm, NV on Friday after school. After a very long drive with tons of traffic, we made it to the gate at 10:01 pm, just in time to get through. We parked and headed to the hotel for the night.
After getting up early, running both of my RS1’s through tech and registration, I headed to the driver’s meeting. My crew fueled my car while I checked the tire pressure and I was ready to race.
On Saturday, I raced in the SXS 1000 Production class. We lined up that afternoon and I started on row 2. Row 1 took off and I got ready. The flag flew and we took off! I was second off the line as we headed out into the desert. WORCS changed up the course and I was running blind because I did not make it to practice the day before. I focused on lap 1 so I could get a good feel for the course. After running the first lap, I felt great and my car was handling well. I continued to put pressure on the car in front of me and we were quickly gaining on the first row. By the end of lap 2, I was holding the second place position. During lap 3, I lost my brakes so I had to slow down a little to compensate. I was able to stay in the second place position through laps 3 & 4. Going into the 5th and final lap, something didn’t feel quite right with my car. I felt like I had lost a little power, but I was still giving it everything I had. About a quarter of the way into lap 5, I was coming through a sweeping turn and my car completely lost power and stopped. I got out and quickly realized that a part in the primary clutch had failed. I was out of the race. Because of the amount of time that had elapsed, WORCS awarded me finishing points. I placed 14th out of 30 cars. I was super bummed, but picked my head up and got ready to race on Sunday.
On Sunday, I headed down to the course and made sure everything was ready to go on my new RS1. After a quick once-over, I was ready to go. When it was time, I went to line up with the 30 other cars in the SXS 1000 Stock class. I started in row 1, and when the flag flew, we took off!
I was second off the line again, but stayed right on the car in front of me. I knew the course and I was determined to have a great race. Early in lap 1, I was able to make a pass on the car in front of me through a long sweeping turn. I wanted to put as much distance as I could between us quickly. The second place finisher stayed on my bumper and as we completed lap after lap, there was no room for error. I stayed focused and by lap 4 I had put some good distance between us. As I raced through the course, I hit lapped traffic, but I was able to make quick, clean passes so it didn’t slow me down much. After 5 laps, I crossed the finish line in 1st place! It was amazing!
My team and I are prepping my cars to race at round 1 of the GBC Stadium Series at Glen Helen Raceway on February 8th. Then, we will be back for WORCS round 2 in Taft, CA on February 29th.
Thanks so much to all of these amazing companies and people that support my program: Benchmark Performance, Candle Motorsports, Method Race Wheels, GBC Motorsports, Crow Enterprizes, Elka Suspension, Super ATV, Roll Design, Energy Coil Racing, Factory UTV, Baja Designs, Gates G-Force, PRP Seats, Rugged Radios, Maxima Racing Oils, Bikeman Performance, Tireblocks, Crown Performance Products, Got Sand Performance, HOK9, Perrault Motorsports, Dirt Rider Designs, and my parents who make this possible for me!
Thanks to WORCS for putting on the series and Harlen Foley for the amazing pictures! You can check out the Sims188 Racing team on Instagram @csims188 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/csims188/.
