The team arrived in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning and stopped by the AIM Expo at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center to visit our sponsor Dragonfire Racing. From there we made our way to Laughlin to settle in. Weather was great, mid 80’s during the day and 60’ in the evening— with intermittent showers forecast.
We began Thursday morning with registration at 10am and made our way through tech by 1:30. At 5PM we went out to the track to watch the NA class – and waited there for the rest of the evening for our race to start at 10:30 – which felt even later for Jimmy who is acclimated to east coast time. The Laughlin Desert classic is the only dedicated night race of the season so brings with it its unique challenges. We had an excellent starting position having finished 7th at V2R and lined up on the third row in a field of 42 cars.
The track was really cool, fun and fast, with a long whoop section, a good roller section and an infield section similar to a short course with high berms. Track was groomed but degraded rather quickly. A brief shower came through during the earlier NA class which kept the dust down.
Jimmy found his groove at lap two, passing a number of cars and was soon running in time with lap leaders. He had a good little battle going with the Brian Elstrom in the Oberto Car who went on to finish 5th.
We stopped only once for a splash and go fuel stop- because of a faulty gauge- but otherwise had no issues whatsoever. The car ran perfectly. Suspension was awesome, floating through the whoops which was a blast!
We crossed the finish line in 11th place at 1:30 AM.
After loading the car, Jimmy headed back to the hotel- exhausted after the adrenaline come down. Meanwhile Russell went straight to the airport to catch his flight back east. No rest for the weary!
Car is looking good for the Nugget “250” presented by Polaris on December 1st in Pahrump, Nevada —a point to point race with seven pit stops.
We want to thank each and every one of our sponsors for their expertise and their tireless support: Dragonfire Racing, Fuel Offroad UTV, Double E Racing, Polaris RZR, Cognito Motorsports, Rugged Radios and Trail Armor.
A special thanks to Harlen Foley for his keen eye and photographic skill.
