XTREME OUTLAWS 250
JUNE 17-20, 2010
Hey Race Fans! What a race! The collaboration of Wes Harbor with VORRA, Rod Hall, Grand Sierra Resort, and others led to the inaugural Xtreme Outlaws Extravaganza held at the GSR. There were guys on motorcycles racing around a track and over jumps set up in the parking lot along with booths of various delectable eats. There were Xtreme Girls, Dirty Girls, Monster Girls and Sam Berri’s 149 Car in front of the Grand Sierra under the sparkling lights. There was the Rod Hall Signature 250 off Road Course, a one lane scenic course of windswept hillsides with wild mustangs grazing and long-horned cattle lurking in the Twisted Junipers.
Sam Berri’s tale of Xtreme started on Wednesday when he shot over to Reno from his home in Murphy’s, CA. He had a plan to share the car with his sponsors and fans and say thank-you for all they had done to help. Brian Hamilton of Reno met him at Sierra Welding and Sam parked the car in the Sierra Welding parking lot for several hours. Next he moved with the help of Chelsey Martin of Reno to R.E. Fasteners and gave them a chance to check out his ride. After several hours at R.E. Fasteners, Brian and Chelsey helped him load the car and take it to Garrati’s, The Powder Man. Then he was off to the Grand Sierra Resort to park the car in front of the hotel. Thank you Sponsors!
Thursday- Xtreme Fun Run Pre-run 7:00 a.m. Sam and Bob & Lois Martin met at the Mustang Ranch parking lot just outside of Reno to embark on the adventure of a life time. This was the opportunity to check out the 90 mile race course. The course was to tie into the old Virginia City race course with a BBQ lunch mid day in Virginia City. Which turned out to be delicious pulled pork or pulled beef sandwich prepared by Guys Place of Reno. We borrowed Chelsey’s Jeep and encountered one of the craziest “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” in our lives. We had stuck vehicles in front of us, we lost suspension parts and without the help of our race buddies, Timmy Compton and Jake Povey we would still be stuck out in the desert laughing about why we shouldn’t have made this trip. After seeing the carnage from the Fun Run, Wes Harbor and the VORRA team quickly sprang into action to change the course into a more presentable race course. Thank-you! VORRA! We all were treated to a BBQ at the Beach in the GSR that evening.
Friday-Time Trials and Tech & Registration – 7:00 a.m., what is it with these early mornings? Anyways, time trials were held out off of USA Parkway and the winner was: Guess? Sam Berri! This meant that he would start the race in first place!! We all packed up and headed to the Tech and Registration held in the GSR parking lot. Sam had photo ops and interviews while Team Margarita rolled the car through Tech. That night at the drivers meeting, all the questions were to be answered about the course changes. An hour and a half later everyone was still a little puzzled about the course, they were to find out more in the morning. We all went to the Waterfall Bar and who should show up- Sonney Berri and friend Elisha Rey who wanted to be initiated into Team Margarita racing festivities.
Saturday- RACE Day- Sam’s day started at 8:30 a.m. with The GSR Leap. He leapt 147 feet to take the win. This gave him a 30 second jump on the car behind him, which happened to be Mr. Chuck Dempsey in the Speed Car. The race started at 10:40 a.m. Sam out in front with a good lead. All of a sudden Bob caught a glimpse of yellow, orange and white stopped at 7 mile. What was wrong? One of the dry cell batteries shorted out causing the car to go dead. They quickly accessed the problem and eliminated the battery, with a quick tow of the car Sam was on his way again. But our problems were just beginning, when the battery shorted out it must have damaged the exciter in the alternator causing the alternator to fail, approximately 20 miles into the race. Sam was able to limp to check point 2 where Lou and Annie and Paul assisted Sam in removing the alternator, while Bob relayed to Jack to turn around and grab a new alternator out of the race trailer at main pit. Where Don & Ellen, JT and family, the Seymours and Alex were providing assistance to our cars and anyone else that needed it. Once we got the new alternator to Sam and installed, the rest of his 225 miles was virtually flawless, but he was unable to make up the 50 minutes that he had lost due to the electrical failure. Sam was able to salvage a 5th place in class. Sam was a little lonely at the finish line because most of his pit crew, Lou & Annie, Bob & Lois, Dustin, Mike, Brian, Ron, and Donald, were all out making sure that Chelsey and Rusty in the 1052 car made it to the finish line in their first long distance desert race. Which they achieved and were the final surviving car to cross the finish line. Great job!
Sam would like to also thank Goodyear Tires for the awesome performance they gave as the track was rough and rocky and he had zero flats all day long! Hope to see you all at the night race in Fallon!