You know it’s always a great time in Las Vegas no matter what event you’re attending and if that event happens to be the Silver State race presented by The Dirt Racing crew, you know you’re in for one of the best 1/8th experience of the year. There’s not much to say and without any doubts, Joey Christensen and his crew have all the experience in the world making some magical 1/8th events that racers just love to attend.
2018 was the inaugural year that the South Point Hotel and Casino hosted the Silver State and now with a whole year to make think about changes and adjustments, this year’s event was even better. The new make-shift driver stand felt like a real driver stand, the 1/5th scale track turned into a practice track for guys to get more run time than just 3 five minute quals and to dial in their rides on a surface that was similar to the race track. Also without the 1/5th scale cars on the track, you could hear the announcer the entire time. Golden!
With all of the hotel resort amenities at your fingertips, the event is kind of an all-inclusive resort vacation with a track located in the Pavillion. You can eat at the hotel, you can hit the casino, watch movies at the theater, check out the regional rodeo contest, go bowling, watch the pro bowling competition upstairs, get your spa on, or hit the pool for some vitamin D and R&R. There isn’t a race quite like it, (IOCC was similar, but now moved to a race track facility) and that’s why this year’s Silver State grew from 500 entries to 660!
The track layout is always going to be fun as Joey and Aaron have been doing this for nearly 20 years now and they just understand racing and what it takes to make a fun track that challenges all levels. The real magic of the Silver State race is the evolution of the track and track surface. With Nevada being a desert climate and the driest state in the US, it’s really hard to find good natural earth dirt to make a track. However, by using what they have, the sandy fine dirt never packs together for longevity and over the course of the weekend will break apart creating holes, craters, and broken jump faces making it extremely difficult to race on by the mains. Despite all this, this is what makes the Silver State so special as it really does test the racer’s ability to adapt and overcome. To be honest, it takes a will of a giant to stay focused and not blow out or getting fired up over a few crashes that really wasn’t your fault. In the end, the challenge is what brings people back for more. If it were easy, the Silver State wouldn’t be as popular.
Sportsman Nitro Truggy
1st – Buddy Christian
2nd – Clay Kimsey
3rd – Chris Yancey
Sportsman Ebuggy
1st – Jayden Chitty
2nd – Chris Yancey
3rd – Dylan Bartlett
Sportsman Nitro Buggy
1st – Buddy Christian
2nd – Taylor Daggs
3rd – Erich Neola
Intermediate Etruggy
1st – Nick Vanderpool
2nd – Lee Hackney
3rd – Olivier Raposo
Intermediate Nitro Truggy
1st – Aj Schumacher
2nd – Ronda Drake
3rd – Don Vinkemulder
Intermediate Ebuggy
1st – Jeff Switzer
2nd – Bryce Beaver
3rd – Kurt Kelium
Intermediate Nitro Buggy
1st – Justin Wheeler
2nd – Don Vinkemulder
3rd – Aj Schumacher
40+ Nitro Truggy
1st – Chris Nelson
2nd – Ronda Drake
3rd – Bryce Beaver
40+ Ebuggy
Claiming another 40+ win, Xray/JConcepts’ Paul Ciccarello takes home yet another 40+ victory to add to his sizable collection. Paul was on fire the moment he set his Ebuggy on the track as he was able to claim TQs in all 3 rounds of qualifying and took a commanding win in the 10-minute final. Mike Battaile ran well and moved up 5 positions to finish 2nd with Miguel Perez also making a charge from the back of the pack to finish 3rd overall.
40+ Nitro Buggy
1st – Don Vinkemulder
2nd – Richard Saxton
3rd – Ronda Drake
Pro Nitro Truggy
Earning perhaps the biggest win of his career, Tekno’s Joe Bornhorst was hauling the mail in the Pro Nitro Truggy class taking down many of the biggest names in the game. Joe’s package was on point and after 45 minutes, crossed the line comfortably in 1st with a 12-second cushion to 2nd place finisher, Elliot Boots. For someone who doesn’t run Truggy much, Boots showed everyone why he’s one of the world’s best as he edged out Ty Tessmann for 2nd. Ty put in an amazing recovery drive after a bad start to work his way back to 3rd and was close to chasing down and passing Boots for 2nd.
Pro Ebuggy
From 3rd on the starting grid to 1st in the Pro Ebuggy A-Main, AE/JConcepts’ Spencer Rivkin was impressive to watch during the 10 minutes A Final. With a mistake early in the race, Spencer remarkably clawed his way back and was able to slowly march his way to the front and soon built a 5-second gap to 2nd place finisher, Sworks’ Elliot Boots. TLR’s Dakotah Phend had tremendous speed all weekend moved up from 11th to finish 3rd was only a small glimpse.
Pro Nitro Buggy
The Pro Nitro Buggy main didn’t disappoint as some of the best drivers in the world went head to head on one of the gnarliest track conditions that would rival the world famous DNC. With his new Sworkz team, Elliot Boots was fast all weekend showing the speed and pace he’s well known for as he took over the lead from an unfortunate for Dakotah Phend. Dakotah ran into some bad luck this weekend and was forced to retire despite leading the race early on. Boots held on to 1st as Xray’s Ty Tessmann mounted a charge late in the race and came within 4 seconds of Boots by the end of 45 minutes. Mugen’s Ryan Maifield had an uncharacteristic slow start in his main, but once his car came in he was one of the fastest drivers on the track. Dropping back to 13th early in the race required Maifield to put his head down and charge for the last 30 minutes. Slowly he was picked apart his competitors and was able to move back up to 3rd place and took the final podium spot.
Pro Nitro Buggy A-Main
Pro Nitro Truggy A-Main
Pro Ebuggy A-Main
++ Nationals Winning Product Used by Spencer Rivkin in Pro Ebuggy ++
