After the first days ride of the course, the crew would go to the golf driving range (part of Playa Del Sol) and have driving competitions; Closest to the pin, longest drive, best chip shot with the loser buying a round of beer and tacos.  It was relaxing, bonding and with lots of friendly smack talk...we were able to ignore one of the most prestigious off-road races that we were about to compete in on Saturday.

Some of the evening highlights were fireworks off the ocean.  These are not the simple Black Cat style that you used to be able to purchase on an Indian reservation in Nevada, but instead ones that were reflective of those used at your local municipality during the Fourth of July celebration.  Really loud and really big!  The locals would sweep the coast selling them like gum at the border. 

Friday morning before technical inspection in town, we decided to swim in the clear warm Gulf of California, played Frisbee on the beach and rode our motorcycles around a little to stay loose.  At about 11:00am  we saw a powered hang glider come flying over very low.  We waved and the pilot tipped his wing and circled back, landing on the beach just below us. He asked if anyone wanted a ride for $40 bucks.  All our bravery quickly left as we each looked for excuses on why we couldn't, "I don't have any money", "I have to race tomorrow",  "I have to go take a shower" were some of the excuses...   It didn't make sense that we were fearless on motorcycles at breakneck speeds over some of the most difficult terrain in the world, but a few of us were afraid of heights.  Finally a few of us stepped up and took the gentleman on his offer – of course paying less then he wanted! 

Arriving in town we found a huge party and felt the enthusiasm of the local people in anticipation of the Saturday’s big race. After taking a lot of pictures, signing a few hundred autographs, a bunch of shirts and even a few arms we headed back to the house.  The evening turned back to race mode and we covered the course, our race plans and logistics once more.  Ended the day with a huge home-made pasta dinner.

Race morning started early and by 4:45am we were all awake.  Shortly thereafter all of the chase trucks had headed out to where they needed to be in anticipation of rider changes, gas stops and service if needed. 

At 6:42am the team received the green flag and the San Felipe 250 was under way for THR Motorsports. 

We changed riders at race mile 23 in second place.  One of our main competitors was through that area just before us and for the next 50 miles we played cat and mouse taking the lead from them and falling back to second place too. 

Somewhere along the dry lake bed the bike lost the insert to the muffler – an in the process became obnoxiously loud.   At race mile 76 we changed riders again.  With the louder than ever muffler it almost became easier to pass riders with them hearing us as we came up from behind.  During the next 90 miles we trailed first place slightly holding a close second place but just could not make the pass for first.  Although we each were able to pass about 15 or so other bikes from a few other classes and were quickly getting thru the expert teams and into the professional teams. 

We crashed hard down around the bottom of the loop and this put a large separation between us and first place.  We changed riders at about race mile 175 and the last rider just put his head down and narrowed the gap, finally overtaking first place and taking the lead.  There was a large jump at the finish line and our rider flew through the air about 120 feet landing it squarely, then riding a wheelie across the finish line. 

THR Motorsports Finished

• First place in Sportsman Motorcycle Under 250cc Class
• First place overall in Sportsman Motorcycle Class
• 11th bike overall – beating out nearly all experts and most of the professional riders.

A huge thanks to all of our sponsors - NoFear for the team gear,  Corona Motorsports for all of the parts, certainly each of you is a huge part of our success.  We are looking forward to the BITD Silver State 300 and shortly after that the SCORE Baja 500.  Both races are very competitive and we look for another win to continue the season. 

THR Motorsports

Riders:

• Ron Tolman           Chino Hills, Ca.
• Erik Meyers            Corona, Ca.
• Garrett Tolman      Bullhead City, Az.
• Garrett Osteen       Phelan, Ca.

Pit Crew:

• Vinny Van Horne    Arkansas
• Brad Wright             Long Beach, Ca.
• Stephen Berry         Bellflower, Ca.
• DeLoy Tolman       Chino Hills, Ca.
• Sheldon Uwell       San Bernadino, Ca.
• Russell Petty          Utah