Westhoff Motorsports Battles the Lucerne Desert by the Light of the Moon

May 29 , 2007 – The Lucerne Valley looked like a city of lights this past weekend as Westhoff Motorsports set up under the light of the desert sky. The first night race of the season would be a triumph for all who finished; 400 miles of rocks, dust, and determination. The #1691 of Westhoff Motorsports drew tenth of the line out of twenty 1-2/1600 cars that were pre-entered.

Ready for whatever the desert would throw at them Tom and Josh Westhoff buckled into their Mastercraft Race Seats and cruised down to the dry lake bed for the green flag start late Saturday afternoon. Tom and Josh worked hard together to get through the dust and traffic and by the second lap they were running up top with the leaders. As the sun started to set Tom pulled in to main pit on the start of his fourth lap and the crew noticed that something was definately wrong with the left rear. After evaluating the situation the crew determined that they sheared a bolt that holds the hub bearing assembly on, which in turn loosened the other two bolts and cambered the wheel which then tore the caliper up and bent it. It also tore the CV boot up and folded the CV boot mounting flange over the CV bolts.

After 45 minutes in the pit Tom and Josh were on their way for the last 40 miles of their leg. Joey Westhoff and Brittany Sanchez strapped in on the next lap and were set to do the last 5 laps with the help of Vision X and the light of the moon. After only two laps, Joey and Brittany had to pull into main pit to change the coils on the distributor and check the timing. Joey commented, "It felt like I had a whole new car!!" Joey and Brittany navagated through the dust as they made their way around the course for another lap. On the start of their seventh lap they started loosing the power steering. They had to pull into main pit once again to fill up on power steering fluid and were on their way. They made their way to race mile 29.5 and lost the power steering again, the car wouldn't turn at all. Joey and Brittany tried to make it to their remote pit at Check 3 where Dirtnewz' Tim & Zack were standing by, when the steering locked up and they hit a boulder and landed in a Joshua Tree. Our Dirtnewz' pit at check 3 loaded up and made their way through the desert and rocks to help get us on our way. With the help of Wild Bill's relay we were able to get the message to main pit to bring spare parts, bolts, and lots of tools.

Thanks to Tim, Zach, David, Josh, and Steven for getting their so quickly and getting them back on their way, Joey and Brittany were able to finish that lap. It was now a race against time; with two laps to go it was going to have to be a flawless finish. The duo started their next lap with just enough time, made it to race mile 29 and ran out of fuel. After everything that happened before this they were lucky to have made it this far. The two sat out in the middle of nowhere, waiting for main pit to come with fuel and were relayed that they would not be able to make it out on another lap; their race was over.

With the sun about to rise the team made their way back to main pit, passing the carnage in the desert. Teams were strewn out all over desert; being towed in by chase trucks, digging out their racecars, and rethinking their defeat. After a harsh battle with the Lucerne Valley, Westhoff Motorsports still remains in the top three in the points race.

Stay tuned as Westhoff Motorsports will head to Ensenada, Baja, California for the SCORE Baja 500 tonight. Joey Westhoff is teaming with Mastercraft Racing in their Baja 500 racing efforts. Robbie Pierce has requested to have his favorite co-driver back in the right seat of his #35 Mastercraft Racing Trophy Truck for their next endeavor in the Baja deserts. Joey has led Robbie through the deserts of the United States and Baja and the two captured second place at last years Baja 500 in the Pro Truck class. This dynamic duo is set to rage through the deserts in search of defeating whatever Baja may bring them. While Joey will be in the right seat of the #35 Trophy Truck, Brittany Sanchez will be navagating through the desert in the #551 5/1600 with her dad, Tim Sanchez.

If you would like to follow Joey and Brittany through the Baja deserts check out www.DIRTNEWZ.com, where they will provide the link to IonEarth's tracking system. Both vehicles will be running a tracking system from IonEarth, where you will be able to see exactly where each vehicle is in relation to the race course.

Westhoff Motorsports would like to thank Dirtnewz, Mastercraft Race Seats, Carol Buzzbee, Carey Building Supplies, Fox Racing Shox, Signpros, The Fab School, Vision X, and The Westhoff's.

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