Engage Racing MORE Freedom 250 Race Recap

It was a long day of racing for Vi Tang in the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck at the MORE Freedom 250 on the weekend of July 20th 2013. Vi and the Team arrived to Barstow Main on friday mid day to a warm 108 degree California Desert Weather. The team set up Main pit and stayed out of the sun as much as they could as they waited for 5pm to take the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck down to Slash X Ranch for Tech Inspection. The 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck "tech'd" fine and the team had some laughs as they hung out with fellow racers and enjoyed the Barstow evening at Slash X Ranch.
Saturday 6am in the morning came and Vi Tang, Driver of the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck, Navigator Chris Klebe and team owner Hassim Mendez, jumped in the 08 Toyota Tacoma 4 door Prerunner and headed out onto race course to do one final PreRun Lap and plot course and add waypoints to the map with the Lowrance Elite 5 and HDS 10 at their disposal. By 8am they were done and as the team went to the pool at the local Barstow Holiday Inn & Suites to keep cool and enjoy a little relaxation before the Race. Hass went to work with the Lowrance Map Creating Software "Insight Pro" to creat the Race Map that would help give the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck an advantage over the competition during the MORE Freedom 250.

It was soon 3pm and the drivers meeting took place at Start/Finish. The MORE officials explained the rules and answered any questions the Racers had. The Califonia BLM (Bureau of Land Management) was their present to thank the Racers and wishe them Good Luck and a Safe Race. Now it was 3:30pm and the Race Cars Started to Line up and the excitement grew. It was a warm Bartow weather of 98 Degrees and at 4pm sharp the first cars took off the line. A Grand total of 73 Race Vehicle made it off the Starting line and took off into the Barstow Desert with victory in their thoughts. Amongst them was the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck Driven by Vi Tang and Navigatged by Chris Klebe.
Vi Drove the truck strong and by race mile 3 he had over taken 3 vehicles. At Race Mile 11 going over a steep roller, Vi landed into a G-Out and sheard one of the bolts attaching the Passenger Lower Control Arm to the Chassis. Vi and Chris right away went from Driver/Navigator Duties to Mechanics. With the use of one of the Ratcheting Straps the truck carries for emergencies, and spare bolts in the tool bag, they were able to repair the Lower Control Arm in 23 minutes and got the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck back up and running. They had alot of catching up to do, so they hunkered down into a steady pace and started catching up in their class.

By the beggining of their 4th lap they had gone from dead last in class, after breaking down in the first lap and were sitting in 3rd place in their class. Vi and Chris Began the 4th lap in the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck and set off into the Barstow night with a goal of catching up the 2 vehicles ahead of them and take first place. Vi drove the truck right to the edge as Chris called out every waypoint on their Lowrance GPS's inside the race truck and cought up to 2nd place.

By Race Mile 18, at the Hodge Road/Poly Rock Road Crossing, they had 1st place in their sights. They began the infamous "Mile of Carnage" and went up and over the Hodge Road/Poly Rock Hill and had a plan to push the truck and catch the 1st place truck of Thomas Byma 1453 in the next 3 miles. As Vi and Chris drove the truck to the limit and called out every Whoop, Roller, G-Out and Turn in the "Mile of Carnage" they came around Race Mile 20 in a long swooping left hand turn and suddenly the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck hooked into the sandy bottom and made a sharp and abrupt left hand turn. Vi did everything in his powere to keep the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck on all fours and he slid over 400 feet off race course into the open desert. He managed to keep it on what he thought was four wheels, only to find out after it all came to an end that the Driver Side Rear Axle had sheared off and they lost the Left Rear Tire. Vi and Chris had 1st place in sight and pushed the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck over its limits. Vi then radioed into MORE Relay and asked to have the Chase Team lead by Crew Chief Dustin Poly to come into Race Course and bring a welder and the parts needed to repair the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck. Vi sent out the coordinates and Dustin, thanx to the Lowrance HD 7 GPS in Chase 3 got to the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck in a couple of minutes to help out.
Now once again Vi and Chris went from Driver/Navigator Duties to Mechanic's. Dustin and the Chase team showed up and brought the necessary equipment to repair the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck. It was now 9:30pm and they had two and a half hours to repair the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck and get across the finish line. They grinded, banged and welded the rear end parts back together thanx to the help of Javier Avila who showed up also to lend a hand. While doing so the rest of the class passed by and even some honked as they did with thumbs up to show support and a little friendly "taunting". It was now 11:22pm, the truck was being buttoned up, tire going back on and Vi and Chris were strapping them selfs in. The 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck was not 100% but it was good enough to finish their 4th lap. Vi and Chris had to drive it 9 miles in less than 30 minutes, now it was 11:28 and Dustin told Vi and Chris to take it easy and just finish.
Vi and Chris wanted to finish and took off again into the Barstow Night to drive 9 miles in less than 30 minutes in a "Band-Aided" Race Truck. Once Vi and Chris got a little comfortable with the repair, they started gaining speed and began to Race. The 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck crossed the Finishe line for the MORE Freedom 250 at 11:46pm with 14 minutes to spare. They did not get a chance to finish their 5th and Final Lap but were elated to finish four out of the 5 laps of the MORE Freedom 250.
Once again thanx to the Team, Chase Support and the Lowrance Equipment, the 1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck got to cross the finish line four times out of the possible five to take an official 6th place at the 2013 MORE Freedom 250. Great Racing, Great Fun and as usuall Great Stories Racing with EngageOffRoad and the MORE Series in Souther California. As Vi put it after the Race while winding down with a good Carne Asada and a beer "Get Ready, the Midnight Special is coming up and we Got This!"

 

Goddammit Vi..........



j/k buddy you know that...


Hey we ALL want to finish first but as you guys know in the desert, just finishing IS a win...

 

yes it is.....but sometimes it feels so good to take 1st...ha ha ha

 

Looks like another eventful race for Engage!

Sorry I couldn't make it out this time, glad everyone was safe and had a good time

 

No worries man, yeah we were short staff for this race but still made it happen and had a great time like always out Racing in the So-Cal Desert!

 

Good read, almost got it but damn did you say "1478 EngageOffRoad/Lowrance class 1450 Toyota Tacoma Race Truck" enough lol. Search that term and it is half the post