2023 Ultra4 Nationals in Havasu - Sherpa 4Runner Takes 2nd Place

00:00 - Intro
01:19 - Prerunning
02:46 - Contingency
03:35 - Qualifying
06:21 - Race
11:01 - Race Overview
12:18 - Awards
13:00 - Outro

Legends of Havasu… what a great event put on by Ultra4 USA.

Sherpa had an awesome time at Legends of Havasu for the Ultra4 Nationals. Despite only racing two events this year there was quite a bit of work to do on our Toyota 4Runner leading up to this race and we are glad we did it.

Following prep, we spent a few days in the desert prior to the event to fine-tune the truck and double check all of our work. Found some loose fittings, hardware and some small adjustments that needed to be made.

Pre-running when excellent and proved that the car was in good shape for the race. We got two clean runs in, one for notes and one applying the notes at a faster pace. After pre-running we knew qualifying position was going to be important. Passing would be difficult at times and dust was going to be a major factor during the race.

Qualifying rolled around and it was on a blind course. That was exciting to us and we pushed it hard. We drove the car to it’s limits and it handled it well, securing us a 2nd place starting position in class and a 22nd overall starting position out of 53 cars.

The race kicked off at 5 p.m. with the sunset in 45 minutes. Racing into the night was inevitable and exciting. We pushed hard the first lap and made the decision to drop the right line on the waterfall which paid off well. We cleaned our line and made quick work of the waterfall. We passed a lot of cars and fought a lot of dust this lap. Sadly, no passes in our class and did not see the class leader, so we kept pushing in hopes to make up time. The dust proved challenging but the exhilaration of racing at night was incredible. Coming into lap 2 we were in physical 8th position out of the 53 cars.

We kept our pace and had a solid finish and secured a second place finish in Havasu and bumped into the top 10 nationally at 10th place with 3 races this season.

A huge thanks to our team, sponsors, friends and family. A lot of time and effort went into prep to make this podium happen. Our parts held up incredible, no mechanicals, no flats, and it kept us focused on making good time on course.

Now, hammers prep.