Podium Promotions released the following race report from round seven of the 2020 WORCS season at Shorty’s Sports Park in Blythe, California.
Here is Casey Sims, in his own words, with photos by Harlen Foley:
My team and I headed out to Shorty’s Sports Park in Blythe, CA on Friday morning to race round 7 of the 2020 WORCS season. We arrived that afternoon in time to get checked in at registration and run the unclassified full-course practice. I took my production car out and ran a few laps. The course was rough with tight turns, but my car handled the track great! I was looking forward to racing on Saturday and Sunday!
I headed to the track early on Saturday morning to coach one of the RZR170 racers that I have been working with. After his race, I headed to tech with my Production 1000 car. I watched a few of the other races and when it was time, I headed to the line.
I lined up on row 1 of the SXS Production 1000 class and there were 21 cars in my class. When the green flag flew, we took off! I was P3 off of the line and charged hard right away to make a pass moving me into P2. I pushed in lap 1 chasing down the leader. During lap 2, I hit a rut in an area of the course that had rock walls on either side of me. The rut pitched me into the air. I landed on my roof and then my car bounced over finally landing on my wheels. I was facing backwards on the track and was in an extremely tight and blind area, so I knew I needed to get back on the course quickly.
P3 passed me right as I was pulling forward to back up and turn around. As I was backing up, another racer hit me from behind. I wasn’t sure if there was any damage to my car from the roll or the hit, but I got back on the course as quickly as possible. I figured I would know pretty fast if something was wrong with my car.
My car felt good as I got going again so I focused on chasing down P2. I had lost some time and a physical position. I raced as hard as I could to catch P2, but after 7 laps I couldn’t get it done. I crossed the finish line physically in third place, but finished the race in fourth place on corrected time.
We headed back to the track on Sunday morning to get ready for the SXS 1000 Stock class race in the afternoon. When we arrived, I ran my car through tech, checked the tire pressure, and fueled. I was ready to go!
When it was time, I went to staging and lined up on row one of my class. There were 26 cars in total and we were lined up 5 to a row. The flagger waived the one minute warning and I got ready to go. The flag flew 60 seconds later and we took off! I was P2 off of the line and focused in on chasing down the leader.
I knew the track well from running the day before, but it was really torn up after a day and a half of racing. The ruts were way bigger and I didn’t want to get stuck and flip like I did the day before. I raced as fast as I could over the jumps, through the turns, and on the straights. After seven laps, I was able to maintain position and crossed the finish line in 2nd place. I was happy to have put one of my Polaris RZR RS1’s on the box that weekend!
We’ve got the cars torn down and are gearing up for the final WORCS rounds of the season. We will be at Buffalo Bills in Primm, NV in November to race rounds eight and nine. I can’t wait to be back in the seat!
Thanks so much to all of these amazing companies and people that support my program: Benchmark Performance, Candle Motorsports, Method Race Wheels, GBC Motorsports, Crow Enterprizes, Elka Suspension, Super ATV, Roll Design, Energy Coil Racing, Factory UTV, Baja Designs, Gates G-Force, PRP Seats, Rugged Radios, Maxima Racing Oils, Bikeman Performance, Tireblocks, JAMAR Performance, Race Team Sites, Crown Performance Products, Got Sand Performance, Oceanside Driveline, HOK9, Vision Canopy, Perrault Motorsports, Dirt Rider Designs, and my parents who make this possible for me!
Thanks to WORCS for putting on the series and Harlen Foley for the amazing pictures!
For more information about Sims, visit www.sims188racing.com
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