Demonstrating that they never give in and will not settle for just a finish, the team overcame the odds to get a respectable eighth place finish at one of the toughest races of the Ultra4 Season.
Team driver for BNMotorsports, Australian Ben Napier, and Co-Driver Wayne Israelsen travelled to Reno, Nevada , for the Ultra4 Stampede last weekend with high hopes after an extensive preparation and a great test session prior to leaving Southern California. With a reputation as being as tough, or some say tougher, than King of the Hammers, the Stampede demanded respect and the team bought their A game.
Arriving two days prior to the race the team set out pre running on Thursday morning and disaster struck. Not more than three miles into the pre run the race car destroyed a bearing deep in the engine. Dejected and disappointed the Ben and Wayne accepted a tow back to the pits and loaded up but they did not accept defeat. Sourcing a replacement engine the team worked well into the night conducting a full engine swap. Tired and running short on time the team showed up for qualifying with an unknown engine running out of tune. Still they managed to qualify for a 25th place start.
With no pre-running on a difficult course, following 24 other fast cars on a dust filled hot day, and an unknown, underpowered engine in the Bomber the team had their work cut out for them on race day. After running hard for 25 miles amongst the blinding dust it became evident that there was something wrong with the new engine dying under power. Stopping several times and tearing the buggy apart looking for the cause. After rewiring fuel pumps, changing and removing switches, the problem was finally isolated to a loose ignition wire, a cost of the rush to get the new engine in the night previous. Finally solving the problem 55 miles into the first lap the we were able to charge on and make up some lost ground. Showing their rock crawling skills and the strength of the Bomber the Ben passed several other competitors in the Giant’s Throne Canyon. Putting down a flawless second lap the team further battled up the order as the field thinned as others succumbed to the tough course.
Fighting all the way to the finish of the 130 mile course the team came in a very respectable 8th place at one of the most hard core races of the season. We now wait to see how this finish effects our previous second place in the Ultra4 Series Championship. Whilst this race tested the entire team and their equipment to the maximum, and considerable challenges and setbacks were faced, the team was very happy with how they managed these issues and were able to finish.
For the team at BNMotorsports there was no giving in, and the parts on the car were the same. The team pushing hard amongst boulder strewn trails in their Bomber race car finished on their original four BFGoodrich KRT Tires, Raceline Monster Beadlocks, and further tested their awesome King Internal By Pass Coilovers, which are all performing flawlessly. Thanks as always to Bomber Fabrication, our dedicated pit crew and an extra special thanks to Wayne Israelsen for all his help preparing the buggy and doing the engine swap.
The next race for the team is the Ultra4 Grand Prix at Glen Helen, CA, October 20, 2011. BNMotorsports is already qualified for the upcoming King of the Hammers race in February 2012. Ben Napier will be co-driving at the King of the Rim in November in Australia.
For sponsorship or marketing inquiries please contact Ben on +1 949 379 4246 or ben@bnmotorsports.net
Here are some pictures from our tuning day. I'm trying to get some race photos
