2009 Searchlight Grand Prix Recap

| December 4, 2009 | 0 Comments

Six took the start line

This was the 12th year of the Searchlight Grand Prix Race. All the gate proceeds went to the Shop with a Cop Foundation.

Lacrecia from Rockstar Custom Motorsports gives us a Recap on the Race:
On race day myself and my great co-driver, Holly Thomas, lined up with six other side x sides. Of the seven entered, one of them had already DNF’d when his son had a pretty hard crash in the quad race and was unable to make it to the line. As the flag dropped we raced towards the first corner. I was “too nice” and three of them got underneath me. We charged on, flying through the jumps in the center of the track. It was a true Grand Prix. We crossed logs, tires, a culvert and a huge water crossing. We also went through a large shop and through a couple of back yards and back to the start/finish line. The turns were very tight and all the other guys were running RZR’s. Our Rhino didn’t turn quite as nicely. On the second lap a couple of the other guys

The Rockstar Custom Motorsports Team

were broke. We kept on with the #51 RZR’s dust in our sights. We finished last, but because of the 3 DNF’s we took home a 4th place. I always say you have to finish to win and we were quite happy with our finish.

Saturday Race 5

#1 Last Name First Name O/A TIME
1 1840 Blais Chris 0:40:29
2 1912 Cook Mike 0:43:00
3 51 Burrows Jered 0:43:21
4 1924 Beurrier Lacrrcia 0:44:31

1929 Furnell Jeff DNF
9 Thomas Brian DNF
11 Neumann Peter DNF

About the Searchlight Race:

In 1898 Searchlight Nevada was one of Southern Nevada’s richest gold mining towns. People flocked to this small desert town searching the hills for gold. That was over one hundred years ago. Today the rush is on to Searchlight not for its riches in gold but for its Annual Motorcycle race. Searchlight is a sleepy little town located about 50 Miles south of Las Vegas on Us 95. It is also the Gateway to Lake Mojave and Cotton wood Cove.

In 1988 Searchlight celebrated it 100th birthday. As part of the celebration local resident and Motorcycle and ATV racer Mitch Canepa had the idea of resurrecting the Searchlight Grand-Prix. Back in the mid 1970’s the Searchlight Grand-Prix was put on by a motorcycle club called the “Desert People”. Mitch had always heard stories of how fun the race was. There were other races in the Southern Nevada deserts but what really set this race apart was how the race course went right through town. Local residents Marge Sanquist (“Margie”) thought it would be fun to have the race go into an old abandoned mine shack. She had them go through the front door through another door inside the house and out the back door and into a big mud hole.

With the help of family and friends the race was held the same weekend as the centennial celebration. With only 89 participants that year and not quite being able to run thru town because of Parade and all that was going on that same week end the racers still had a fun time. In honor of the old house a couple of the local kids went out found some old wood and decided to build a false front building and make it look like the race went thru an actual house. The racers loved it and so did the spectators. The very next year there were more racers in one class than all the racers combined the previous year. And the participation keeps growing every year.
You can checkout the website at www.searchlightgrandprix.com