I went for a wild ride at WORCS round 3. My team and I headed out on the 7 hour journey to Peoria, AZ on Saturday morning. We made it to Canyon Motocross just in time to get my car through tech, and we made sure we had everything ready to go for my race the next day. I was able to watch the pro race on Saturday afternoon and get a feel for the track. I felt ready to go for Sunday’s race.
On Sunday, we got to the track early, fueled my car, and checked the tire pressure. After a final once over on my car, it was time to head to the line. I got to the line early and picked my spot. There were 23 cars in my class and I was lined up in row 1. We got ready as the flagger waved his hand down the row. Then, the green flag flew and we took off! I had a good start and was just a little ahead of the other cars in my row. As we made our way to the first turn, my rear tire was clipped by one of my competitor’s front tires, and then the worst happened. The back of my car lifted into the air and I couldn’t correct it. It sent my car flying and then I started to roll. The first turn heads us down a hill, so my car tumbled six times down the hill and finally stopped. I was ok. I landed on my driver’s side and my dad along with many spectators ran to help flip my car back over. Once they got me up on all fours, I had told them I was ok so they let me take off. I continued on, but was only able to make it a short distance before I realized that my car had been badly damaged in the crash. I had to pull off the course and could not continue racing.
This was my first roll-over crash in my career. I have done a lot of racing and I feel lucky that this was the first (and hopefully last) time this has happened. I am so grateful to all of the companies that made the safety equipment that kept me safe that day.
We have torn down my car and we are very busy getting it put back together so we can head to the UTV World Championship in just two weeks. It’s one of my favorite races of the year and I am looking forward to it! Thanks so much to all of these amazing companies and people that support my program: Addict Racing Engines, Demon Powersports, Method Race Wheels, GBC Motorsports, Benchmark Performance, Crow Enterprizes, Energy Coil Racing, Factory UTV, Ace Motorsports, Baja Designs, Gates G-Force, PRP Seats, Rugged Radios, Maxima Racing Oils, Bikeman Performance, Grounded 4, Tireblocks, Crown Performance Products, Surface Sun Systems, HOK9, Corona Print Shop, Pavement Recycling Systems, Perrault Motorsports, Dirt Rider Designs, UTV Underground, and my parents who make this possible for me! Thanks to WORCS for putting on this series and Harlen Foley and his Dirt Nation Magazine crew for the sequence of pictures. You can check out the Sims188 Racing team on Instagram @csims188 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/csims188/.