Messer Survives Brutal SNORE General Tire Mint 400 to Take TROPHYLITE Victory
Heber, California • March 30, 2009 — In a race that could only be described as brutal, Gary Messer has prevailed to become the first TROPHYLITE winner at the historic SNORE General Tire Mint 400, Round Two of the 2009 General Tire TROPHYLITE Series. Throughout the day, the General Tires on the TROPHYLITEs held firm with minimal issues over the brutal rock strewn course. The course was laid out over some of the toughest terrain that Nevada has to offer, and once again the race lived up to its legendary reputation as one of the most challenging off-road races.
Thirteen TROPHYLITE vehicles took the green flag on what promised to be a long day no matter how trouble free it would be for teams. After drawing a starting position toward the back of the pack, #6084 Ryan Finchum roared out to the lead and passed every TROPHYLITE vehicle by the middle of the first lap before making his first scheduled pit stop. The #6000 of Louis Chamberland/Rick Johnson and #6011 of Vance Smith/Mikey Childress followed closely. Misfortune struck #6099 Mike Jenkins and #6069 Randy Blacker at race mile 3 as both were involved in a multi-vehicle pileup that would end Jenkins day. Blacker would retire before the end of the first lap with drivetrain problems. As the race pounded on, the silt became worse and managed to halt multiple teams’ progress including TROPHYLITE newcomer #6088 Eric Fiorino. Following the completion of the first lap, Smith/Childress took the lead and held a consistent pace throughout the middle portion of the race. However, it was not enough to hold off a hard charging #6017 Gary Messer, as Messer would overtake Smith on the last lap to claim victory after suffering a significant amount of downtime on the first lap.
TROPHYLITE President Matt Scaroni explained “In a race that saw an extremely high attrition rates among all classes, TROPHYLITE teams held strong and persevered through the toughest race in TROPHYLITE history. We are very proud of our teams and 2009 General Tire TROPHYLITE Series Sponsors General Tire, KC HiLiTES, KMC Wheels, Mastercraft Race Seats, and FOX Racing Shox”
The 2009 General Tire TROPHYLITE Series now heads to the Glen Helen Baja Cup Challenge June 27-28. Last year’s season finale held at Glen Helen was thrilling from the drop of the green flag to the checkered flag and this year’s event promises more of the same.
TROPHYLITE is an affordable spec racing concept focused on providing the average off-road enthusiast the chance to step from the sidelines into the driver’s seat of state of the art purpose built off road race trucks. TROPHYLITE offers not only a very affordable high performance spec race truck, but also the chance to compete in the 2009 General Tire TROPHYLITE Series where TROPHYLITE drivers will be able to race against other TROPHYLITE drivers for prize money and points towards a year end championship. Through TROPHYLITE and its generous supporters, there is no question that the next big thing in off-road has arrived. Get off the sidelines and turn your dreams into dust!
