Sports

One of the world’s hottest and certainly one of the hardest running races happens in Death Valley National Park and is known as the AdventureCORPS Badwater Ultramarathon. Temperatures in Death Valley regularly in July exceed 120 degrees. This year it was absent from the Death Valley for the first time in 27 years due to a safety review, which according to the National Park Service should be winding down soon.

Plaques of appreciation and pins were presented to both Saitta Trudeau and D&J Electrical for their donations of $250 each to the 9-10- year-old Pahrump Valley Little League All-Star team last week.

The Sam Stringer Memorial was a huge success over the weekend with 56 cars turning out for the race. The $1,500 purse was given out in the IMCA Modified class, with 18 cars showing up. The winner was Kyle Heckman, a young racer from California. Randy Thornell took second, Jon Jensen was third, Jason Pike fourth and Tony Kinkade was fifth.

So biking is your thing and you can’t get enough of it and you want to shed some pounds. Then perhaps bike racing is something to take up. Tom Vehe is a local cyclist who wanted to share his passion for the sport.

Pahrump held its first national horseshoe tournament of 2014 on July 12, which was called the Saddle West Open. Horseshoers from all over the state came to Pahrump to try their luck.

Mike Whitman is an off-road desert motorcycle racer who has been racing for 45 years. He has won two Best in the Desert championships in 2008 and 2009. He races expert class, which is one step below professional and according to Whitman there are pro-riders, the experts and then novice riders.

Cable TV and satellite TV providers say sports channels have been the reason for higher rates in the past few years.

The General Tire Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno race is just around the corner, starting on August 14. It is the longest off-road race in the country. One family tells what it takes to be in off-road desert racing.

Desert racing has been popular in Nevada as early as the 1960s and a large part of desert off-road racing now comes from an organization called Best in the Desert Racing. This organization puts on six highly competitive off-road races during the year. They are: Paker 425, Bluewater Desert Challenge, Silver State 300, Vegas to Reno, Mint 400 and Henderson 250. For many, Best in the Desert Racing represents the highest competition in desert off-road racing. The PVT spoke with the owner of Best in the Desert, Casey Folks, by phone about what it would take to bring some desert racing back to Pahrump.

Players 96 girls soccer club 18 and under is coached by Joe Sladek and they won the 2014 U.S. Youth Soccer Region IV Championship tournament, which included 13 Western states. They will be at the nationals in Germantown, Maryland on July 22-27.