RENO, NV     OCTOBER 18, 2011   The Torchmate Racing team of Mike Shaffer had high hopes for the Best in the Desert Blue Water Desert Challenge, more commonly known as the Parker 425.  One of the few lap races, the fastest to complete the two or three laps (depending on class) would be the winner.  “We really wanted to have a good race, but at race mile 40 we lost oil pressure and had to shut the car down,” said Mike Shaffer.  “The car didn’t like the 105 degree temperatures and the sand!”
            They started 16th and had already begun to move up 3 spots in the class when they realized they lost oil pressure.  During teardown at the shop the week after the race, they found the #4 piston broke!
            They are currently putting in a new engine and doing a full prep on the Class 4 car getting ready for the Baja 1000 November 18-19.  The Torchmate team will be first off the line in Class4.
Shaffer-Motorsports Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shaffer-Motorsports/100678130008180
Torchmate Racing Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/TorchmateRacing

About Torchmate: Torchmate, a Lincoln Electric company, is headquartered in Reno, NV and manufactures custom CNC plasma cutting tables and other automation solutions for manufacturers worldwide. For more than 30 years, whether with a plasma cutter, router, water jet, engraver, glue gun or other tools, Torchmate has provided more options, accessories and innovations than any other CNC cutting table manufacturer. For more information, call toll free at (866) 571-1066 or internationally at (775) 673-2200, or visit the Company’s website, www.torchmate.com.

More about Mike Shaffer:  Mike Shaffer is the owner of Shaffer’s Offroad that helps customers build the vehicle of their choice, from bolt on accessories to custom one off vehicles.  Shaffer has been racing for 27 years, starting with BMX and then age 16 in drag racing and his first desert race was fourteen years ago.  Shaffer was driver of record for 3 Baja 1000 wins, 3 SCORE Championships and one BITD Championship in Class 1700, along with rock crawling National Championship and ARCA Championship. 

More about Shawn Twitchell: Shawn Twitchell started desert racing motorcycles in 1972, went to drag racing in the 1980's, circle track in the 1990's and is now back in the desert driving with Shaffer Motorsports.  He has been a member of Shaffer Motorsports team since 2008 helping win three SCORE 1700 Championships. Twitchell is the Business Unit Manager for FMC Technologies’ Technisys Group and has been married for 30 years to Vickie.  Desert racing is in their family encompassing four generations including his son Ian, who will co-drive for Shawn. Two of seven grandkids are already earning their stripes in the pits and at the shop.

More about Daniel Aeberli: Daniel Aeberli is the CTO of Meditron, a Swiss medical distribution company that he co-founded 20 years ago in Switzerland.  He raced with the Shaffer Motorsport team in 2010 helping them win SCORE Primm in Class 1700.  Aeberli drove the first section of the 2010 SCORE Baja 1000 and is looking forward to coming back to the United States to race in BITD including Vegas to Reno and SCORE Baja 1000.  Active in many sports, he especially enjoys skiing and hangliding in Switzerland.