PARKER 250

Story by Mark Kariya / CycleNews Magazine Editorial contributions by Best In The Desert

Justin Morgan romped to a runaway win solo in Parker after taking the top spot in qualifying as well. Photo by Mark Kariya

Motorcycles Kick Start the 2022 Season at the Shock Therapy Parker 250 Presented by BlueWater Resort Hotel & Casino

Morgan Powers To Solo Parker 250 Win

As a long-distance specialist, Justin Morgan doesn’t race that many events a year. When he does, though, he usually does very well. For example, though he’s never raced Best in the Desert’s (BITD) American Off -road Racing Series kickoff —the Shock Therapy Parker 250, Presented by BlueWater Resort Hotel & Casino in Parker, Arizona, January 8—he qualifi ed fastest and followed that with a runaway win at the revamped event, becoming the latest overall BITD winner to tackle the entire race by himself. In fact, runner-up Jeremy Newton and third-place Joe Wasson also soloed. In a departure from the norm, Parker featured some new additions to the normal dirt roads and sand washes, making for a signifi cantly longer loop of 125 miles run clockwise twice instead of the usual 80-mile loop done three times counterclockwise.

With partner Jeff Trulove unable to get time off from his new job, Jeremy Newton did a good job in claiming second overall despite a high-speed crash late in the race. Photo by Mark Kariya

Being new to this race, however, none of it mattered to the Slam Life Racing (SLR) Honda rider and his Monster Energy/Skechers/Fly racing-sponsored CRF450X. Having earned the fi rst starting position, he was out front from the green fl ag and only ran into dust when he began lapping people. “I was actually just trying to ride smooth,” he explained at the fi nish along Shea Road. “I didn’t want to make any mistakes on the fi rst lap and just wanted to have fun.” And, of course, winning is always fun. (Incidentally, San Diego Powerhouse owner Bobby Youngs who built Morgan’s bike jumped in and raced Parker with Mike Fermoile, the two winning Over 30 Expert and placing 12th overall on

Youngs’ CRF450L that Morgan rode at the Sonora Rally last year.) He continued, “It’s not very close to my house [in El Cajon, California] mileage-wise, but it’s almost like a local race, terrain-wise. I always wanted to do this race.” Morgan completed it in three hours, 55 minutes and 46.9 seconds, unoffi cially. For Newton and partner Jeff Trulove, last year’s BITD vice-champs, a new job prevented Trulove from participating so Newton also pulled solo duty, handling it well on their DT Racing / 3 Bros. / FMF KTM 450 SX-F. Third off the line after qualifying, Newton had only defending champs Hayden Hintz/ Trevor Hunter and Morgan ahead of him. However, the Hintz/Hunter duo miscalculated the fuel mileage from their Costa Rica Unlimited/1-800-DENT-DOC/Kenda KTM 450 SX-F and ran out around mile 65. Newton gladly took over second place at that point and pinned it as he tried to close the gap on Morgan while enjoying the revised course. “Even me, living here—I’ve raced this 13, 14 times—that was like a whole new course for me,” he said. “I have absolutely no complaints [except] I wish I wouldn’t have

Luke Reynolds (pictured) and Dave Broderick topped the Open Expert division and fi nished fi fth overall. Photo by Mark Kariya

Yes, Team Mom’s Kimberly Loppnow (pictured) and Krista Conway were the only Women Expert team and won the class by default, but they fi nished 14th overall and fi fth Experts. Photo by Mark Kariya crashed. I was 10 seconds behind Justin for the overall; he started two minutes ahead [of me] so I knew I just needed to ride smooth and [not crash].” But overshooting one turn resulted in a back-jarring crash about halfway through lap two, causing him to accept fi nishing second in 3:57:54.5. For LiquiMoly Beta’s Wasson, the day was somewhat frustrating after mis-adjusting the suspension on his FMF/Kenda/Fly Racing 480 RR. “I went the wrong way with it and it just kind of beat me up today. I struggled most of the day in the chop and rough stuff so it was kind of frustrating,” he admitted after fi nishing in 4:06:01.6. “You live, you learn.” The Skaggs Racing duo of Jarett Megla and Cory Skaggs did well in their fi rst big outing aboard their new TAS Insurance/JCR Speed Shop/Fast House Honda CRF450X, fi nishing fourth overall in 4:14:34.5. About six minutes behind was the fi rst Expert team— Open Expert winners David Broderick and Luke Reynolds

Jarrett Curley took the Ironman Pro win and fi nished sixth overall. Photo by Dirt Nation

on their Desert Ready Mix/AEO Powersports/Flo Motorsports Husqvarna FX 450 in 4:20:49.3. Team 51Fifty Hondamounted Jarrett Curley got his Ironman Pro title defense off to a great start, winning the class and fi nishing sixth overall ahead of class runner-up Zach Myers on his Myers Family Racing KTM. Hintz/Hunter lost about 30 minutes due to their unplanned gas stop and fi nished eighth overall, fi fth Open Pro, followed by Open Expert runners-up Travis Dillon/Robert Glines/ Jeff rey Row. Over 30 Pro winner Chris Brown/Jesse Canepa rounded out the top 10 overall, unoffi cially.

Breyland Hellebrand and Blake Hellebrand took the 399 Pro victory. Photo by Dirt Nation

Robert Youngs and Mike Fermoile took home the Over 30 Expert win fi nishing 12th overall. Photo by Dirt Nation

Chris Brown soloed to the Over 30 Pro Motorcycle victory. Photo by Dirt Nation

17 year old Ryder Patridge powered over the challenging terrain to take the Iroman Expert win. Photo by Dirt Nation

2022 marked the 51st year of Parker, Arizona hosting the best in desert racing. Photo by Casey Tierney

Joe Kidd took the Iroman Amateur win. Photo by Dirt Nation

14 year olds Ethan Drake and Bryant O’Flaherty grabbed the Lites Expert victory. Photo by Dirt Nation Other Motorcycle Class winners of note include Chris Brown who won the O-30 Pro Class and tenth place overall; Robert Youngs and Mike Fermoile taking the O-30 Exp Class and twelfth place overall; and Ryder Patridge winning the Ironman Expert Class and fi fteenth overall. Breland and Blake Hellebrand, Caden Carlin, and Drew Davis won the 399 Pro Class and sixteenth overall, Joe Kidd took the Ironman Am, Tyler Calia and Nick Reynolds

Kyle Standage pulled off the Quad Ironman Expert win. Photo by Dirt Nation

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were top of the podium in the Open Am and twentieth overall, and Ethan Drake and Bryant O’Flaherty fi nished fi rst for Lites Ex and twenty-third overall. In the Quad Classes, Zachary Hayward and Ismeal Hernandez took the Quad Exp Class fi nishing twenty-second overall, while Kyle Standage won the Quad Ironman Exp Class, twenty-seventh overall. It was a start to the 2022 season for Best In The Desert’s Motorcycle and Quad classes.

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Phil Blurton Wins Shock Therapy Parker 250 Going Backwards

By Mike Ingalsbee Best In The Desert had a special treat for competitors at the season opening Shock Therapy Parker 250 presented by BlueWater Resort & Casino in Parker, Arizona. To mix things up, they were running the course in the opposite direction. Usually that would mean it would be super rough, but it turned out to be amazingly fast instead. Braking bumps are known to get rounded on one side, and vertical on the opposite. When you run backwards on a burned in course, the bumps will have a square edge to them which is torture on your suspension. It’s like hitting a curb instead of a speed bump. It was still rough and rocky, but it wasn’t as bad as feared. The deep sand on the back side of the course was packed down instead of being loose which also made a big diff erence in the top speeds possible.

Phil Blurton set a punishing pace only having to stop for fuel on his way to the overall victory. Photo by Brandon Bunch

VP’s new Trophy Truck fuel provides more power and better detonation protection for endurance-style racing. Formulated for off-road desert racing, Trophy Truck is exceptionally stable under high operating temperatures.

During qualifying on Thursday, Cayden MacCachren took the top spot driving Seth Quintero’s RedBull car. Seth was in Saudi Arabia at the Dakar Rally where he set a record for most stage wins. Second place qualifi er behind Cayden was Bruce Binnquist followed by Phil Blurton who was third fastest. It’s a huge advantage to start up front in clean air as we would see on race day. Anytime Blurton starts up front he tends to run away with it, so the qualifying results had many racers feeling the pressure. Friday morning was contingency for the Youth UTV classes that would race later in the day. They were racing a full schedule from noon to 5:45 pm. Classes for the young racers included 170 Production, 170 Modifi ed, 250 Modifi ed, 570 Production, 570 Modifi ed, 1000 Production, and 800 Modifi ed. It wasn’t that long ago when Seth Quintero was racing in the youth classes and look at him now; dominating in a UTV on the world stage. The Pro UTV classes would not have to be in the staging lanes until 12:15 pm on

Filling in for Seth Quintero, Cayden MacCachren won the pole and was fi rst off the line for Saturday’s start. Photo by Daniel Schenkelberg Photography

THE NEXT GENERATION OF RACERS

UTV Youth Classes winners included:

Landen De Sousa Dias who won the Youth 1000/RS1 Class; Evan Atkins who took the 570 Mod Class; Chase Mankin earning the 570 Production Stock Class; Declan Shields who won the Trophy Unlimited Class; Landon Morrow taking the 250 Production Mod Class; Mason Cotter winning the 170 Super Stock; Cash Martinez earning the 170 Pure Stock 9-13 Class; and Tanner Thompson earning the 170 Pure Stock 5-8 Class.

Landen De Sousa Dias - 1000/RS1 Photo by Dirt Nation

Chase Mankin - 570 Prod Stock Photo by Activate Photography

Declan Shields - Trophy Unlimited Photo by Activate Photography Landon Morrow - 250 Prod Mod Photo by Dirt Nation

Shock Therapy’s Justin Smith was running a strong second in Pro Turbo until he encountered a cow on course. Photo by Brandon Bunch

Saturday. The anticipation was running high as everyone was beginning a new year with a clean slate. It was make or break time, and unfortunately some would break. Right from the start the pace went right to 110%. The pack up front contained a group of fast, experienced racers; Phil Blurton, Cayden MacCachren, Mitch Guthrie, Justin Smith, Mike Deley, and PJ Jones. Blurton soon took the lead and put a gap on the rest of the fi eld. Watching the tracker, his lead was over 5 miles on the rest of the fi eld. Blurton out front in clean air and no traffi c was bad news to the rest of the fi eld. Hoping for him to break, or make a mistake is usually a losing strategy. Cayden MacCachren was showing his speed, but became the fi rst to suff er problems. His exhaust came apart and melted some wiring in the engine bay. He made it about halfway through lap one. Then Mitch Guthrie came to a stop in the wash alongside Shea Road. Bad luck for both, but nothing compared to the fate of Justin Smith. He was running 90 miles per hour in second place when a cow darted in front of him leaving no time for anything before contact. The collision sent them tumbling through the desert. Luckily he and Brother Jason his co-driver were ok. “We were sitting in second place on time and thinking of a steak dinner

when it presented itself to us,” he posted of the crash. “We lost a belt on the fi rst lap trying to stay with Phil. We didn’t have power steering on lap 2 so that slowed us a little. We thought we were fi nally able to get a strong fi nish. The crash doesn’t break us, we are more determined now than ever. We are in it for the long haul. We will probably save the car, and put a new front and rear end on it. The cage held up well. After the crash we found the parts from our AGM jack so we duct taped it together and used it to get us off our side, and back onto the wheels. We were in a remote part of the course so our crew could not get to us. We were going to drive it out when Best In The Desert course workers showed up to tow us. We had three cameras going; it was the fi rst thing my video guy Josh did. He put the video together and posted it while we were still in the desert.” While others struggled, Blurton was out front setting a punishing pace. “It was an awesome day of racing,” said Phil. “Our Can Am was fl ying. The track was by far the fastest we have ever raced. It feels great to start this season off with a win.” Phil and

Vito Ranuio hung on to take second overall. Photo by Brandon Bunch

Mike Deley drove hard and consistent to take the Pro Trophy Unlimited UTV Class win as well as third overall. Photo by Dirt Nation

co-driver Beau Judge only stopped for fuel all day, but had to make a third stop because they were using so much fuel running wide open all day. Second overall was Vito Ranuio. He lost a belt that wrapped around his clutch cover, but co-driver Mike Whitaker made a quick change. The three or four minutes of down time made a diff erence. Mike Deley fi nished third overall, and took the Pro Trophy Unlimited class win. “That was the fastest race I’ve ever done,” said Mike. “It was a smooth race; we tried to save the car as much as possible. We had a lot of bad luck last year; I think we have it fi gured out now. I liked starting up front in a bunch of fast cars. DirtVenture 37

We qualifi ed mellow because we didn’t want to hurt the car. We could go faster if we could manage the belt temps better. Our crew is really small so we only had one pit, and didn’t know where we were running all day. We were right behind Justin when he hit the cow. It was blocking the course. They gave us the thumbs up so we kept racing.” The racers out front all day may have taken the spotlight, but third place in the Turbo class, and fourth place overall Dustin Jones was fl ying through the dust, and traffi c. He blew a turbo hose off during qualifying that killed his top end speed, and dropped him all the way back to 69th place. With the high speeds up front, and all the dust he

Dustin Jones fought back from starting 69th to claim third in the Pro Turbo Class and fourth overall. Photo by Brandon Bunch

had to eat, his podium fi nish was downright amazing. “We could tell by the looks on the faces of the other teams when we pulled into the pits after lap one that nobody expected us to be there,” said Jones. “We blew a pipe off the turbo intercooler during qualifying so we had to watch everyone go around us.” During the race he and his co-driver Dustin Henderson would get the chance to return the favor. “It was very stressful in the dust,” Jones continued. “I just had to trust Dustin’s calls on what was ahead. He makes the call, and I can picture what’s coming in my head. We would hit push to pass, and lay on the horn. We’ve won Parker twice so I know the area well. We decided we were either going to go DirtVenture 39

for the win, or tear the car up. It’s the fi rst race; you have to do good if you want any chance at taking the championship.” Also on the podium were Jim Beaver, and Dan Fisher; second and third in the Pro Trophy Unlimited class behind Deley. Just off the podium in the turbo class but a front-runner during the race was veteran PJ Jones. Jones has raced all kinds of cars on dirt and pavement. “We popped a belt which cost us 6 or 7 minutes.” PJ said. “We were running out of gas at the end. We need to fi nd some more top end. We were running 91, but I think Blurton was over 100. It was a fast course; a lot of fun. We

First time winner Michael Sandoval, drove his Honda to the Naturally Aspirated UTV Class victory. Photo by Dirt Nation

Hometown favorite Jim Beaver grabbed second place in the Pro Trophy Unlimited UTV class . Photo by Brandon Bunch

Mitchell Alsup took the class win in Pro Super Stock. Photo by Dirt Nation

had no fl ats on our Tensor tires.” First time winner in the Naturally Aspirated UTV class was Mikey Sandoval. With backing from Racecousa, Yokohama, Vision Wheels, and others, the 21 year old shows a lot of promise. He works at Racecousa with Jamie Campbell learning fabrication, and is coming off a championship in District 38 racing. “We qualifi ed fi fth. My goal was to stay smooth and make no mistakes,” said Sandoval. “It was fast, and we had a perfect day. I’m very happy with my Honda. It’s mostly stock. We want to prove what a good platform it is. I want to thank Raceco for the opportunity to drive their car. Our goal is to go for the championship.” The fi rst race of the year usually sets the tone for the season. Phil Blurton now has an ever bigger target on his back if that’s even possible. The competition is even more determined to beat him. Dustin Jones is always in the mix, but his performance in Parker sent shock waves throughout the fi eld. Jim Beaver is establishing consistency that the others need to take seriously, and Mike Deley’s victory proves he’s a contender. I the Shock Therapy 250 in Parker is any indicator, it looks like a great season of Best in the Desert UTV racing is on the way.