UTV LEGENDS CHAMPIONSHIP

By Mike Ingalsbee

The Best In The Desert series Shock Therapy UTV Legends Championship race in Laughlin, Nevada is unique. It’s part short course, and part desert race. Both sections punish the competitors, and their equipment. The short course section becomes deeply rutted when the sand gets looser, and deeper every lap. When running in the grooves, the UTVs will drag their skid plates. If you pop out of the grooves, you’re in for a rough ride, and will lose critical time. Out in the desert, the rocks are dislodged from all the tires clawing at the dirt. Not only do the loose rocks cause the course to get rougher, but the holes they leave in the ground turn into even more ruts.

This year the length of the race for some classes was extended by an additional 2 laps. That doesn’t sound so bad, but the added wear and tear is substantial. Many of the experienced UTV racers know exactly how hard they can push it for 8 laps. Running 10 laps instead put everyone in unknown territory. They would need to find the necessary speed to beat the competition while also finishing in one piece. Another wild card would be the lack of wind on Saturday afternoon. The bikes had some relief in the morning, but the UTVs had to run in blinding dust.

Shirey Tops Motorcycles; Blurton, Blais, Row, Alsup Take UTV Classes

Drivers fight for position at the start of the Pro UTV Turbo Class. Photo by Dirt Nation

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Paxton Schendel took the stacked 1000/RS1 Class. Photo by Dirt Nation

Tanner Thompson fi rst in the 170 PS 5-8 age bracket. Photo by Dirt Nation

Mason Cutter fi rst Trophy Unlimited Mini Class. Photo by Dirt Nation

The fi rst to hit the dirt were the youth classes on Friday. These racers range from only 5 years old up to 17. Some of them have a decade of racing experience by the time they are old enough to drive on the streets. Many of the top pros today started racing in the youth UTV categories. They would get a chance to race on some of the same track used by the pros, and in front of the same fans. Spectating at this race is great as you can see most of the short course from the hills that surround the infi eld. After going through contingency on Friday morning, the kids raced that afternoon. There are several 170 cc classes separated by age, 250 classes, 570 classes, and even the 1000/ RS1 class that had 18 entries. It pays to remember the names of the winners because you might be hearing them for an awfully long time. Tanner Thompson, Cash Martinez, Nixon Nagel, Jacob Williamson, Mason Cotter, Evan Atkins, and Paxton Schendel all reached the DirtVenture 67

Dalton Shirey took the lead and never looked back to take the Open Pro and Overall for the motorcycles. Photo by Dirt Nation

top of the podium in their respective classes. Many other talented drivers landed on the podium, or fi nished in towards the top of the fi eld; they are all part of the future of the sport. The main event on Saturday would have the bike race in the morning, and then two UTV races. The bikes and quads had a relatively groomed infi eld, but the desert was as wild as ever. After a couple laps, the ruts on both sections of the course got pretty deep. As the laps went by, the overall leader emerged from the pack. Husqvarna rider Dalton Shirey was laying down some blistering laps. The top 3 bikes overall did 10 laps, nobody else fi nished more than 9. Shirey’s time was 02:49:42.919. He was the only rider to fi nish under 3 hours. Second place Hayden Hintz was about 15 minutes behind with third place Jeremy Newton/Jeff Trulove fi nishing another 2 minutes behind Hintz. Shirey said his race was smooth with no problems; as expected. Women’s Expert class winner Kimberly

Loppnow said that because of Shirey’s pace, she, and co-rider Krista Conway only got 8 laps in. “We had a smooth easy race even though the course was rough,” said Kimberly. “I rode two laps, then Krista would ride two; we did that for 8 laps. The infi eld was nice, but it got a lot rougher on the other side of the highway. The whoops in the proving grounds were really deep, and inconsistent. I found a good line through there when one of the riders from the A12 team went down in front of me. (They have 3 riders who are all 15 years old). I guess my inner Mom kicked in; I stopped to help him. I usually wouldn’t think to go that wide after the turn, but it was marked as race course and a lot smoother over there. There were some deep bumps on entry, but it fl attened out. You could get enough speed to double the last two whoops on the exit of the proving grounds. I didn’t mind the dust; dust is good. It means you are catching someone.” She and her co-rider were the only 2 racing in the women’s class so they concentrated on

Kimbery Loppnow (shown) and Krista Conway raced to the Women’s Expert win. Photo by Dirt Nation

Jarrett Curley took the Ironman Pro Class victory. Photo by Dirt Nation

fi nding new lines, and going faster every lap. UTV Sportsman, Super Stock, and Trophy Unlimited class UTVs lined up at 10:00 am for 10 laps of success or torture depending how their race went. Luckily there was a stiff breeze to blow the dust off the course, but it was blowing north to south. That meant the proving grounds, where the huge bumps were, would have the dust blowing directly down the course. The racers would have to negotiate the whoops in blinding dust. Parker 250 winner Mike DeLey would get the holeshot at the start, but spent time in the pits that dropped him back. Soon it was Dan Fisher from Lonestar Racing out front; followed by Chris Blais, Mitchell Alsup, Garrick Lastra,

Chris Blais had a tough battle on his hands but fought hard to fi nally take the win for UTV Trophy Unlimited. Photo by Dirt Nation

Brayden Baker, and MMA fi ghter Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone all dicing for position. Fisher would be the rabbit for most of the race. He built up a pretty substantial gap to second place having clean air up front. On lap 8, Blais took the lead followed by Nick Turner in second, and Brayden Baker physically third. They started in groups of four off the line so with corrected time it was anybody’s guess who was actually leading. Chris Blais took the win, Brayden Baker 2nd, and Jamie Campbell third. Campbell’s Honda team had short course ringer Elliot Watson and desert racer Trey Hernquist listed as drivers. Watson was driving, Hernquist was the navigator. Winning the UTV Super Stock class was

Eliott Watson drove the Jamie Campbell Honda to the fi nal podium spot for UTV Trophy Unlimited. Photo by Dirt Nation Brayden Baker took a close second in UTV Trophy Unlimited. Photo by Dirt Nation

Mitchell Alsup and his time of 03:25:37.494 beat Jamie Campbell’s so he was 3rd overall. His company, Alsup Racing Development, built his own car, and that of the winner Chris Blais. Chase Carr was second, and Conner Maxwell third. In the UTV Sportsman Class the fi nishing order was Eric Murphy with the win, Jason George second, and David Holley third. Out of the 49 UTVs in the race, only nine fi nished all 10 laps. Because it was a Grand Prix fi nish, once the leader crossed the fi nish line, nobody could go out for another lap. After the fi rst race, the UTV Pro NA, and Pro Turbo cars would have a crack at the track. Gone was the breeze that blew earlier; it was going to be a dusty one. Surrounded by tall mountains, the course is located down near the river; the lowest point around. The dust will blanket the ground when it’s calm. The drivers would also have to contend with the setting sun, and the onset of darkness; all while negotiating the deep ruts, and loose rocks kicked up by the previous races. The fi rst four racers off the line were Phil Blurton, Vito Ranuio, Andrew Garvey, and Dustin Jones. The sand was deep, and loose

Eric Murphy grabbed the UTV Sportsman Class victory. Photo by Dirt Nation

Mitchell Alsup took the UTV Super Stock class win beating all but two of the UTV Trophy Unlimited cars. Photo by Dirt Nation

Phil Blurton pushed hard all race to take the Pro Turbo Class victory making it his second straight win. Photo by Dirt Nation

so turn one was tricky. They all managed to get through the infi eld, and Phil Blurton was soon fi rst on the road during lap one. As each wave of UTVs left the line there were many nervous moments as they banged wheels and almost rolled. 15 year old Jacob Peter was not as lucky. He ended up on his side in turn one, and would spend the rest of the race trying to catch up. On the fi rst lap, there were several racers already sidelined with problems on course or ducking into the pits for adjustments. The pace was intense. Bruce Binnquist had a problem early on, but was absolutely fl ying the rest of the race. He was clearly the fastest going through the huge whoops in the proving grounds. While most pounded through the valleys, his speed allowed him to skim across the tops. “We got a fl at tire on lap 3 and decided to drive on it to the hot pits,” said Binnquist. “I wished we hadn’t. It damaged a radius rod that the crew had to change. We pulled in for the tire, a belt, and fuel. When I left, it didn’t feel right so I looped back;

that’s when they found the damaged rod. Otherwise we were very fast. I didn’t have to use the bumper all day, but got into another car in the infi eld when they came down on me in a turn. We were driving at the limit, but that’s a pace I’m comfortable at. We went from 18th to 8th, and then 6th. If we can keep the car together, we’ll be in the front. We are already fast for a self-sponsored team, and are looking for sponsors.” Just like he’s shown so many times, once Phil Blurton gets out front, it’s very diffi cult to chase him down. He builds bullet proof cars, and never makes a mistake. The script did not matter to Joe Terrana though. He was pushing hard, and putting immense pressure on Blurton. When Blurton got held up behind lapped traffi c, Terrana pounced, and took the lead. According to Beau Judge, Blurton’s codriver, they made the decision to let him go. Judge is an accomplished driver himself, and if those two decided the pace was too high, nobody could argue. As they accepted their fate, and were content on grabbing second place points towards the season long points championship, they passed Terrana who was pulled off the course with a fl at. They then went into math mode trying to fi gure out how much time they would need on him to take the win. They poured it on to the fi nish and took their second straight win. Terrana made quick repairs and fi nished second. “We were leading in the proving grounds when the car started hitting harder,” said Terrana. “We hit that ridge above the basin and it was getting squirrelly so I knew we had a fl at. It was strange because we didn’t hit anything. We stopped to change it because

Joe Terrana briefl y got in front of Blurton but ended up having to settle for second Pro Turbo. Photo by Dirt Nation

Chase De Sousa Dias took third Pro Turbo less than 50 seconds behind Terrana. Photo by Dirt Nation

Nick Carolan continued his dominance in the 6200 Class opening the season with another win. Photo by Dirtfocus.com

we knew Phil would pass us either way. We had stopped for fuel on lap 8 in the lead, and he got past us. He stopped on lap 9, and we took the lead back. The race was a blast. It was nerve-racking passing all those cars, but otherwise it was smooth sailing.” This is only Joe’s second year racing BITD. Chase De Sousa Dias was third. “We started towards the back, but after 3 laps we were up to 10th place,” said De Sousa Dias. “I race mostly short course events; I like picking guys off . The course got really rough. By lap nine I was anxious to get it over. You really had to fi nd the smooth lines. We ran new lines on almost every lap.” The top six Turbo cars all did 10 laps. The N/A Pro cars only managed to complete 9. Top three in that class were Josh Row, Max Eddy, and Cash Shaleen. The short course class winners on Sunday were Larry Heidler in UTV Prod Turbo SC, Lucas Johnson in UTV Prod 1000 SC, and Victoria Leaming in UTV Prod RS1 SC. The additional laps had a big impact on some of the races. There were serious lead changes up until the fi nal lap, and strategy really came into play. It was still an all-out sprint race, but a lot happened in those fi nal 34 miles. Best In The Desert increased the diffi culty, and the racers responded.

Josh Row went home with the Pro N/A Class win. Photo by Dirtfocus.com