Anyone who follows Dirt
Toys Magazine knows we don't cover much off-road racing, regardless of what
kind it is. However, we did watch the Parker 250 in Arizona this past weekend. The Parker 250
was the first race of 2012 for the Best In The Desert Racing Association.
No cake walk here for the dirt bikes, sport quads and UTVs
as this 80-mile course wound through the desert south and east of Parker, AZ.
The course included just about every kind of desert terrain and conditions
you'd expect: a section of pipe line service road, old mining and 4WD trails
and wash bottoms. Riders and drivers had to encounter everything from slippery
pea gravel to sharp cornered boulders and loose sand to powered clay that, in
certain conditions, created dust clouds dense enough to choke a lizard and blind
the competitors, making passing the slower competition very difficult. The dust
factor also obscured equipment breaking obstacles along the course, including
huge whoops, tire shredding cactus and Greasewood along with dangerously steep
embankments and gully washouts.
There is attrition of entries every year that confirms the
severity of the challenges to man and machine while racing through this desert
on this very demanding course.
In the UTV class, the team of Bobby Raber and Michael Taylor
were the overall winners in the Yamaha side-by-side, finishing the 250 miles in
3:51:11. The first place team in the Pro class, while finishing second overall,
was Matt Parks and Jason Spiess in their Polaris. Sixth overall but first in
the Sportsman class was the Polaris duo of Lacrecia Beurrier and Corina Fallon.
Find the rest of results here: http://www.bitd.com/2012-race-results.html
