MORE THAN 140 RACERS BRAVED THE HEAT, FIRES AND TOUGH TERRAIN TO TURN ADVERSITY INTO ADVENTURE AND TAMED THE BILEK SILVER STATE 300!

More than 140 cars, trucks, motorcycles and UTVs left the start line Saturday morning September 26th for a challenging day 100 miles northeast of Las Vegas, near Alamo, Nevada. There would be a minute and 9 seconds between the first and second finisher, plus a power pole down, a pile of fuel cans up in flames, and one new truck burned to the ground before day’s end. All in all, an adventurous day of racing with Best in the Desert!

Casey Folks, Director of Best in the Desert, said, “Best in the Desert racing is unlike any other form of motorsports. In oval track and closedcourse racing drivers can learn lap after lap what to expect and actually see their competition. Wheel travel on flat-track racing may be 2 or 3 inches at most, while our Trick Trucks now are experiencing wheel travel of 36” or more, at over 110 miles per hour. This is not the sport for the faint of heart. In our desert racing, every rock, every hill climb, every water crossing is different, so competitors have to learn to react to what’s thrown at them. The Bilek Silver State 300 was no exception. Our racers, their teams and the spectators that lined the course experienced one of the truly unique adventures of their lives.” The day started off cool at around 50 degrees, and ranged upwards near 100 by mid-day. The first motorcycle left the line at 6:15. Turns out it’s good to be first, as the first motorcycle to leave also finished first, with Shane Esposito riding David Pearson’s KTM taking the overall win in class Open Professional.

The first two cars and trucks to cross the line were a mere 70 seconds apart. Go ahead, count to seventy and ask yourself, like the second place finisher did, where on the course of almost 6 hours, could I have made that up? Taking first overall was Steve Raskett, in his Porter Class 1500. First on the road, but taking second on corrected time was Kevin Colan in his Class 1500, followed closely by the Team Ford Pole Award winner Chuck Hovey in his Jimco Class 1500. Fourth overall and first Trick Truck went to the Geiser-built Ford of Jesse Jones.

Talk about a challenging course. Casey did it again, with several miles being tight and twisting, and numerous very wet water crossings thrown in, 120 MPH gravel roads, and some scenic parts through the Ponderosa Pines as well. Not sure how many racers thought it was pretty, however, in fact, just ask Al Hogan. Not such a great day for Al and his team, as at about mile 147, something went awry and he ran into a power pole, knocking it down, catching his race truck on fire and knocking out the power for a while. He and his co-driver climbed out OK, but their truck would not make it to the finish in this race. Worst part was, it blocked the course, and it took a great coordinated effort by Best in the Desert officials, BLM rangers and fire personnel to get the fire out; re-route the course and get the racers on their way again. But there was more adversity to come for one brand new race car, as Jason Voss’ brand new Trick Truck, on its maiden run, found some transmission line problems, and it went up in flames. Good news is, he was OK.

The motorcycle racers had their own bonfire to reckon with. There was a special remote fueling pit for the bikes and quads, and as the second place motorcycle reached it, his bike caught on fire and set off all of the fill cans. Bedlam ensued as racers were trying to get their cans out of the fire. It ended well though, as Best in the Desert officials quickly doused the fire, and found some cans that weren’t melted! Folks went on to say, “IRC, the computer-based tracking company that helps us keep track of the safety and timing of our racers, was a tremendous asset in maintaining the integrity of our racer’s elapsed times after the power pole incident. Their team knew exactly how tohandle the timing of each racer that was held up during that time, and we never skipped a beat infinishing the race with perfect data.”

From a major manufacturer standpoint, it was a good day to be driving a Ford, as 7 of the 8 classes for trucks and SUVs were won by a Ford. Check out the top finishers below, all results are on line at bitd.com. Next stop for the carsand trucks is the Henderson Fabtech
Desert Classic. See you there!

MORE THAN 140 RACERS BRAVED THE HEAT, FIRES AND TOUGH TERRAIN TOTURN ADVERSITY INTO ADVENTURE AND TAMED THE BILEK SILVER STATE 300!The American Off-Road Racing Series … Best In The Desert!

Top Ten Finishers:
Overall Class
Position Position Class Vehicle
1 - Steve Raskett 1 1500 Porter
2 - Kevin Colan 2 1500 Bunderson
3 - Chuck Hovey 3 1500 Jimco
4 - Jesse Jones 1 1400 Ford
5 - Andy McMillin 2 1400 Ford
Overall Class
Position Position Class Vehicle
6 - Loren Brown 4 1500 Foddrill
7 - Mark Weyhrich 3 1400 Ford
8 - Mike Bilek 5 1500 HMS
9 - John Cooley 6 1500 Alumicraft
10 - Greg Nunley 4 1400 Ford