As vehicles available to play off road changes through the years, race series are evolving as well. The trend to highly-customize personal UTV's, such as the two-seater Yamaha Rhino and Polaris Ranger, is exploding and it was only a matter a time - a very short time apparently - before those drivers wanted to race their toys too. BITD, SCORE, WPSA and WORCS responded in 2006 with UTV classes, either as a recognized division or on a one-time exhibition. BITD has had great success with the class, growing from one vehicle in the Parker 250 in January. Most all have been Yamaha Rhinos, but this race did bring out one highly-modified Polaris Ranger in the Sportsman division.

Highlights of Friday's contingency activities included the OLN television crew doing pre-race interviews. With their own race, that means great exposure for riders that often find themselves taking a backseat to the truck classes or a couple more-familiar motorcycle names. Coverage of the AVI 150 is expected to air in about 30 days - you can check out OLN or BITD websites for the exact scheduled date and time.

Also interesting was the team that unloaded a pair of snowmobiles - well, they used to be. Deviant Racing converted a Yamaha Phazer and a SkiDoo to SandMobiles, by removing the front skis and installing full-on quad suspension. The idea is to give snowmobile racers something to train on in the summer that didn't totally take away the snowmobile feel and handling. The teams from the Durango Colorado area were getting quite the attention and admitted that while they hadn't race-tested either unit, they did have over 1,200 hours of testing over the summer and were confident they would finish well.

A BITD event is not complete without Casey's mandatory Friday night Driver's Meeting to scare the crap out of new riders. It's a reality check about the seriousness of what's ahead, but BITD is known for it's well-marked courses, detailed race and pit maps, and coordinated on-course safety crews. There may be 12 "High Speed Extreme Dangers" in the race, but there's no excuse other than rider inattention for falling victim to them. In a race where there were 33 Amateur riders, the Friday night rider's meeting did make many nervous and ready to pay extra attention. Which is exactly the point.

Casey also reviewed the land use guidelines for the weekend, since the race would be crossing several areas with sensitive wildlife and vegetation issues. There would be limited speed areas, no passing zones, and BLM and Wildlife Biologists would be on-course to make sure all rules were strictly adhered to. Environmental concerns continue to be a fact of open course off road racing, and it's not going away any time soon. Both sides are learning to work together.

With no trucks to chase them, the quads had the rare leisure of a 9:00 am start time on Saturday. Usually they are staged early and face riding into sunrise, amoung dozens of motorcycles as well. This time, the only dust would be their own. Small consolation if you drew number 50 off the line, but the first few dozen should have appreciated it. Riders did have to pay attention to the faster riders passing them, but at least it wasn't a 100 mph Trick Truck.

The order was Quad Pros starting 30 seconds apart, then the start split went down to 15 seconds for Experts, Amateurs, Ironman Experts, Ironman Amateur, UTV Pro, then finally UTV Amateur. Four 38-mile laps to the finish - any fewer, and you're a DNF. Time limit was 6 hours on course, and while the winners did it in about 3 hours 45 minutes, some teams did need it all.

Q58 was in a big hurry to get off the line, and gave the crowd a good show. (Click on any image to see a larger version of the picture.)

First time through the scoring chute it was the Q4 of Shaun Moore and Nic Granlund, right at 55 minutes. Within ten minutes the first ten riders came through reasonably close together, then the first Experts who were beginning to make their way up through the Pros. The Pros kept mixing it up, with Q3 of Greg Stuart and Ed Teixeira coming through first after two laps with Q2 of Wayne Matlock and Chad Prull only three minutes back. Q4 was now no where to be seen, and logged a DNF for the day. At the start of the final lap the leaders continued to shuffle, and Q9 of Danny Prather and Michael Cafro were first through. Lap times were getting quicker, as the Pros had sorted through most of the UTVs and slower riders, and were gettting slightly more spread out and comfortable with the course.

There was a great battle early on between Q52 Cory Hove and Rick Cecco, Q48 Glenn Brchan, Reuben Wilson and Shiloh Strunk, and Q58 of Gregory Price, Kevin Canepa and Mitch Canepa. Cecco gets the award for the farthest distance traveled, coming from Shanokin PA. Yes, that name is familiar. Think GNCC...

First to physically roll across the BITD Mesa was Q9. While their on-course time was unknown at the time, they were shortly named the winners. Michael Cafro brought it in to the finish, admitting, "We needed this one!" He had lots of people to thank, including some unknown individual that gave them a much-needed cam shim just the night before to get the bike even running. Danny Prather gave kudos to Casey and the BITD staff, for what he deemed the "perfect course."

The Temecula Motorsports team of Mike Cafro and Danny Prather bringing home the win.

Q17 hit the mesa third but the official stopwatch gave them second place based on actual race time. Riders David Scott from Belen NM and Jeremy Sanchez from Los Lunas agreed with Prather. "It was an awesome course. It was fast, and still had some technical."

Third place Pro went to Q14 of Levi Marana and Brandon Brown. They were 4th to cross the line so didn't initially know how they finished, but both were happy with the effort. Brown came from Oregon and generally runs WORCS races, in fact, this was only his second race in the desert, and said "This is great stuff." Levi gave a special nod to Alan at CT Racing for making their successful run possible.

Q3 of Greg Stuart finished 5th for the day, riding without his usual partner who suffered a broken arm just two weeks ago. He recruited desert-experienced Ed Teixeira and said while Teixeira stalled the bike once, it wasn't bad for the first time aboard.

Disappointed with his finish was Wayne Matlock on Q2. They had been running as high as second place on the Alba Honda, but got it stuck in 1st gear and ended up running out of gas. Other than that though, he enjoyed the race. "It was great not having to deal with the motorcycles."

First place Quad Expert went to Q48. Glen Reuben said "It was a great fast course. We had no problems all day." They must not have, as they put that Yamaha up in 7th place overall, in the midst of the Pros.

The Northwest Exterminating Q48 team finished in just 4 hrs and 1 minute.

The next three overall were Expert quads as well, and included Q51 of Nicholas Charlon, Colby Begin and Craig Baker, the all-teen team of Q83 Cody Mitchell, Jesse Canepa, Collins Webster; and Q49 of Justin Stephenson and Warren Parton. Charlon said the mid-pack start was a disadvantage, "We were always in the dust. We did have one get-off."

The fastest Ironman Expert almost cracked the top 10 overall, with #615 Pete Garcia coming in 11th at 4:08:20. That's solo riding a BITD course for over four hours, and makes him the top finishing Suzuki of the event. Pete had a tight race with #612 of Justin Waters all day. After a crash on lap three and muscling it around with a bent steering stem, Waters saw Garcia coming into the pit and thought crew chief dad wasn't intending to fuel him, so he took off to stay in front. Turns out they needed that splash. Waters ran out of gas just a couple miles from the finish and Garcia blasted by for the win. Big thanks out to Q62 of Thomas Reck for throwing a strap to Waters and bringing him in, allowing Waters to note a 2nd place Ironman Expert finish for his efforts. With his crewchief sick in the trailer, he appreciated not having to go out later and get Justin!

Ironman Pete Garcia still smiling after completing all 152 miles solo.

First place Quad Amateur honors went out to #Q81 of Rick Ellsworth and teammate Todd. It was a solid win, with second place roughly five minutes back.

It wasn't so much the Amateur number on this rider that threw us off, but who was that Matlock with a long ponytail?!

But who is that in second? How about none other than Wayne Matlock's wife Kristen, and teammate Eric Siraton. Looks like she got tired of Wayne having all the fun? She rode a pretty dang good race herself, turning a time of 4:23:06, 2nd place Amateur and 17th overall. Not too shabby.

First place Ironman Amateur cracked the top 20, which is a great feat. #637 of Jayson Hansen of Washington UT hit the course on his own and completed it cleanly with a time of 4:27:43, 19th place overall. He probably never knew it, but second place Ben Erwin wasn't far back, fnishing just four minutes later.

The UTVs were full of excitement of their own, but in many cases, as it has been with most of the races this year, it was about survival. On the first lap, there were snapped axles and overheating radiators. By lap two, it was more of both, plus several flats. After only one lap, #1925's young team of James, Mike & Cody Carter had passed four others in their class and was making their way steadily through the quads as well. Not far back was the #1901 of Cory, Jeannette & Darren Sappington and Michael Moreno, in the bright yellow DesertToyz Rhino. Immediately after them was the #1915 of Travis Peterson and Brian Wood. These three would stay within minutes of each other throughout the five and a half hour epic. Final shuffles of the clock left them standing #1925 in first, #1915 in second and #1901 in third, 39th, 40th & 43rd overall.

And how did the sandmobiles do?

The oddest view of the snowmobiles with the sand kits was when they were coming straight at you. You'd swear the back end was just gone. The rider must have lost his seat and rear suspension components - which he kinda had.

The Q76 two-stroke SkiDoo ridden by Kurt Waldo, Greg Elliott and George Marsh finished four laps in 5:38:54, placing as 15th Quad Amateur and 48th overall. The Q75 four-stroke Yamaha ridden by George Marsh, Colton Marty, Greg Elliott suffered a broken wire to the all-important cooling fan, overheated and blew the motor. However, they proved that propulsion and steering weren't a problem, so the idea is certainly viable. Watch for further development of the kit by Deviant Racing. Who knows where you may see them next?

Final Quad Count - 64 entries, 18 DNFs
Final UTV Count - 16 entries, 9 DNFs

Next up, and last on the BITD schedule for 2006, is the Terrible's Henderson 300 December 1-3.

15-year-old Christy McGuffin takes the Q90 out for a final lap, taking over from 16-year old Keely Ylinen-Woolsey. The only all-girl-team, this California pair is giggle-powered off the track but it's all business on race day. They finished 12th in the Amateur class.

-ptw