Qualifying was held yesterday for a new race on the Best in the Desert calendar, the first running of the Method Race Wheels Laughlin Desert Classic. This is the first of two new races on the BITD schedule for 2016.

Held on a two-mile desert course, off-road racers took to the sands to jockey for position for this weekend’s races. Top qualifier for the Trick Truck class was Josh Daniel in his 1000-horsepower twin-turbo truck with a time of 2 minutes, 22.104 seconds. The long straights on the qualifier course played right into the strengths of his heavy-horsepower truck.

Following Daniel was Mexico’s Apdaly Lopez, for driver of record Clyde Stacy, in the #5 Trick Truck with a time of 2:23.116, and rounding out the top three was Justin Lofton in the #41 truck with a time of 2:24.583. Rounding out the top five in Trick Truck qualifiers were Justin Smith and Jason Voss in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Top honors in the unlimited buggy class went to Harley Letner in his #1570 Alpha car affectionately known as the “TT Killer.” Letner’s time of 2:21.447 was actually the fastest of any of the vehicles during qualifying. Las Vegas’s Pat Dean posted a hot lap coming in second (2:23.060), while Sam Berri made his usual showing in the top three with a time of 2:23.223. Cody Parkhouse and Kevin Thompson round out the top five for the unlimited buggies.

Be sure to check back for a recap of this weekend’s race.

QUALIFYING RESULTS
Trick Truck
POS.      NAME, #   TIME
1. Josh Daniel (90) 00:02:22.104
2. Clyde Stacy (5) 00:02:23.116
3. Justin Lofton (41) 00:02:24.583
4. Tracy Graf (58) 00:02:24.738
5. Jason Voss (35) 00:02:24.934
6. Cameron Steele (16) 00:02:26.068
7. Justin Matney (4) 00:02:27.020
8. Steve Strobel (94) 00:02:28.344
9. Steve Olliges (27) 00:02:28.656
10. Eduardo Laguna (17) 00:02:29.069
 
Class 1500
POS.   NAME, #          TIME
1. Harley Letner (1570) 00:02:21.447
2. Pat Dean (1575) 00:02:23.060
3. Sam Berri (1549) 00:02:23.223
4. Cody Parkhouse (1501) 00:02:24.689
5. Kevin Thompson (1590) 00:02:27.839
6. Scott Bailey (1529) 00:02:32.640
7. Ladd Gilbert Sr. (1562) 00:02:33.211
8. Levi Rockhill (1566) 00:02:34.057
9. Brady Turner (1568) 00:02:36.731
10. Sam Baldi (1542) 00:02:38.244