TJ Flores Caps Off the First Half of the Best In The Desert Season with His First Overall Victory and a Fat Bonus Paycheck at the Silver State “300”

| May 31, 2013

Silver State 300 image 1The Canidae Tap It Silver State “300” marked the third race on Best In The Desert’s 2013 six-race schedule. TJ Flores took full advantage of the great race day conditions and the fast course as he drove to his first overall victory of the season along with his first win in his new McMurrough Racing Trick Truck.

At the Time Trials, Justin Lofton, in his class 1500 car, edged out the Trick Truck of Rob MacCachren by a scant three seconds to win the $1,000 “Team Ford Pole Award” and the first starting position. Lofton held the physical lead all day from start to finish with MacCachren giving chase not far behind. However, the rest of the open class buggies and Trick Trucks were fiercely charging up on them on corrected time. But it was TJ Flores making up the most time from his 16th starting spot. At the finish, it turned out that Flores had prevailed on elapsed time to take the win and knock Lofton down to second overall by a close one minute and twenty seconds. As the top racers crossed the finish line, they all had a common reaction on their day as they told Casey Folks that this had been one of the best courses they had ever raced on.

The top 10 car and truck finishers for the Canidae Tap It Silver State “300” were:
1 – TJ Flores (Trick Truck)
2 – Justin Lofton (Class 1500)
3 – Gary Weyhrich (Trick Truck)
4 – Shelby Reid (Class 1500)
5 – Garrick Freitas (Class 1500)
6 – Steve Strobel (Trick Truck)
7 – Jason Voss (Trick Truck)
8 – Damen Jefferies (Class 1500)
9 – Chuck Hovey (Class 1500)
10 – Shawn Croll (Trick Truck)

Silver State 300 image 2In the Motorcycle, Quad and UTV ranks, David Pearson and Robby Bell took the overall spot for Motorcycle classes aboard their Kawasaki. David Scott and Nick R Nelson received the Pro Quad victory. Scott Kiger and Mark Holz drove their Polaris RZR across the finish line for the UTV win.

Along with the race winner’s purse, TJ Flores also walked away with an additional $10,000 bonus in Trick Truck Challenge money. Also collecting Trick Truck Challenge bonus money for the Silver State “300” was Gary Weyhrich with $6,000 for second in class, Steve Strobel $4,000 for third and Jason Voss $2,000 for fourth. At the mid point in the season, $66,000 has already been paid out in Trick Truck Challenge bonus cash.

After three races, Ford holds the lead in Manufacturer’s Points for vehicle type and engines used in Classes 1000, 1100, 1200, Trick Truck, 1500, 6000, 6100, 7100, 7200, 8000 and 8100.

Here’s how the 2013 Manufacturer’s Points stack up so far this year:
Ford – 170
Chevrolet – 123
Volkswagen – 23
Toyota – 18
Honda – 9
Lexus – 6

Silver State 300 image 3Next up on the Best In The Desert calendar is the General Tire “Vegas to Reno”, the longest off-road race in the United States. Open to all Best In The Desert classes, this pinnacle of American off-road racing kicks off Wednesday, August 14, 2013 with the Time Trials. Contingency and tech inspection take place Thursday, August 15 at the Aliante Hotel in North Las Vegas. The race starts Friday morning, August 16, with the finish line open until Saturday morning just south of Reno, Nevada. The draw for starting positions will take place Wednesday, July 24. Casey Folks stated that they have already received commitments for “Vegas to Reno” from racers in South Africa, Australia, Canada and Mexico.

 


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Category: Event Recap, Offroad, Race Recap

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