During the riders' meeting the night before, an announcement was made that may make many riders want to go out and purchase a Honda. Honda will be paying out contingency money to the top five riders in each class that are Honda mounted. It's great seeing such a huge company step up and support this growing sport.

The Parker track was laid out great this year. There were lots of whoops, miles of rocky terrain, sand washes, and some high speed power line roads. These conditions made it much more technical for the riders, because they never knew what would be around the next corner. However, BITD does an amazing job marking the course. Every mile is marked so you know how far you have gone and how close you are to the next pit. Also all of the major course hazards were marked clearly. There was even a sign that said “Danger - Rocks next five miles”. With seventy five mile loops, you could imagine how tired the riders were going to be when they were finally able to switch riders.

Best in the Desert races start with lineup determined by draw. The pros start one minute apart from each other, and the rest of the classes begin thirty seconds after each other. This makes it much safer for the teams, so they are not all bunched up together.

The Pro Class - The team winning the Pro class in just over five hours was Wayne Matlock out of El Cajon California, and Chad Prull out of Phoenix Arizona, running the team number plate of Q2. Their sponsors included: American Honda, Alba, Precision Concepts, IMS-Roll, Maxxis, Douglas, Elka, Tire-Balls, Honda, Pro Oils, and Moose.

They took the win by just four minutes over Q3, Greg Stewart and Nick Nelson out of California

Mike Cafro and Danny Prather took home the third place position on Q9, with a time of 5 hours and 13 minutes. Their sponsors were: Temecula Motorsports, Maxxis, IMS-Roll, Elka, Douglas, Hinson, Galfer, CT, Works conn, VP, AC, Universal, Torco, MSR, and Utopia. In a rather impressive show of skill, determination and luck, all of the riders in the Pro class managed to finish.

The Amateur Class - Q83 grabbed the win for the amateur class. Aboard this quad was Cody Mitchell, James Karcher, and Collins Webster. They took the win with about a ten minute lead over the other teams in their class. The second place team consisted of just two riders, Rick and Todd Ellsworth, with a total time of 6 hours and 4 minutes. Q95 took home the last podium position with a total time of 6 hours and 9 minutes. The racers on board this Yamaha where Barry Bennet and Brain Mello.

The toughest class of the day would definitely be the riders in the new Quad Ironman class, split into Expert and Amateur Divisions. They cut this class down to just two laps. Hoping for a true "Ironman" test, most of the riders were not very happy with this and were going to try to let them run the entire mileage at the next round.

IronMan Amateur- Andy Ripberger took home first place in his class with an overall time of 4 hours and 10 minutes. Ripberger, on a Suzuki, was sponsored by: Danny, RIP Trucking, and Steve Agrenado. Coming in second was John Nelson out of Parker Arizona. And third place was Joshua Gory with a total time of 4 hours and 32 minutes.

The next Best in the Desert event for quads will be the Terrible's Town 250 held April 28-30. We hope to see everyone back out there and ready for another long and enduring race.

-bb