Team Competitive finished in 5th place out of 17 cars in class-10 this weekend at the Best in the Desert Silver State 300 in Nevada.  Starting just north of Alamo, Nevada The grueling 300 mile timed race travels from the desert floor up to mountain peaks through some of the toughest off road terrain in all of Nevada.Class 10 Car Photo

It was the first ever race in class 10 for driver/owner Greg Parker and the first in nearly 3-years for car builder John Cooley.  Navigating the newly built Alumi Craft car for both drivers was veteran co-driver Greg Atherton.  Cooley piloted the car for the first 148 miles.  Starting 7th he drove methodically through the desert terrain turning the car over to Parker near the halfway mark.

Parker officially began his first ever race in class 10 at Mile 148.  In addition to driving a new car, in a new class, on a course he’d never pre-ran, Parker also contended with heavy dust causing low visibility.  Parker kept up a fast pace against many of the long time veterans of the class.  His portion of the race consisted of very technical mountain terrain.  Nearly the entire race Parker was challenged by close competition often racing wheel to wheel.  Never losing focus he maintained position crossing the finish line with a top five.  Overall all classes the team finished 44th out of 131 vehicles.

“I’m very pleased with the top five finish our first time out,” said Greg Parker, owner of Competitive Metals a leading supplier of metal products to the off road industry. “The fact that we didn’t win though, means we have some work to do.  We learned where some of our strong points are and some areas we need to improve.  It was a ton of fun though and we had a great team effort.  I’m really looking forward to the next race.”

Silver State Class 10 Car PhotoIt was a pre-run of what’s to come for Team Competitive.  They will go back to the shop and review their notes and begin preparation for the next race.  Where will that next race be?  It’s not yet decided.  But the next Best in the Desert series race is Vegas to Reno taking place August 16-18.