Last-minute decision making is something that most off-road racers have to be skilled at, but making a last minute call to race the #80 McMurrough Racing Unlimited Truck, was an easy decision for TJ to make. Coming fresh off their Silver State 300 win, the truck was ready to go for another round of racing.

The SNORE KC HiLites 250 took place this past Saturday night in Jean, NV. Running part of the Mint 400 course, this course made for a great desert race. With massive rocks, deep rolling whoops, and limited visibility due to dust and the race occurring at night, drivers were put to the test and over half of the entries were forced out.

The #80 Unlimited Truck was first off the line and the first to light up the 53mile course. A flawless first lap brought TJ and Stephanie back to the main pit in just 58 minutes where they would do a quick co-rider change and top off fuel. Just 5 miles into their second lap the #80 Unlimited Truck started to catch the slower classes. Patience was key to passing in the night, not wanting to go off course or hit any fellow racers, TJ picked his way through the field and laid down an even faster lap of 57minutes.

March 11, 2013 – Del & Stacie, Team Albright and AreaBFE announced today that Team Albright of Mokelumne Hill, California has signed on as an Official Landuse Ambassadors of the AreaBFE Off Road Park near Moab Utah. Team Albright will work closely with the group that established the park in 2004 to ensure the private land remains open to all, 365 days a year. In addition to helping promote AreaBFE’s world class venue year-round, Del & Stacie plan to be on site for the annual Easter Jeep Safari.

Del Albright said: “ We are committed to helping preserve the outdoor recreation activities offered at AreaBFE, and honored to join the ranks of off road organizations such as BFGoodrich Tires, Superchips, Full-Traction Suspension, MasterPull, Yukon Gear & Axle, KC Hilites, Epic Addictions, and Advance Adapters. Stacie added, “The great folks at AreaBFE support landuse and keeping all our trails open, and we plan to commit our time to helping them spread the landuse word.”

“We are honored that Del & Stacie, Team Albright have stepped up to support our efforts here at AreaBFE!” said Olaf Kilthau, Managing Member at AreaBFE. “We host numerous events throughout the year, catering to variety of outdoor activities, and having Del & Stacie on our team brings a unique credibility and knowledge to our operation.” Olaf went on to say, “We want our recreational park to serve as a national example of responsible and fun outdoor activities, where everyone is welcome to have some fun, yet also help us keep our outdoor sports alive, and our trails open. We support landuse and access wholeheartedly, and are thrilled to have Del & Stacie join our team.”

Serving in their Official Landuse Ambassador capacities, Del & Stacie will provide environmental conservation, education, and landuse advice and assistance to the park, and be available to help promote the outdoor activities available at AreaBFE. Team Albright will orchestrate and manage the staffing of the annual Landuse Team Booth at AreaBFE during Easter Jeep Safari.

AreaBFE is a 320 acre recreational park that facilitates many different outdoor activities. The park was developed by a group of guys who had a vision in 2004; “Create a place where people could go without the threat of being kicked-off of a fun little playground and insure that people will always have a place to recreate!” Since then, the AreaBFE staff and volunteers have been working to make trails, camping areas and many other fun destination points on the property. This project has reassured faith in the OHV community and the values these people hold close to their hearts. Learn more about AreaBFE at AreaBFE.com

More on Team Albright at http://www.delalbright.com.

Best In The Desert’s Parker “425” was the season opener for KC Dirt Tribe off-road racers. This year’s race featured record breaking entries in many classes and KC Dirt Tribe racers came into Parker fully prepared to take on not only the competition but also the challenging Arizona desert at this legendary event.

KC Dirt Tribe driver Rob MacCachren got the race weekend started off in the right direction when he recorded the fastest lap among the 67 qualifiers at the time trials to capture the “Team Ford” Pole award in his number 6 Ford Trick Truck. Unfortunately, on race day Rob suffered an engine failure on the first of three laps while he was battling Robby Gordon for the lead. That left Dirt Tribe driver Jason Voss to take up the charge for the top spot. Jason chased Robby Gordon all day and stayed within striking distance, only 30 seconds behind. At the finish line, Gordon was issued a time penalty for a rules infraction. As a result, Jason Voss was officially declared first overall and Trick Truck class victor.

Sanderson Ford and partners built a 2012 Ford Raptor for the Special Olympics Arizona that was unveiled at SEMA this year and will be auctioned off at the 2013 Scottsdale Barrett-Jackson (with 100% of the sale price going to the AZ Special Olympics). The theme to this truck will be a heritage kickback to the “Ford Rough Riders” with its Red/White/Blue paint scheme.

Foutz Motorsports has agreed to partner with Sanderson Ford to produce this state of the art Raptor Pre-Runner. All sponsored products will be donated to Special Olympics and a letter will come directly from them so that you can write it off as a charitable contribution.

When the dust settled after a long 2012 6-race Best In The Desert season, seven KC sponsored Dirt Tribe athletes sat at the top in their respective classes. No other lighting manufacturer even came close. Since 1970, when KC pretty much invented the off-road lighting industry, the top names in off-road racing have chosen KC HiLiTES to light their way to victory.

Leading the KC Dirt Tribe championship charge was the Trick Truck team of Steve Sourapas and Rob MacCachren in their Geiser Bros. built Ford truck. It was a tight battle that was finally settled at the Henderson “250” just south of Henderson, NV. Doing the driving duties at this race, Rob MacCachren started the weekend off right by winning the “Team Ford” Pole Award at the time trials. Starting in front, Rob fell briefly to second place on corrected time, but then reclaimed the lead to take first overall for the race and the Trick Truck Class Championship by a close 3 points margin of victory.

The Henderson “250” marked the end of a great season for the world’s largest off-road racing series, Best In The Desert. With many class championships still yet to be decided, 173 racers showed up to take on the challenging course just south of Henderson, Nevada.

The race was split up into three groups, with the first group of motorcycles, quads and UTV’s starting the day by going two laps on a 45-mile course. The THR Motorsports team of Robby Bell and David Pearson, with Pearson doing solo duties this weekend, took the overall and open pro motorcycle win. This also secured the season class championship for them. Nick Nelson and Keith Carlson captured the victory in pro quad class and Matt Parks claimed the Pro UTV class win.

Driver Jason Coleman and his Coleman Motorsports team won their second race in a row at the EXA 94.5 FM, SNORE 250 race in Primm, Nevada. The team was fresh off their victory at the SNORE, KC Hilites, Midnight Special in Lucerne Valley, Ca. where the team ran four, 73 mile desert laps to take the victory.

At the SNORE 250, the team switched to a short-course type setup to run the event’s seven, 8 mile laps on Saturday and again on Sunday to take the win.

“We had a fierce battle with Blaine Conrad all weekend,” said Jason Coleman about their race on Saturday, “We were both driving on the edge of control going up on two wheels in almost every corner. Either one of us could have crashed multiple times; you had to drive perfect. We won on Saturday by 25 seconds so we had some time in the bank when we started on Sunday.” The 1600 class has strict rules that keep the cars as close to equal as possible. It may not sound like a significant amount of time but the 25 seconds Jason carved out on Saturday gave him a huge advantage.

Best In The Desert Racing Association’s Silver State 300 was held Saturday May 5, 2012 near the small towns of Alamo and Caliente NV.  The 3rd race of the series was looking to be a show down in the desert for most classes and Class 7200 or the V6 Unlimited class was no exception.

Saturday morning’s start was about 10 miles outside of Alamo NV and the weather was clear and breezy. As the racer’s lined up, the team of Mongo Racing did their final checks on the KC HiLiTes General Tire TNC Ford truck numbered 7281. The first vehicle off the start line was at 9:30 am.

Randy Merritt, driving the KC HiLiTes General Tire TNC Ford truck, started the BITD Silver State 300 at 10:20 am and headed out into the harsh Nevada desert. This was Merritt’s second race in the new state of the art chassis designed by Tracy Rubio at TNC Machine and starting 4th out of 16 in class meant he would be in the heat of the battle at the start of the race.

Points leader Luke McMillin of San Diego, Calif., will head the field of competitors when the Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiasts travels to Southern California for the second race of the season April 13-15 with the annual running PCI Radios 300 in Ridgecrest.

The five-lap event will include 60-mile laps between Bakersfield and Barstow. Fifteen classes of vehicles will run in the event in SNORE’s fifth return to Ridgecrest.

McMillin rounded out a strong finish in the season-opener Feb.25-26 at the Battle at Primm driving a Class 1600 entry. He now leads the points with 797.

Currently trailing McMillin in the $20,000 SNORE Kartek points are Eric Muller, Class 9, with 730 points; Curt Geer, Class 1600, 729; Dave Cote, Stock Bug, 714; tie between Bryce Menzies, Unlimited Truck, and Shawn Mecham, Unlimited, 710; Richard Starkey, Class 10, 705; Brady Wisdom, Class 12, 693; Justin Smith, Class 1600, 685; and John Pellissier, Class 1800, 675.

The 2012 schedule also includes the Dusty Times 250 in Caliente June 8-10; the KC HiLites Midnight Special Sept.7-9 in Lucerne, Calif.; the SNORE 250 Oct. 26-28 in Pahrump; and the Rage at the River Dec. 7-9 in Laughlin.

Further information regarding SNORE can be found by visiting www.snoreracing.net.

Photo compliments of Jim Ober/Trackside photo

As the third annual NORRA Mexican 1000 gets set take the green flag for next month’s four-day run down the legendary Baja peninsula, event organizers and KC HiLites have announced a new partnership that will see the legendary light brand be the “Official Light” for the 2012 rally.

KC has been a pioneer in high quality off-road lighting since 1970 and its familiar yellow light cover has become one of the sport’s most iconic symbols.  Many of the vintage trucks, buggies and sedans that will compete in this year’s four-day, 1,100 mile competition will be counting on KC lights to help light the famous Baja darkness. KC HiLites products will also be utilized on several of the rally’s official pace trucks and support vehicles.

“KC HiLiTES is honored to be intimately involved with the NORRA Mexican 1000 for 2012,” explained company President Michael DeHaas. “This is an ideal relationship for KC, as it keeps us connected with our heritage and also with an event that’s completely unique and with huge potential for the future. Our involvement with motorsports has been critical to the process of designing, engineering and manufacturing the most advanced auxiliary lighting available. Thanks NORRA, for continuing the legacy of Baja off-road racing and adventure.”

“NORRA’s Mexican 1000 and KC HiLites is an ideal partnership for both parties,” explained founder Mike Pearlman. “Our motto is ‘Honoring the Past. Forging the Future.’ a philosophy we share with KC.”

About the Mexican 1000
Named the “Happiest Race on Earth,” the NORRA Mexican 1000 is a unique, once-a-year, four-day competitive rally through Baja that includes vintage off-road vehicles and motorcyles, as well as newer “evolution” classes. NORRA is expecting more than 100 entries for next month’s Mexican 1000, a field comprised of a wide array of vehicles and teams.

For more information, including driver bios and vehicle histories, please visit www.Mexican1000.com