BITD Bluewater: Robby Gordon, Rob MacCachren Win

Unlike other cities in the United States where kids dream of becoming professional football or basketball players, Parker, Arizona, is a place where youth daydream of becoming off-road racers. With a rich 40-year history in off-road racing, Parker, the hometown of legendary off-road racer Manny Esquerra, continues challenging the best drivers in the industry.

Bluewater Challenge Qualifying

It was apparent after Thursday’s qualifying who the dominant players in each class were, and this didn’t change throughout the weekend.  Robby Gordon, Rob MacCachren and BJ Baldwin rounded out the top spots in Class 1500 and Trick Truck.

Traditionally a very hot and dusty race, this year presented light breezes, cool temps and even a little rain, which made for a great weekend of racing while keeping spectators cool; dust was at a minimum for racers. Race two for both Saturday and Sunday showcased dominating performances by Mike Malloy and Rick Poole in their Class 1100 car consequently beating out the competition by over seven minutes.

The prevailing talk of the weekend after qualifying was all Robby Gordon.  Not only did he beat all the Trick Trucks in qualifying with a flat tire, he beat them all weekend!  Once again, the golden boy of off-road has what it takes to dominate in whatever he drives.

If you weren’t there for the battle in Trick Truck, then it was something you truly missed out on. Rob MacCachren and BJ Baldwin started side by side and put on an epic show while swapping positions inside outside, door to door for the first two miles on Sunday. Each knew that whomever ended up in front would get a chance to break away and win the race, and ultimately the weekend.

“It was something,” said MacCachren taking the Trick Truck win for the weekend. “I wish I could’ve watched it from the outside because it was intense from the inside of the truck. I knew I had to get away from him (BJ) and put him in my dust if I was going to win. I thought we were going to hit a couple of times, but we raced clean and luckily came out on top. We definitely had fun!”

Second place in Trick Truck was BJ Baldwin. “We did good with a win on day one, and when we came in to the pits it was apparent we had a problem with the truck,” said BJ after day two’s finish. “We did some work to the truck and got it fixed but I didn’t test it. I knew as soon as I left for the start today that I was down on power. We did get the jump on Rob (MacCachren) but I didn’t have enough juice to hold the lead, and I knew once he got in front of me I wouldn’t be able to catch him again. Being out front here is so important because of the dust. Then we threw a power steering belt and that put us back even more. But we’re happy with our spot for the weekend and now we’re going to focus on winning the Baja 1000.”

It was a great weekend of action-packed racing; for some it was a little too much action and not enough racing. But all in all, Best in the Desert did well and put on a great race for fans and racers alike. Next up for BITD is the Henderson 250 on November 30th through December 2nd.

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Bluewater Challenge Qualifying