Jason Voss Wins the BITD Parker 425

A lot of strange things happen in the desert and as such for desert racing. The 45th year of off-road racing in Parker, Arizona, started off with a bang, with Dale Dondel taking the pole in qualifying followed by a cast of new blood beating out the “regular” suspects, but this would be short lived as most the top seed would be out by the end of lap one. Capitalizing on this were the heavy hitters of the Trick Truck ranks including Mark Weyhrich, Tavo Vildosola and Jason Voss.

For the majority of the race, Weyhrich held a commanding lead over Vildosola and Voss, stretching a gap to as much as six minutes physically until lapped traffic and mechanical difficulties slowed him up allowing the pair behind him to catch up.

“We were having a great run but unfortunately our truck handled very poorly in the rough stuff,” said Weyhrich at the finish. “That combined with a sticking throttle made for some intense moments out there. We gave it our best and these guys came to play hard, and they did a good job.” Mark ended third overall for the day.

The freight train of Tavo Vildosola and Jason Voss carried a lot of momentum, as they both tore a blistering pace over the 425 miles chasing Weyhrich for most of the day.

Check out BITD Parker 425 Photo Highlights

“We had a very good run today, and Jason (Voss) and I revisited some old battles we used to have back in the ProTruck days,” said Vildosola. “I had one mishap coming into the finish on lap one that cost us some time, and that’s probably what cost us the win at the end of the day. It feels great to be back racing in Best in The Desert again, and we’ll be here to race the whole series this year. We’ll be back to try and take the win at the Mint 400.”

Most of the day Voss was no more than 20 to 30 seconds behind Vildosola, and that was enough for Jason to take the win again for back-to-back wins here in Parker.

“I knew I just had to play it smart and stay with Tavo all day,” Voss said. “We knew he was going to run hard to catch Weyhrich but he had to beat us by at last a minute in the end. He ran down Mark and we just stayed on his tail and played it smart. We had a few run-ins with lapped traffic, a few guys in our class that we caught didn’t want to move over so we had to give ‘em a little help. In the end we got Tavo by just 10 seconds so it was close, but it doesn’t matter how much you win by, only that you get the win.

“We put the #1 on the truck even though some said it’s bad luck, but we did earn it and today we showed we intend to keep it. I can’t say enough about our team and sponsors and everything they do for us. The guys did an excellent job and gave me a great track to run; we appreciate everything they do.”

This was just a preview of what is to come for this year’s season in Best in the Desert. Next stop on the schedule is the infamous Mint 400 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Festivities start March 12th and run through March 16th. If you haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing the Mint you should definitely put it on the calendar, as it is most definitely one of those motorsports bucket list items you have to experience for yourself.

Check out BITD Parker 425 Photo Highlights