Jackson Rancheria Offroad Racing Team Receives three Finishes at BITD THR Parker 250

Parker, AZ – The  Jackson Rancheria Offroad Racing Team had three entries at the BITD THR Parker 250 Desert race this weekend.  Robert Dalton was driving his #1939 RZR XP 1000 UTV, Dennis Jean was driving his #1949 RZR XP 900 4 UTV, and Eddie Reed drove his #1964 RZR 800 UTV.  All three cars spent two days prior to the race at Queen Racing in Lake Havasu, AZ getting dialed in and ready to tackle the desert. 

 The #1939 and #1949 were in the PRO UTV Class and drew starting positions #’s 3 and 15.  The #1964 was competing in the new 850 UTV Class with a starting position of #4.  All classes combined for a total of 33 UTVs.  76 motorcycles and quads took off from the start line before the UTV’s at 7:30 am.  The UTVs would run two 79 mile laps and had 8 hours in which to finish the race.

#1939 driver Robert Dalton and co-driver Doug Gonzales took off from the start line at 8:06am.  They did not get a mile when the broke a rear radius arm.  It took them about and hour to get it fixed and were back on the track at 9:15am.

#1949 driver Dennis Jean and co-driver Ricky Leard took off from the start line at 8:10am.  There first lap was was fairly uneventful except for a lot of dust, rocks, quads and motorcycles.  They picked their way through the elements as well as several competitors coming into the main pit in 5^th place in less than two hours. 

#1964 driver Eddie Reed and co-driver Shane Gonzales took off from the start line at 8:16 am.  This was Eddie’s very first race of any kind in a UTV and would prove that he and his co-driver could handle whatever was handed to them.

The #1949 was the first to reach the main pit after a less than a 2 hour first lap and was in 5^th place.  After a quick check of the car, top off fuel and co-driver change of Debbie Hudson for Ricky Leard they were off and running again.  All was running just fine and they were on a pace to finish the lap in 1 hour 45 minutes.  At the alternate pit, Mark Queen and his crack crew did a 30 second once over and the #1949 was back on the course, based upon the pit crews count the #1949 was now in 4^th place.  About 3 miles later the motor started to slow down and sputter and Dennis was convinced that the map sensor was having problems again.  They stopped a couple of times to check a few things but decided to keep going and go for valuable finishing points.  They did the last 40 miles of the race never going any faster than 30mph and arrived at the finish line at 1:07 pm, taking 8^th place.  Driver, Dennis Jean, said “My goal was to finish the race, and that’s what I did!”

The #1964 was next to reach the main pit.  During lap one they were able to battle their way the lead in the new 850 Pro UTV class.  At mile 74 of lap one they fell prey to the desert when a rear a arm bolt broke forcing them to give up the lead while waiting for parts to repair the bolt.  Lap 2 was fairly uneventful until the #1964 crossed the finish line and apparently had broken the front hub.  Having trouble the last mile driving forward and knowing that the goal was to finish the race at all costs, driver Eddie Reed decided to do the last mile in reverse showing up at the finish line backwards taking 3^rd place for his class.

The #1939 had some teething issues with their suspension and clutch.   Twice on lap one they had radius arm issues losing almost 2 hours.  Then on lap 2 just before the alternate pit they fell prey to a shredded clutch belt.  With all of the issues the #1939 was able to battle and finish in 6 hours 51 minutes while finishing 12^th.  Both Robert Dalton and Doug Gonzales looked tired when they arrived but were excited to have finished the race.

The team would like to extend a very special thanks to Queen Racing, Mark Queen and all of the guys he brought with him to work at both pits.  They did a great job and it is really appreciated!  Of course the rest of our team who worked in the pits also deserve a round of applause as we all know without our support crews we wouldn’t be racing.

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