Concrete Motorsports Wins BITD Season-Opening Parker 425

In their first race with the number 1 plate after winning last year’s Best in the Desert points championship, Concrete Motorsports drivers Kevin Thompson and Harley Letner topped a field of 18 Trick Trucks in Saturday’s BlueWater Parker 425, the first of five rounds in the 2021 BITD season. Their winning time of 5:35:27.383 on three laps of the familiar Parker course beat Adam Householder by just over five minutes, while 2020 Class 6100 champion Kyle Jergensen kicked off his move up to the premier class with a third place finish.

18 Trick Trucks made the trip to Parker, including many of the top teams that competed in BITD’s season-ending BlueWater Desert Challenge also held in Parker. The running order represented a huge shakeup from last year’s Parker 425, as Thompson and Letner improved on last year’s 14^th place run, Householder avenged a DNF last winter, and Jergensen bettered Jonathan Brenthel’s ninth place performance with the same team last year.

With Jergensen not defending his 2020 Parker victory in Class 6100, Dustin Grabowski topped that division on Saturday, edging out Justin Blower for the class victory by just under a minute with Travis Williams completing the class podium. In Class 1500, defending series champion Michael Frye avenged a DNF in this race last year to start his title defense with a class win. But it was the lone Class 6200 entry of Nick Carolan and Conner McMullen that actually posted the fourth fastest time in Saturday’s unlimited race, splitting Jergensen and Grabowski in the top five.

The majority of classes competed on Friday in the race for the limited divisions, with Wheeler Morgan earning the class win with a more than 15 minute advantage over Andy Yurcho in the Class 1000 buggies. Bret Jeffers completed the class podium, while Cade Garcia and Troy Grabowski were separated by just under a minute for the Class 5000 win and final two spots in the overall top five.

Nearly 120 entries competed over the course of the weekend in all divisions, with 45 of the 74 Friday starters making it to the finish and 30 of Saturday’s 44 competitors doing the same.

The 2021 Best in the Desert season continues in Parker on February 18-21 with the Tensor Tire Parker 250, the first race of the season for motorcycles, quads, and UTVs, and brings the same groups back to Laughlin on March 25-28 for the All Terrain Concepts UTV Legends Championship. Car and truck classes finally rejoin the action on April 29-May 2 with the Jimco Racing Silver State 300, the first of two events of the season where all BITD divisions compete on the same weekend.