2016 Vegas To Reno Q11 Kendall Racing race report
First, an update on Steven Parkerson: After seeing everyone at the race I realize we haven’t done a great job updating his status. His eye site is much improved; 1 eye is pretty good and the other is about 30% good. His short term memory and memory leading up to January isn’t good but his long term memory is great. Physically he can do just about everything. He has been living with his brother in Peoria for the past few months and going to some rehab. He is planning to move back to Salome on his own this week. We had him in the chase trucks helping out for Vegas to Reno. If you want more details message him on Facebook he is the king of texting and Facebook!
I teamed up with Steven’s “brother from another mother” Kyle Pethers for this race. Was I concerned that Kyle didn’t even own a quad anymore? Maybe, but I knew in years past he would show up outta nowhere and do good at the occasional local pro ATV races. We have been excited for this 2 day special event since it was announced last year. A few weeks before the race my family received a significant health diagnosis about my 2.5 year old son that will affect us for a lifetime so I was pretty sure this was going to be my last “big” race for quite a while and I was excited to do my best one last time.
We had the motor freshened up by Dirt Fiend Racing as usual. We got some of the new 8 ply desert tires from Goldspeed Racing Products and some of their beadlock wheels. We also ran tireballs again. During testing we realized we needed more gear since we were burying 5th way too easy. Fresh carrier bearings, swing arm bearings, and engine gaskets were procured from Moose Racing along with a set of fresh Spider Grips. Also shout out to IMS for warrantying my desert tank which had cracked. I am not sponsored by them but they had a bad batch of tanks a few years ago and they replaced mine for free! Local Chevron owner Stephen Austin gave us a discount on some VP110 for this race which is much appreciated.
Kyle’s chase truck had Steven and his brother Chad in it which was awesome since they are fun to be around. My truck had my dad and Shannon Gladem. Tech and contingency went fine and we stayed in the night in the cozy “Midway Motel” in Caliente.
As we pulled into the start area at 445am on race day there was a little line of trucks and Casey was talking to each which was odd. He told us that an aircraft had crashed near the course so the race plan had to change. All competitors would load up at Pit 1 and drive on the highway to Pit 2 where the race would be restarted in the order they arrived at Pit 1. The aircraft turned out to be a military helicopter, nobody was injured but with military crashes they seal off a 5 mile boundary and nobody is allowed near it.
Kyle left the start line in 3rd position trying to get around the dust maker 9000 Q4 machine aka the Polaris utility race quad from Don Higbe’s team. The Q2 team started the race first and came into Pit 1 in first leading by a few minutes. Then everyone else came in close behind Q4. It was Kyle on the Q11, then Q66. We refueled, loaded up and headed to Pit 2. We were on the highway in a line with the Q4 team and the Q66 team. We did not see the Q2 team; we assumed they were a few minutes ahead of us.
The race volunteers at Pit 2 had already told everyone not to work on your machine, if you need to work on it then you must first “restart the race” by taking the green flag, then come to the pit area to do repairs. This was totally fair since you shouldn’t be doing repairs “off the clock”. No problem, we didn’t need any repairs. I got on the quad and went to the start line expecting to be lined up in the order we had gotten to Pit 1 since they had given us a sticker with our overall position on it (ours was #33). But then the lady said, “Leave when the light turns green”. I was a little confused since the Q4 team wasn’t to the line yet but I wasn’t going to argue since I was happy to get ahead of the dust.
Halfway through this section there was an old asphalt road where you could really go fast since it was downhill. I was banging off the rev limiter in 5th when the Q66 team snuck past me making a good pass.
In the next section Kyle passed by the Q66 rider who was on the side of the track near a water crossing kick starting his quad. We rode hard and 2 pits later as I got on the quad I noticed the gas tank was loose. I tried not to lean into it too hard and we fixed it with zip ties at the next pit. We passed a few dirt bikes and we realized we were somehow ahead of Q2. We never saw them on the course so we were not sure what happened to them.
Kyle rode the final section into the day 1 finish where we sat for 20-30 minutes before Q66 showed up and then several minutes later Q2 arrived. We had a good day with only the one slow pit stop. After everyone had told us we would start day 2 in the order we finished day 1 we were feeling pretty good but not confident since the restart was a mess. Heres video of the day 1 interview on the podium. Fast forward to about 2:24. https://www.facebook.com/dirtlive2/videos/1105070269562596/
We headed to the hotel to do an entire race prep on the quad which was fun working with the team. The Bryce Menzies team were in a lot 50 feet from us doing their prep and they offered anything (without us asking) which was really nice of them. During the prep we noticed the fuel line was cracked at the top, this likely happened while the tank was loose and we were lucky the line didn’t break! Thankfully Joe Ramos had a spare fuel line for us.
I was starting day 2 and when I got to the line I noticed them separating all the quads out and I asked why since we had finished somewhere near the top 10 overall on Day 1. They said not to worry it was just to get things sorted. Then I saw the restart order and we were listed as #44!! I was confused but I just wanted to focus on the race ahead. I saw Q2 staged 20 spots ahead of us which would be great for them since they were with faster traffic and the morning dust is terrible. I was not sure how we “lost” 30 positions when we were only passed by 2 bikes all day on day 1 and finished so far ahead of the other quads.
The race started and the dust was terrible I couldn’t see anything for the first section and the few bikes I did pass were very slow. The quad was still running great and Kyle was riding hard. We were passing many bikes and having a great time. Nearing pit 11 I saw 2 bikes playing patty cake in the course and when they saw me they started moving fast and I knew they were going to try to get ahead of me so I pulled off the track to make a pass when I was launched into the air by a giant rock in a bush. I looked down and saw the ground where I should have been seeing a belly skidplate. Then in the slow sections I heard lots of awful noises which was the skidplate scraping the ground. I had also managed to get a right rear flat which was affecting the high speed handling to put it mildly.
At pit 11 the pit crew got to work, Shannon tried ripping the skidplate off but it didn’t budge. We also replaced the left rear tire and air filter. I tightened the chain since this was near the place last year where the chain had flown off.
I continued along scooping rocks and hoping I wasn’t going to put a hole in the radiator. I passed several dirt bikes in this rocky section and I was having fun. The next pit was a remote pit and my old racing partner Joe Ramos was running it. I knew he would have a sawzall or something since he carries and entire harbor freight store in his truck. I pulled in and they said they had a sawzall but “it would be a minute.” Since I was in race mode I had no time for a minute so I took off. It probably only would have taken 10 seconds to get the Sawzall but I wasn't thinking straight. Heres video of that pit.
Within the next mile I went through the big washout that had taken out Danny Prather last year. It’s still there and much better marked now. Then 15 miles later the quad was vibrating a lot again, I figured I had another flat. Even with the flat and insane vibrations (thanks to Fasst Company, the Flexx bars were absorbing some of it) I pushed hard like a crazy person. When I got to pit 13 and we pushed on both rear tires they felt fine and the 8 ply Goldspeed tires are very thick so we couldn’t feel the tireballs inside but we assumed we must have popped several balls which resulted in the crazy vibration. We threw on the spare, ratchet-strapped the skidplate and Kyle was off to take it home.
Kyle took on the final section on the tail of the same dirt bike for the next 80 miles. He said they were nearly the same speed and it was a fun battle and he made the pass close to the end. We ended up finishing 2nd in the Pro Quad class in 11 hours and 19 minutes and 18th position overall. I can’t figure out how we placed so well physically on day 1, then restarted in 44th on day 2 and passed our way up to 18th but still finished so far back. The Q2 of Cody Mitchell and David Scott finished 27 minutes ahead of us. They had a great race and beat us. We did have some good luck with the fuel hose not breaking and the radiator not getting ruined by the “ram rock” skidplate scoop.
It was a fun race but not nearly as challenging as a typical one day 550 mile race. The overnight prep made it much easier to finish in my opinion. Physically it was also much easier. I am also positive that the truck/buggy teams who invested way more money into the race are a lot more upset about the day 1 restart situation than I am. I know the BITD crew did the best they could and I was happy to be out in the desert doing what I love.
I've got some PEP PB1s and lsr arms for sale setup the same as the ones we raced on if anyone is in the market.
I always get a kick out of looking at the quad after the race. Here is a machine you were just trusting with your life, how does the damage look? Heres a brief synopsis:
• Crack in swing arm on linkage mount bracket
• Broken pivot bolt
• Radiator might have a small hole
• Skidplate held on with ratchet strap and broken in half.
• 5 pounds of silt stuck to everything and packed into the wheels
• A-arm bushings shot and full of slop
• Oil leaking from head weep hole
• Worn rear tires, the high speed stuff kills tires
• Engine still fires on first kick and pulls as hard as it did at the start
Huge thanks to the team and their families we can't do this without them. Thanks to Joe and Chris Cook for the pit help!
