As the 2015 season begins, Best in the Desert returns to Arizona for the 40th running of the Parker 425. Year after year, Parker draws some of the biggest names in off-road and huge list of entries. Once again running in the reverse direction for the ninth year in a row, the 425 consists of three 141-mile laps filled with washes laden with hidden rocks, fast-graded roads, ridges, canyons, hacked-up jeep trails and whooped-out roads. Recent rains in the area had saturated the grounds leaving a hard-packed, traction-heavy surface just below the dry sands. A positive to this was it kept the notorious Parker dust down to a minimum, but the negative was it was excessively hard on drivetrains as race day wore on.

Having qualified first just two days before, Dale Dondel led the first lap with ease, with Robby Gordon, Rob MacCachren and Justin Lofton in hot pursuit. The hard-charging Gordon would quickly be out of the race at race mile 54 at Pit 2 having engine trouble on his #77 Speed Energy Trick Truck. Both Dondel and Lofton started to gap the rest the field into the second lap until each were plagued with gearbox problems that resulted in a DNF for both teams. MacCachren also suffered drivetrain problems but was able to continue on for a finish.

With the top qualifiers out of the running, Luke McMillin and 2014 BITD Champion Jason Voss would dice it out over the next lap and a half. Both would take turns leading the race until Voss lost a torque converter just as he started his third and final lap. Amazingly, Voss’s crew swapped out his transmission in under 30 minutes enabling Voss to finish 19th for the day.

It looked as if it was going to be McMillin’s day, but the team of Tim Herbst and Larry Roeseler in the #19, followed closely by the #98 of Gary Weyhrich, were quickly gaining ground on the young McMillin. Weyhrich would edge out McMillin in the end with just over 4 minutes in hand.

“That last half we just went all out,” said race winner Weyhrich at the finish. “This thing (truck) is thrashed, we hit everything hard. The brakes are gone, the driveline is bent and vibrating, the whole truck is making noises that it shouldn't but we’re here.

“We took the win, it’s awesome and that’s what counts,” Weyhrich continued. “This race is a special one for us; we’ve been coming here for years. We’ve been second place a bunch of times, so it’s nice to get the win. I really what to say thanks to my crew. They did an amazing job and gave me 40-second pit stops all day.”

McMillin took second place in his first time racing Parker in a Trick Truck. “I really have to hand it to Racer Engineering and my crew,” McMillin said at the finish. “You can drive this truck as hard as you want and it just takes it. The guys at the shop did an amazing job prepping this truck for the race. My co-rider Chris Olimon did an amazing job getting me around the course. It’s really a team effort, I really can’t thank them enough.”

Third overall and in Trick Truck was the team of Roeseler and Herbst. “We had a good run today, Larry did a wonderful job as usual,” Herbst said. “He gave me the truck in a great position to go for the win. We just pushed a little too hard there at the end and got a flat and that’s what cost us. Unfortunately we were just a little short today, but I want to thank everyone and all the guys for giving us a great run at it today.”

The battle for Class 1500 unlimited buggies was dominated buy a pair of Alpha Performance cars driven by Harley Letner and Eduardo Laguna. The two broke away from the rest of the field by a large margin on lap one but only one would continue without issue. In the end it was a dominating performance by Letner, who would take the top spot in Class 1500 and fourth place overall.

“We started about 13th or 14th overall and we were the 3rd buggy off the line,” Letner said. “By the end of lap one we were the first buggy on the road and mixing it up with the trucks. From there we just pulled it down and ran a pace to maintain the lead and not make a mistake. I kept picking off trucks that were either limping or pulled over. I didn’t really care about them; I just wanted to win my class. About 10 miles out the power steering broke and there was no way I was going to give it up so I just muscled it in.”

Following Letner in class 1500 was Brian Wilson and Cody Parkhouse, who would round out the top three in class.

Next stop on the BITD series is the ever-popular Mint 400. The Mint is already promising to be a exciting event with the majority of the top players in the sport committing, and event promoters have already said they will be moving the start/finish area closer to the Primm, Nevada, area for easier access for spectators. Be sure to check back here for more as the Mint draws closer.

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Dale Dondel Edges Out Robby Gordon for BITD Parker 425 Pole