ARGUBRIGHT TOPS PARKER 250
O
ff-Road Support/TBT Racing
Kawasaki privateer Jacob
Argubright topped one of the
largest fields in event history
to run away with the GMV UTV
Winter Nationals Parker 250,
Presented by Polaris RZR, round
one of Best in the Desert's (BITD)
American Off-road Racing Se-
ries, January 14-15.
Completing all three laps of the
78-mile course by himself in four
hours, 13 minutes and 32 sec-
onds, he defeated all multi-rider
teams to start the season aboard
his Golden Tyre/Maxima/Fly
Racing-backed KX450.
"I started on the first row—there
were two of us [the other rider
being eventual third-place Open
Pro Wyatt Brittner] and I battled
with him going into the sand
wash around mile five and I got
out front.
"I thought I saw N2 [the Danny
Cooper team that claimed sec-
ond] right behind me at the alter-
nate pit and I just tried to pick it
up from there. I was worried the
whole time!"
Cooper's squad included Kyle
Tichenor, Troy Vanscourt and
Justin Wallis, and they finished in
4:25:15 aboard their Cooper Mo-
torsports 747/Monarch Honda/
Fly Racing CRF450R. Over 30
Pro winners Reece Honea and
Carl Maassberg completed the
three laps in 4:30:19 for third
overall on their speedy C&J
Equipment/Reno Motorsports/
Acerbis Husqvarna FE 501 de-
spite a minor tire issue later.
Defending series champ Brody
Honea crashed hard on the first
lap and went to the hospital for a
severe arm laceration. That left
partner Tuffy Pearson to finish
the rest of the race on his own
after quite a bit of down time (he
had to go from the alternate pit at
Midway where he'd been waiting
back to the main pit), and they
finished a lap down for eighth in
class on their Chidester Trans-
port Racing/JS Buchanan Truck-
ing/Kenda YZ450FX.
However, that was probably
better than the Richard Gray/
Brad Millikan/Deegan Newton/
Jeremy Newton entry who unof-
IN
THE
WIND
P38
The winner of
the 2017 Parker
250, Jacob
Argubright
repeated that
performance this
year, soloing to
victory.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
MARK
KARIYA