IN
THE
WIND
P44
HOWES HAULS AT PARKER 250
L
ake Powell Off-road Associa-
tion/Garrett Off-road Racing
Honda rider Skyler Howes took
advantage of drawing the first
start and led from start to finish
at the GMZ UTV Winter Nation-
als/Casey Folks Parker 250,
round one of Best in the Des-
ert's American Off-road Racing
Series, January 6. He complet-
ed three laps of the fast, rough
80-mile loop in Parker, Arizona
in four hours, 22 minutes and 51
seconds, with the Cooper Mo-
torsports 747/Monarch Honda
duo of Brody Honea and Tallon
Taylor second in 4:31:35 while
Stevens Off-road Racing's Zach
Myers/Taylor Stevens rounded
out the top three in 4:35:20.
"This is the first time I've ever
drawn first starting position so
that was a huge, huge reason
why I was able to pull out and
have such a healthy lead,"
Howes explained. "The dust
was insane today so being able
to start first was huge. Even if
you started second or anything,
the dust and the way the course
goes into the sun a lot of times,
starting first at this race—espe-
cially with how dry and dusty it's
been—that's a huge deal."
Howes continued, "I didn't
really know how anyone else
would ride so I rode 100 percent
[on the first lap]; I gave it my
all and when I came in off the
first [lap], they said I had about
an eight-minute lead. Off the
second [lap], they said I had
upwards of almost 15 minutes."
Ninth Open Pro off the line
in a class of 13, the Honea/
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
MARK
KARIYA
