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Category: Desert Racing

RPM Off-Road’s Apdaly Lopez Wins 2016 Finale at Best in the Desert’s Pahrump 250

Dougans Racers Take 7 of 9 Top Spots at the Finish Line

It was a storybook ending to the 2016 desert racing season for Dougans Racing Engines, whose athletes captured seven of the of the top nine spots at Best in the Desert’s Pahrump 250, including the overall win by RPM Off-Road’s #5 Apdaly Lopez. Lopez earned the top starting position after qualifying first at Thursday’s Time Trials and remained out front in the 242 mile sprint on race day. The win marks Dougans’ fifth 2016 win combined from Best in the Desert and SCORE-International, proving their drivers are the elite in the sport.

The Pahrump course was filled with all the terrain you would expect from a race in the badlands of Nevada and a strong wind on race day aided the racers behind Lopez with clean air. However Lopez, #35 Jason Voss and Dougans racer #41 Justin Lofton quickly separated themselves from the rest of the pack by RM 12. The order was the same through Pit 5 at RM 155, this time with Voss hot on Lopez’ heals. At the finish line, however, it was Apdaly finishing first just +00:00:38 ahead of second place, Jason Voss.

“I am so proud of all my team and crew who came to this race after the Baja 1000 with the same truck. New tires and an oil change was the only thing we did to the truck and to take the win is amazing,” said Lopez at the finish.

Lopez was aided by Dougans teammate Tracy Graf who gave him one of their tires at RM 155 to finish the race with a spare. Lopez says, “It couldn’t have been done without them and that helped us win. I’d like to give a special thanks to Graf Racing.”

#58 Tracy Graf stuck to his game plan heading in to the Pahrump 250 and secured a second place finish in the overall points standings for the 2016 BITD season. Graf got one flat at RM 22 that set him back a few minutes but other than that had no issues all day to take sixth place overall. “Thank you to all the team members of Graf Racing for a tremendous year and thank you to all of our sponsors and suppliers that helped us have a great 2016,” commented Graf.

#41 Justin Lofton fell back to finish fourth place overall after suffering a few flat tires. That’s all it takes in a 250 mile race but Lofton is already setting his sights on 2017, where he could potentially be the first racer in history to three-peat The Mint 400.

RPM Off-Road’s #4 Justin Matney took the final spot on the podium and finished +00:07:29 off Lopez’ winning pace. Matney climbed all the way from fourteenth position on the track after his qualifying run left him out of the top ten. Matney’s third place finish put a second RPM Off-Road truck on top the podium.

Jeff Geiser and Tony Smiley finished fifth overall in the second race in the brand new #2 Geiser-built Trick Truck. Geiser qualified sixth and finished +00:12:22 off Lopez’ winning pace.

#38 Eric Hustead and #55 Anthony Terzo of YouTheory Racing finished 8th and 9th, respectively, securing two more spots for Dougans Racing Engines in the Top 10 overall.

#95 Scott Whipple, #60 Cole Potts and #Ryan Poelman finished 13th, 14th and 16th in class, while #27 Steve Olliges finished 17th.

About Dougans Racing Engines
Dougans Racing Engines (www.dougansracing.com) specializes in high performance engines for the top off-road competitions including the Best In the Desert and SCORE racing series. With over thirty-five years in the industry, Dougans offers high quality engine packages for trophy trucks, Class 1 trucks, and prerunners. We build complete engine packages that have gained a reputation in the racing world as consistent, powerful, dependable winners. Along with our engine packages, we provide dyno testing and personal track support to ensure that our customer’s needs are met all the way to the finish line. At Dougans Racing, customer satisfaction is our top priority and we strive to keep you running hard and winning races mile after mile.

About Mad Media:

Mad Media (www.madmedia.com) is a San Diego based marketing and creative agency, with in-house film and television production. We craft authentic, culturally engaging brand messages, and deliver them across print, web, photography, and film platforms. Mad Media has been leading the online content revolution since 1995 producing major commercial, television, online content and viral film projects such as The Gymkhana Series and XP1K Series.

December 21, 2016
King Shocks’ Jason Voss Wins Best in the Desert’s Bluewater Desert Challenge

King Shocks Takes Overall Wins in Trick Truck, Class 1500 and Class 10

Jason Voss was the man to beat at this years Best in the Desert Bluewater Desert Challenge in Parker, AZ. Coming in to the weekend nine points ahead of King Shocks teammate Lalo Laguna, the win marks his first of 2016 and sends him well on his way to earning yet another Best in the Desert Overall Points Championship. (more…)

October 24, 2016
Dougans Racers Charge Best in the Desert’s Laughlin Desert Classic

RPM Off-Road’s Apdaly Lopez Wins Day 1 and Eduardo Laguna Earns a 3rd Place Overall Podium Finish

Desert racing returned to Laughlin, NV this past weekend with the inaugural Method Race Wheels Laughlin Desert Classic presented by Canidae Tap It. A two-day race, the Laughlin Desert Challenge was the first Best in the Desert race in recent years to separate the Trick Trucks into their own race separate of all other classes, allowing elite class to reach their full capabilities and terrorize the partially new 16 mile course that included the legendary Laughlin Leap and The Fly Over where race vehicles flew completely over Highway 162.

#5 Apdaly Lopez charged out of the gate to take the first day overall by +00:00:06 over Josh Daniel. On day 2, Lopez beat Daniel out of the infield and was leading out front for two laps before suffering a flat. At that point, there was only one speed for the Dougans powered #5 Trick Truck. The fearless Lopez hung everything on the line and completely soared the road crossing. “This is off-road and we don’t touch asphalt,” Lopez commented after the race. Unfortunately, in pushing the #5 to its limits, Lopez suffered a driveline failure that ended his day and hopes at the overall.

#17 Eduardo Laguna picked up the slack and earned Dougans a 3rd place overall finish on the podium. Laguna started in 10th place on day one and moved all the way to fourth on the road by the start of lap two. Soon after, Laguna lost an oil belt, forcing him to stop and repair the issue. On day two, Laguna averaged 60.6 mph and finished +00:00:43 off on the day and finished 3rd overall to secure Dougans Racing Engines yet another podium finish on the 2016 race season.

Of the 28 racers to start the race, only 8 made it to the finish line. After laying down a solid qualifying run, #184 Nick Vanderwey cruised to a 6th place overall finish. Vanderwey landed in 11th place overall after the first day of racing and finished +00:18:07 off the winning pace at the end of day two.

Justin “Bean” Smith and Tracy Graf shared driving duties in the #58 Trick Truck. Smith got off to a rocky start on Saturday and crashed a mile in to the race after jumping out front of Jason Voss. Smith lost 15-20 minutes getting it flipped over and redialed in with Graf who was navigating that day. Smith passed a few guys back and finished the day near the back of the pack. Graf piloted the #58 on Sunday and earned the duo a solid 7th place finish.

Hot off his second consecutive Mint 400 win, #41 Justin Lofton went to Laughlin looking to continue his successes in hopes of building another championship season. Lofton qualified third fastest on the 2.4 mile time trial course and lined up next to #5 Apdaly Lopez on day 1. The first day immediately set Lofton back after earning a flat on the first lap, a negligible roll over on the second lap, then another flat on the fourth lap. He finished the day second to last but came out blazing on day 2. Lofton went from 17th to 4th and had fun passing those vehicles trouble free. The flawless day 2 landed Lofton in 8th place overall at the end of the race.

Despite finishing a lap down, Jeff Terzo made it to the finish line in his first race in the #37 YouTheory Racing Trick Truck.

Nine Dougans Racers succumbed to the brutal Laughlin course and did not finish the race, including #16 Cameron Steele, #27 Steve Olliges, #38 Eric Hustead, #4 Justin Matney, #46 Troy Vest, #5 Apdaly Lopez, #54 Robert Johnston, #59 Cole Potts and #95 Scott Whipple.

2016 Method Race Wheels Laughlin Desert Classic presented by Canidae Tap Unofficial Results

3rd – #17 Eduardo Laguna
6th – #184 Nick Vanderwey
7th – #58 Tracy Graf
8th – #41 Justin Lofton

Photography by Jason Zindroski

About Dougans Racing Engines
Dougans Racing Engines (www.dougansracing.com) specializes in high performance engines for the top off-road competitions including the Best In the Desert and SCORE racing series. With over thirty-five years in the industry, Dougans offers high quality engine packages for trophy trucks, Class 1 trucks, and prerunners. We build complete engine packages that have gained a reputation in the racing world as consistent, powerful, dependable winners. Along with our engine packages, we provide dyno testing and personal track support to ensure that our customer’s needs are met all the way to the finish line. At Dougans Racing, customer satisfaction is our top priority and we strive to keep you running hard and winning races mile after mile.

About Mad Media:

Mad Media (www.madmedia.com) is a San Diego based marketing and creative agency, with in-house film and television production. We craft authentic, culturally engaging brand messages, and deliver them across print, web, photography, and film platforms. Mad Media has been leading the online content revolution since 1995 producing major commercial, television, online content and viral film projects such as The Gymkhana Series and XP1K Series.

May 14, 2016
Tavo Vildosola Wins Best in the Desert’s Henderson 250

Dougans Racers Take Three of Top Four Spots in the BITD Finale

Tavo Vildosola made the decision to race Best in the Desert’s Henderson 250 just days before the green flag dropped. After an 11th place qualifying time, Tavo and navigator Javi Valenzuela kept to their well known strategy of speed and intelligence and barreled their way to the front to finish +00:00:56 ahead of Dougans teammate Tracy Graf for the overall win at the Best in the Desert finale.

Vildosola first raced in Henderson in 2006 and won. Nine years later, Vildosola picked up right where he left off to polish off a magnificent 2015 race season. Vildosola captured three overall wins in the SCORE-International series for Dougans Racing and multiple podiums in both SCORE and BITD events and proved that the #21 is one of the most feared vehicles in desert racing.

#58 Tracy Graf finished behind Vildosola for his best finish of the season. If there’s one thing Graf displayed all year it was consistency. Graf started the year with a 7th place class finish at the Parker 425, then went on to finish 16th in class at the Mint 400 in arguably one of the most competitive fields in off-road racing history. From there, Graf continued to make strides towards the podium with a 12th place class finish at the Silver State 300, 10th place class finish at Vegas to Reno and 7th place class finish at the Blue Water Desert Challenge. Graf’s 2nd place finish in the final race of the season landed him 4th overall in season points and capped off a very solid year for the #58.

Steve Olliges finished third in overall season points with his 4th place finish at the Henderson 250. Olliges was just over nine minutes off Tavo Vildosola’s winning pace. Olliges was on a mission after a 13th qualifying position and wasted no time on pummeling to the front. With the 4th place finish, Steve also secured the 2015 Camburg Award, given to the fastest driver over every mile of every race in the Best in the Desert racing season.

#95 Scott Whipple took home 7th in class and 10th overall at Henderson to finish the 2015 BITD overall points chase behind Tracy Graf in fifth place. Whipple and co-driver Scott Gailey cruised the #95 Canidae Trick Truck through the 240 mile course after an average qualifying run started in the middle of the pack.

#62 Ryan Poelman, whose Supercross.com was presenting sponsor, finished 9th in class.

Jerry Whelchel in the #37 YouTheory truck finished behind Poelman in 10th in class.

Mike Cook in the #75 Space Monkey Trick Truck was Dougans’ final finisher in 14th in class

#1537 Eduardo Laguna, #28 Jonathan Swift and #4 Justin Matney did not finish.

2015 was a trademark year for Dougans Racing Engines. With overall wins at the Parker 425 (Gary Weyhrich), San Felipe 250 (Tavo Vildosola), Mint 400 (Justin Lofton), Baja Sur 500 (Lalo Laguna), Baja 500 (Apdaly Lopez), Imperial Valley 250 (Tavo Vildosola) and Henderson 250 (Tavo Vildosola), the racing proves that Dougans is the elite choice in off-road racing.

Photography by Jason Zindroski

About Dougans Racing Engines

Dougans Racing Engines (www.dougansracing.com) specializes in high performance engines for the top off-road competitions including the Best In the Desert and SCORE racing series. With over thirty-five years in the industry, Dougans offers high quality engine packages for trophy trucks, Class 1 trucks, and prerunners. We build complete engine packages that have gained a reputation in the racing world as consistent, powerful, dependable winners. Along with our engine packages, we provide dyno testing and personal track support to ensure that our customer’s needs are met all the way to the finish line. At Dougans Racing, customer satisfaction is our top priority and we strive to keep you running hard and winning races mile after mile.

About Mad Media:

Mad Media (www.madmedia.com) is a San Diego based marketing and creative agency, with in-house film and television production. We craft authentic, culturally engaging brand messages, and deliver them across print, web, photography, and film platforms. Mad Media has been leading the online content revolution since 1995 producing major commercial, television, online content and viral film projects such as The Gymkhana Series and XP1K Series.

December 17, 2015
Banning Motorports wins class 2400 at 2015 Vegas To Reno

Banning Motorsports returned to the grueling BITD Vegas To Reno to take home another win!

Phoenix, Arizona (September 10, 2015)– Banning Motorsports does it again as they return to the 2015 Best In The Desert “Vegas To Reno” and claim yet another win at this grueling race. The team is always ready for this race and with previous wins, they knew they had what it takes to put the throttle down and get to the finish line. The 550-mile course provided the drivers with many tasks and moments of frustration but they stayed mentally fresh for the terrain at hand.

The race started as expected for the #2488 Banning Motorsports car that had Bryan Folks in control. The dust, the traffic and the course had all been to be expected but the team did not plan early on in the race to be plagued with brake problems. Pulling over in pit 4, the team went to work on fixing the brakes as well as changing a damaged rear axle.

Rick Graf took over driving responsibilities and had well over an hour to make up to get back in the lead. Graf put his head down and took the task as a challenge and drove his best.

“Just as in all of racing, fortitude and tenacity paid off.” Stated Folks.

Pulling into pit 13 they saw the lead car and decided to skip the major light bar so that they could get out in front of the leader. This paid off and the #2488 car was able to beat the odds of part failures and still managed to win in their class and grasped that points lead.

Another Banning vehicle off the line was the #6155 truck. A stacked class and starting position of 13th, they knew that they would have their work cut out for them. A strong start set them up for opportunities to pass even in the thick of the heavy dust that competitors stirred up ahead of them. Making their way to the top 3 in their class by race mile 150. It wasn’t long after that they started having issues with the truck. Vapor locking had took over and had them on the side of the course not just once, but twice.

“I hiked back nearly a half a mile to a camp we had passed and borrowed 5 gallons of gas just so we could poor it in the tank and try to cool off the rest of the fuel.” Stated Lee Banning Sr.

A minor flat tire set them back on time again but they didn’t let this stop them from pulling into pit 5 for the next drivers change where Gary Williams Jr. would take over driving duties. Gary and Co-Rider, Chris Godfrey, started out the next portion of the course aggressively. The vapor locking issues would creep up again and another flat tire put them back from the time they had made up. They didn’t let this stop them from passing competitors and getting the truck to the last drivers change of the race.

A quick top off with fuel, a fresh driver, Lee Banning Jr., their KC HiLites bar to guide them through the night and just like that they were back out on the course making their way towards the finish. The night sky and the cooler air temperatures really helped the truck run better. Heavy traffic and dust did not stop them from making it across the finish. The #6155 truck finished 6th in class after fighting issues all day. The relief to have finally crossed the finish line was well worth celebrating.

“A huge Thanks to the whole team for staying in the fight all day getting all the cars to the finish. A great statement for our team battling this very tough race. Thanks to all our sponsors, partners, and fans for standing with us and helping achieve so much success.” Stated Lee Banning Sr.

Another car under the Banning pit is the #1023 of Melton Motorsports. Leaving the line 23rd they knew it would be a long day. Hayden battled closely with Jason Coleman throughout the morning but after pulling into pit 2 Hayden would get passed by Coleman. He trailed Colemans dust till the next pit where he got back around him.

The back and forth between the two race vehicles would go in well into the race. Flat tires and drivers change would always keep them neck and neck. Steve Melton jumped behind the wheel was continued the battle when he finally got right on Colemans bumper and went for a solid pass. After completing the pass they gassed it to the finish line with their KC Pod lights guiding the way. The rocky course and back and forth battle lead the team to a 2nd place finish.

“The success of our Vegas to Reno finish is directly due in part to the prep by Chris, Andy, Rick along with the pit support by Banning Motorsports. Thank you to all the crew and to our sponsors: Melton Off road, Banning Motorsports, Select Glass, KC Hilites, Wiks Racing Engines, Weddle Industries, Neo Oil, BFG Tires, Method Wheels, JTech, and Foddrill Motorsports.” Stated Steve Melton.

Be sure to follow Banning Motorsports on Social Media for event day updates.

September 14, 2015
Eduardo Laguna Takes First in Class at Best in the Desert’s Vegas to Reno

Dougans Racing Engines Consistent at the Longest Off-Road Race in the United States

Promoted as the longest off-road race in United States, Best in the Desert’s 545 mile trek from Las Vegas to Reno has a wide variety of terrain from rough rocky areas to flat dry lake beds to some of the deepest silt beds in stateside racing. The weather that pounded the Silver State for weeks leading up to race only made things more difficult for the 330+ race teams that showed up to take on the brutal terrain. Dougans Racing Engines fielded fourteen racers all fully capable of walking away with the overall. At the finish line in Reno, it was #1537 Eduardo Laguna who was the first Class 1500 to cross the line, earning the win in Class 1500 and a 4th place overall finish. (more…)

September 1, 2015