Blais Racing Services/KTM/Kenda Riders Morgan Crawford And Kevin Dejongh Finished 3rd Overall

Kevin's Race Report:
We arrived in the pits around 6:30pm on Saturday and it was still incredibly hot. The weather was definitely a big change from where I live down by the beach but I had been hydrating for a few days before the race. Morgan was already there so we went and got signed up. We were starting on the first row with the Open, 250, and 200 expert riders. I finally got Morgan to start after a couple of minutes of persuasion because I really don't like starting and he would most likely do better than me on the first lap. So Morgan did a quick ride on my bike and adjusted the suspension a little for his weight and then we were off to the riders meeting. It was a live engine start and Morgan was about 4th to the first corner. I went back to the pits and waited for the leaders to come in. It took about 30 minutes for the leader and Morgan came in 3rd overall and about 40 seconds off 2nd overall. When he handed the bike off to me he told me that the back brakes were really weak and fading. We thought about bleeding them but decided against it and I got on and went out for my lap. Right away I noticed that the brakes were really weak but they still worked so it wasn't too bad. The course was very rocky and technical right off the bat and then it would go into a nice flat valley. The thought of the back brakes not working at 100% was stuck in the back of my head the entire night and I think it hampered my riding a little bit because I didn't feel that I was riding as well as I could of. We stayed in pretty much the same spot the whole night but we did drop back from the two leaders quite a bit. I had a couple of tip overs on my second lap but they were quick enough that I didn't loose much time. The course was awesome just enough rocks, valleys, and sand washes. There was a nice breeze the whole night so it kept the dust down but it was still pretty warm at night. After the brakes being almost useless I realized that I need to work on not relying on the back brakes for everything and start using the front brakes more. I got in 4 laps and Morgan did 5 for a total of 9 laps on the night and a 3rd overall finish. This is the best I have done overall before, I've had a bunch of 4ths but never was able to get on the podium. After being hurt for most of the year the last couple race have made me finally feel like I am pretty close to being back to old speed. It feels good to be riding fast again, it has been awhile.

This was my second quad race and second time racing at night. I teamed up with Patty Blais once again on her 2006 Honda TRX450 ATV as race number #92Q. The course was laid out by the Bushwhackers MC and was about 21 miles long. The race started at 9pm. We had a full moon and it was hot out there; around 112 degrees during the day and 85 degrees at night. Patty would once again get a great start off the line and took the holeshot. Each lap would take us approximately 45 minutes. After her first lap, Patty came into the pits running in 2nd overall. She did not have any problems out there and she was running great. Now it was my turn to hop on the quad. I headed down pit row and out onto the course and to my surprise, just after the first turn, there were about two miles of VW-sized whoops. After that, the course snaked through the tight bushes and was a lot of fun. About a mile or two into my lap, I passed the first place quad team. After this really smooth and fun winding section, guess what, more VW size whoops! These whoops were making my arms go numb. This is where my good friend Justin Shultz with PDI Racing passed me. He had come out there with us and teamed up with Jaybird from Jackrabbits Nevada MC on his bike team. The whoop section was just long enough to do a serious number on my arms, but just when I thought I couldn't take this anymore it opened up to a long 5th gear pinned flat road. I had no dust in front of me so I was pinned the whole way. Patty and I would continue on that whole night without any problems with her quad, lap after lap after lap. With no crashes and no downtime we put a huge lead on the other quads and held it all night, as a matter of fact the second place quad came in about 40 minutes behind us. We got in 3 laps each for a total of about 120 miles. So at the end of the night, Patty and I finished 1st Overall ATV and 18th Overall out of 44 bike and quad teams. Thank you Patty for asking me to team up with you again, and thank you Blais Racing, PDI Racing, and Baja Designs!