Team Quad75 Dezert Wins San Felipe 250 Class 24 & ATV Overall!

Brandon Brown, Kenny Sanford, Jorie Williams, & Robbie Mitchell went to Mexico to race the San Felipe 250. Coming off of a win at the 1000, Team Quad75 Dezert was there to defend the team's title in Class 24 (Pro ATV up to 450cc). Team 1 started last off the line, and passed nearly the entire field ahead of them like a car passing cones on the interstate! Out of 39 quad entries in 4 classes, only 31 finished. Team Quad75 Dezert took the Class 24 win as well as the overall ATV win!

Also racing the 250 this year was "Team 2." A second, nearly identical race bike was built for riders Jamie Kirkpatrick, Greg Kirk, & Brian Watkins. Jamie was on the support crew for the 1000, Greg is a desert racer out of New Mexico with experience in the BITD and Whiplash series , and Brian is a Northwest native that caught Brandon's attention for ironman-ing a local 6 hour cross-country race and doing really well. Even after a rear wheel and hub came off near race mile 200, Team 2 managed to get it fixed and continue on, finishing 11th. In a discipline where finishing itself is an accomplishment, the team was happy to place 11th out of 17 entrants in Class 24. Brian Watkins excitedly stated, "Without a doubt the highlight of my racing career! Being my first time in Baja, you couldn't ask for more...Glad to be home, but can't wait to go back."

Pre-running started out well on Monday morning despite a few minor crashes and incidents, but nothing that would ruin the teams' race. Tuesday the teams went out to shake down both race bikes, make adjustments, and do some fine tuning. Then they split up to pre-run their various sections. Wednesday was spent pre-running again, and Wednesday night Kenny finished up a few preparations for the race bikes and did some minor maintenance. Thursday the team pre-ran again, went over their race plan, and Thursday night the graphics were put on both race bikes and everything was double-checked for Tech Inspection on Friday. "Contingency day is kind of fun," Brandon explained, "You get to go out and see all of the race vehicles. You get to show off what you brought too! Everything is clean and in perfect shape - or should be - and it's a whole event with spectators and not just the racers. It took place by the water, which is beautiful. Our two bikes are nearly identical, and to see them next to each other is pretty impressive to say the least . We were proud of them and it was nice to show off all the hard work Kenny put into building the bikes. He doesn't leave any detail untouched." After inspection on Friday, the teams went back to the house and went over the race plan one more time in anticipation of Saturday.

Saturday morning came quickly and the team was anxiously awaiting the start as they drove out to their positions. "I'm always excited about racing in Mexico. As we do more of these races, it doesn't get 'easier' but you do know what to expect and what you should be preparing for," Brandon explained, "We're lucky to have a great support team of friends, family, and of course sponsors helping in preparations all the way through the finish of the race." The first riders were off the line at 6 am. Brandon and Jamie would start the race and ride to race mile 30, then turn around and go back through San Felipe to race mile 177 to ride a second leg of the course. At mile 30, Jorie would take over until race mile 92 for Team 1, while Brian would get on the bike for Team 2 and ride to mile 105. Kenny took over on Team 1 at mile 92, and then he would hand the bike over to Robbie. Brian would hand Team 2's bike to Greg. Robbie and Greg would ride to race mile 177 where Jamie and Brandon were waiting. Team 1 had about 40 minutes lead on Team 2 by race mile 177. Brandon rode for about 50 miles before he handed the bike back to Jorie to ride to the finish. After Jamie got on the bike at race mile 177 he lost a wheel. Determined to finish, he managed to use enough safety wire and JB weld t o limp the bike to the pits where there were supplies to get the bike fixed up. Brian then took over a few miles later and rode to the finish line. Jamie was in good spirits after the race and said, " For our first SCORE race I thought it went very well and without our mechanical trouble we would have been close to the podium. I feel so lucky to be apart of such an awesome group of people and really look forward to the 500." This year's course was 252 miles long, with 2 7 entrants in the 2 Pro ATV classes, the majority of which were in Class 24 . After the race, Brandon described the team effort,"We started 26th out of 27 pro quads today and we just kept chipping away at it through the dust 'til the finish. Everyone did their job and stuck to the game plan and we just kept pushing forward. I'm really proud of everyone! Of course, we were stoked on the win at the 1000 for coming back from a lot of adversity, but [we] are pretty stoked on this one as well because there is no time with this short of a race to come back from a heck of a lot of anything. We had a flawless day and clicked off another win as a result of it." All of the hard work, planning, preparing, dedication and training is finally paying off for this team - the evidence is right there on the trophies.