2022 Maxxis Tires Parker 425 Presented by Jimco Racing in the Books | Weekend Sees Beautiful Weather, New and Old Racers, and Tight Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: LAS VEGAS, NV (Jan. 25, 2022): The 2022 Maxxis Tires Parker 425 Presented by Jimco Racing wrapped up over the weekend showcasing car and truck off-road driving skills. Highlights included live-streamed Time Trials and epic racing where top names stayed on top, old names came out of retirement, and new names graced the leaderboard. 

The weekend in Parker, Arizona had an impressive start with Time Trials on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. Best In The Desert in concert with JETWERX productions did what they considered a beta test on their live stream capabilities with a variety of new technologies. Capturing the event live went exceptionally well, which will lead to more live streamed events in the future. See the recap show on Ryde TV here.

Class 1000 started the day in which the #1075 team of Brigman/Fox put in the fastest time of 4:16 followed by #1015 Ford/McMullen and the #1067 car driven by the Roger Starkey duo. Class 6100/6200 raced next in which #6146 Brent Fox set the fastest time in 3:55 followed by #6114 Justin Blower and #6185 driven by Matt Laughlin.

Trick Trucks and 1500 Unlimited Cars finished the day and to nobody’s surprise, 2021’s Best In The Desert Trick Truck champ #1 Brenthel Industries truck driven by Kyle Jergensen made its way to the top of the podium in 3:37. Runner-up honors went to #18 Whetstone/Redline followed by the #70 Concrete Motorsports team of Thompson/Letner.

Friday Race #1

Friday, Jan. 21, 2022 saw the first race of the weekend featuring Classes 1200, 1700, 3700, 4500, 7300, 8100 to go two laps around the course and Classes 1000, 5000, 6000, 7200, 8000 to finish three laps.

With no dust to hinder performance, the Brigman/Fox team got out to an early lead in Class 1000 and set a fast pace. At the end of the first lap, it was Brigman/Fox still out front followed by Ford/McMullen, Starkey Jr., Sallenbach and Taylor. However, on adjusted time, the #1023 Jimco Racing car driven by Jorge Trevino was less than a minute off the lead.

Lap two saw the Starkey team drop out due to motor issues while Brigman stayed in the lead followed closely by Ford. Once again on adjusted time, Trevino cut the lead a little shorter by entering the last lap 43 seconds off the leader.

At the finish, it was the #1075 Brigman/Fox team that would prevail finishing in 6:01:37, as the Trevino team suffered mechanical problems. To round out the podium it was #1015 Ford/McMullen in second place and the #1072 Waibel/Krauss team in third place, respectfully.

Class 8000 was also packed with talent with all entries driving Ford-powered vehicles. Steve Olliges would place first in his trusted 8000 truck followed by racing legend Dave Shoppe who came out of retirement to showcase the truck he won with back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Rounding out the podium was #8097 Richard Cretsinger.

Other notable finishes in Class 1000 were Brian Crawford winning fourth overall and the Sallenbach brothers rounding out the top five. Class 6000 saw Jeremy Crandall finish first, Ray Promer took Class 5000, and Spencer Whittaker won the Unlimited Vintage Class. The Chevy-sponsored teams Chad Hall and Sean Berryman both crossed the line in first place, competing in separate classes, while Jerry Simonson won the Jeepspeed Outlaws and Garett Allred won the Jeepseed Trophy Class.

Saturday Race #2

Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022 started strong with Trick Trucks, and Classes 1500, 6100, and 6200 completing three laps, 425 miles around the infamous Parker 425 course.

At the end of the first lap in the much-anticipated Trick Truck competition, Brenthel Industries #1 Kyle Jergensen took the lead followed by #18 Whetstone/Redline, #97 Black Rifle Coffee Co.’s BJ Baldwin, and #20 Keysar. The Concrete Motorsports team of Thompson/Letner unfortunately were out of the race by the second pit stop. In Cass 6100 it was Fox still out front followed by Blower and then McMullen all within two minutes.

By the end of the second lap the race really started to shake out as Jergensen would have mechanical issues, handing the lead over to BJ Baldwin. The other close trick trucks would also see minor issues. In Class 6100 Fox was still leading but McMullen was in striking distance.

At the finish line, it was #97 BJ Baldwin landing at the top of the podium for the first time in several years redeeming his skills as well as handing Black Rifle Coffee Co. their first-ever trick truck win as well as the overall win.

Second overall on adjusted time went to the hard-charging Brenthel Industries truck driven by Connor McMullen who beat out Brent Fox on adjusted time, finishing third on the overall box. Fourth overall went to Justin Blower who couldn’t beat his 2021 Parker 425 performance due to minor issues. Fifth overall went to first-time racer Nic Whetstone who traveled to the race from Australia and raced a trick truck for the first time with a little help from Jax Redline.

In the 1500 Unlimited Car Class, it was all Chip Prescott landing his first-ever Best In The Desert win in the Unlimited Car Class and seventh overall. In Class 6200 it was Nick Carolan who continued where he left off in 2021 by dominating the class for another win and finishing ninth overall.

Other notable finishes were Alex Wacker who took sixth overall and third place in Trick Truck; Brian Scheible with a fourth in Class 6100 and eighth overall; Steve Restivo with fifth in Class 6100 and tenth overall; Don Hatch third in Class 1500 and eleventh overall; and Sterling Miller with fourth in the Trick Truck Class and thirteenth overall.

As the second race of the Best In The Desert 2022 series and the first show of trick trucks and car classes comes to a close, racers are warmed up and ready to show the off-road world what they’ve got. 

For a full list of results go here.  

The next Best In The Desert race on the 2022 calendar is the UTV Legends Championship on Feb. 17-20, 2022 in Laughlin, Nevada open to motorcycles, quads, and UTVs.

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