Best in the Desert Parker 425: Race Preview

Image via Harlen Foley

The UTV, motorcycle, and quad classes going for Best in the Desert championships got their seasons underway two weeks ago in Parker, Arizona with the Parker 250. Today, the spotlight shines on the car and truck classes instead, as the Trick Trucks headline a nearly 100-vehicle entry for the Parker 425, the first round of their chase for the 2022 BITD championship.

Defending BITD Trick Truck champion Kyle Jergensen took the title in a hard-fought battle with Concrete Motorsports drivers Kevin Thompson and Harley Letner last year, and he appears more than ready to defend the crown. Jergensen’s time of 3:37.700 in Thursday time trials put him on top of those charts, coming in ahead of Nic Whetstone by more than six seconds and Letner by almost nine.

The 6100 class for spec trucks once again boasts one of the largest entry lists in the series, and the class remains closely matched going into the 2022 opener. Five drivers, led by Brent Fox, posted qualifying times within 10 seconds of one another, including last year’s race runner-up Justin Blower in second and Class 10 graduate Conner McMullen in fourth. Defending race winner and class champion Dustin Grabowski is on the entry list, but did not post a qualifying time; last year’s 1500 champion, Sam Berri, swapped into the class for 2022 as well and ran seventh in time trials.

Last year’s race saw Thompson and Letner take the overall victory by more than 10 minutes over Adam Householder, with Jergensen rounding out the Trick Truck and overall podiums. Nick Carolan scored a surprise fourth overall in the 6200 class, with Grabowski completing the top five.

Today’s Parker 425 will kick off at 9AM and features three laps of racing for the Trick Truck, 1500, 6100, and 6200 classes. Following Parker, BITD’s car and truck classes will get back to action on April 28-30 at the Silver State 300 in Alamo, Nevada, as part of the first event of the year where every BITD division will compete on the same weekend. The UTVs, quads, and motorcycles will be back in action sooner in February 17-20’s UTV Legends Championship in Laughlin, Nevada.