PROTRUCK RACING ORGANIZATION, INC. Phone (619) 390-6252 Fax (619) 390-6470 Email us at: info@protruck.com Copyright © 2010	Protruck News Release 2010 Best In The Desert Parker 425 Location: Parker, AZ Date: February 5-7, 2010 Parker, AZ - The 2010 Baja Protruck Off Road Race Series kicked off the season at the Best In The Desert Parker 425. Teams decended on the town of one of the oldest off road races dating back over 30 years that is well known as being one of the toughest off road race courses in the United States. Last years event was one of the toughest on record due to terential downpours of rain that hampered the entire race. Race festivites kicked off on Friday February 5 with contingency and technical inspections taking place in the parking lot of the host hotel the Bluewater Casino. This is where teams showcase their race vehicles prior to the event and have their pre-race technical and safety inpections completed in order to race the event. At daybreak Saturday, the real business of the weekend got underway when the first Baja Protruck blasted off the line at the start held on the streets in the middle of downtown Parker. Every Protruck driver will be on equal ground, as their quest for the season class championship begins. Each team needed to complete three complete laps in the fastest time in order to be crowned the Baja Protruck winner of the Parker 425. First off the line was the team of Jared and Eri c Hardin. Early transmission problems slowed them down but they were able to continue on and finish in Sixth place. Fifth place went to the team of Herzog Auto Racing. Driving duties were driver of record Chris Paulson and Veteran Protruck Driver Paul Perrizo. Driving a steady pace they were able to finish in a respecful position. Fourth place went Justin Blower and co-driver Jim Blower Justins father. This father and son team are fairly new to the Protruck class. They had a clean run going until they had a fuel problem. Once they got that resolved they were back on there way to a nice finish. A hard charging third place went to the 2009 Best In The Desert Protruck Championship team of Staats racing. Champion drivers Ryan Staats and Father Steve Staats shared driving duties with Steve's other son Alex whom is driver of record for this years season. Early transmission problems held them up for a while. Ryan was driving at the time. He was able to determine what the problem was and continue on with no other issues the rest of the day. The battle of the day seemed to be between Rick Backus (along with Co-Driver Dave Mason) both of Western Motorsports and Troy Vest of Vest Racing. Dave Mason started the event for the Western Motorsports team in front of Vest off the line. Mason's plan was to race at a fast but conservative pace and stay up front with the leaders. At some point on lap one Vest was able to get around Mason and was the lead Protruck on course while he maintained a 9 minute lead after lap one. Mason passed the truck over to Backus at the midway point as they continued to try and reel Vest in on the second lap with no luck. Vest continued his tuff pace on lap two to hold a comfortable lead. As Vest came into his pit to start lap three his crew timed the split between he and the Western Motorsports team. The lead was now just under 10 minutes. With 20 miles to go Backus pushed hard to gain time on Vest and were nose to tail to the finish. Vest was able to hold off Backus and take the well deserved Parker 425 win. The Baja Protruck Off Road Series is sponsored by the best in the industry! Next race on the Baja Protruck Schedule is the SNORE Mint 400 in Las Vegas, Nevada March 25-27. 2010 Parker 425 Finishing Results Troy Vest – Vest Racing Ford Rick Backus – Western Motorsports Ford Alex Staats – Staats Racing Ford Justin Blower – Blower Racing Ford Chris Paulson – Herzog Auto Racing Ford Eric Hardin – Hardin Motorsports GMC Mike Maresco – Apex Racing Ford