2016 BITD Blue Water Desert Challenge Race Report - Carver Racing
Coming off of two consecutive second place finishes by only minutes or seconds, the BITD Blue Water Desert Challenge seemed within an arm’s reach of a victory for our team. At the Laughlin Desert Classic we came up short by 30 seconds, Vegas to Reno we were plagued by several issues and came up 3 minutes short, but the BWDC seemed as simple as fixing those problems and taking the checkered flag. To be honest, I dislike the shorter BITD races because if you have one small issue, you are out of the running. Knowing this and having experienced this in the past, the team and I prepped as if this race was the Baja 1000. Every heim joint was replaced, drivetrain cases were opened, and fresh axles installed, fresh clutches, the works. Roughly 150 miles of sandy whoops was not going to give us any problems and I was sure of it, until race day of course.
The days leading up to the BWDC were unusually peaceful and slow for our team. Every race this year we have scrambled right up to the starting line. The Arizona off Road Expo was a few weeks before the BWDC and one of our great partners Baja Designs asked to display our car in their booth. Of course, the car was torn down to basically nothing when I got the text, but I was not going to miss this opportunity. I was in the middle of a full “livery” change on the car, and what better place would there be for the first showing of the new color and wrap? Jesse and I put our long nights in prepping the car before the expo. The wrap was installed the morning of the expo at 6am by Wolf Designs (Thank you Wolf for the fast turnaround!). After the expo was over, we had a prepped car, and a couple weeks until the race. Not wanting to waste any time, we took the car out for suspension and clutch tuning a few times to get everything dialed. The car seemed nearly perfect.
On Thursday 10/06/16 we headed out to Parker, AZ. The team was beyond pumped for this race as there is usually more time for fun than at most races. We arrived in Parker, AZ around 3PM. This was just in time to hang out for a couple hours and wait for the show to arrive. Right as the sun was going down, Sims (the show) decided he would try to roll in to our camp with his new mobile home, but the Parker sand thought different. The coach was soon sitting on the motor and tranny pan in the sand, with 25 racers (now spectators) gathering around it shouting out all of our ideas on how to get it out. At one point, Mitch Sr. was pouring 5 gallon buckets of water on the sand in front of the rear wheels as if it was going to work a miracle and get a 50,000 LB coach out of a hole. It would ultimately come down to the twin screw toter of Blake Van De Loo to get the monster out. It sure was fun for all of us, but I think Sims had a different view of the situation.
Friday, 10/07/16 we headed straight to contingency in the morning around 10:00AM. Jack (my co driver) and I headed up to registration as my girlfriend Brittany took the car through tech. Judging by the UTVUG tech video, not many women take the cars through tech. You guys are clearly doing it wrong… I have never had my car in so much tech footage before!
Saturday, 10/08/16 RACE DAY!!! After going over the car the night before and getting some good rest, we were more than ready to race! We jumped in our second row starting position next to the Murray’s and their new X3 race car. Staging was surprisingly quick and we headed to the start line. The flag dropped and my 2016 model year Polaris XP Turbo ate the new X3 for breakfast. We were first to the merge and the first turbo car on course! We powered through the whoops with our newly tuned suspension and started to put some distance on the X3. By the time the course started to pull away from Shea Rd we had already caught Matt Burroughs. We followed for a few miles until we could safely make a pass. Once we were around Matt we started to put the hammer down. The first lap seemed as if it was over in the blink of an eye. 25 miles of desert seems like nothing to these cars. As we were ripping through the python we could see Lambert up ahead. I wanted more than anything to get an overall win so we took chances that we shouldn’t have taken on the start of the second lap. Again by the time we were pulling away from Shea road we had caught Lamberts dust, but he had the hammer down. I knew if I finished less than 30 seconds behind him that we would have him beat, so we paced him. Halfway through the second lap we had the 239 films chopper following us and I was getting excited about the footage that they were getting. Paying too much attention to the chopper, a hard right came out of nowhere. The corner caught my co dog and I both by surprise so I had no choice but to lock up the brakes. I got back on the gas after we made the corner and the car instantly hit the rev limiter. I let of and floored it again, the motor popped off of the limiter. I thought great what just happened. I tried a third time and again, the limiter hit elevating my heart beat. I knew we had a problem. We coasted off of the course thinking we had blown a belt. We jumped out of the car and pulled the clutch cover. To my surprise, the belt looked fine. Right as the shock hit me, the Murrays and Burroughs passed back by us. We threw the cover in the car and jumped back in. We harnessed in, crossed our fingers, and I hit the gas. The car took off with no hesitation. My mind was blown. I still have no idea what happened, but I am glad we didn’t have to change a belt.
We were now once again playing catch up. I put the hammer down and tried to make up as much lost time as possible. In the Python I could tell we were gaining on the Murrays and Burroughs. They were still in sight and we had one lap left. After a few miles we passed Burroughs back. We then worked to catch Murrays. As we started to catch their dust I began to grow impatient. I pushed the car as hard as I could and slammed over whoops, rocks, and ruts. Our Lonestar Racing suspension and ITP Tires took the beating no problem. As we began to descend towards the river we noticed the Murrays pulled over. With a smile on my face we blew past them. We now had roughly 10 miles to go in day one so we made up as much time as possible. As we pulled up to the Mesa we waited to hear the times. Unfortunately we would fall short. We ended up 4th overall UTV on corrected time. We did not lose hope as we were starting in the same position on day two that we had just started on day 1. One thing was for sure, it was time to make sure our clutches that ran the last lap with no cover, were ready for day 2.
We got back to the camping area and began to review the car. We changed out any parts that needed attention and put the car in the trailer for some rest. It was then time to have some fun! We headed out to the river with Team RZR and UTVUNDERGROUND to watch the trucks from the water. What a blast! All of these guys know how to have a good time! After the truck race we headed back to camp to make sure everything was in order for day two one last time.
10/09/16, RACE DAY 2!! Again, starting in the second row, my previous day’s performance would shine brighter than day 2. Unfortunately I was second to the merge and stuck in the dust. The day two track was beat to s**t and the dust was twice as bad as the first day. We pushed hard for the first half of the first lap to try to pass our competitor, but the dust was too blinding. When we got to the river, the track was watered and we put the hammer down. We caught the car in front of us and were right on their bumper just in time to get a face full of dust when the watered course ended. I knew we were now stuck for another lap. We eased back and followed the dust for the remainder of the lap and the start of the second. I knew the pavement on lap 2 would be our only chance to pass, so we hung back for a few miles and preserved the car. When we got 5 miles out from the pavement and watered course, I knew it was our time to strike. We put the hammer down and began to catch the car in front of us. A mile out from the visible section of the track we were eating dust and had no visibility. We were taking chances and following the flashing lights in front of us trying not to lose any ground. We hit the watered course and two turns in we made our pass. We were now the 2nd physical turbo car on course. We knew that we were too far back to pass the first car and make up the 3 minutes we were down on day one, so we held a conservative pace. On the third lap, Jack and I began to discuss if anyone was coming up from the back to beat us on time. I said screw it, we only have 25 miles left, let’s make sure we don’t get caught! We picked the pace up. We now knew the course well and didn’t have to take chances to be fast. We crossed the finish line second in class. As I pulled up to the mesa, they announced that we were also second in class on corrected time! We were once again excited for our 3rd consecutive BITD second place finish, but slightly let down on coming up short of first place.
In all, we were happy to show that we will continue to succeed and continue to finish on the podium. I think that some teams think that we got lucky at V2R right at the perfect time to get brought on to Team RZR. The reality is that our hard work is finally paying off and we finally know this car. We still have a lot to work out and lots of room for improvement, but we are here to stay.
Thank you to Polaris RZR, ITP Tires, Raceline Wheels, Lonestar Racing, Baja Designs and all of our other partners. I would also like to thank my family, friends, girlfriend and everyone else who have been at the races all year helping out and being a huge part of the team. Without the amazing partners and team, I would not be able to do what I love. In addition I would like to give a huge thanks to Polaris RZR and UTVUNDERGROUND for their efforts in covering the race and providing awesome videos and pictures all weekend. Lastly, I would like to thank all of the other competitors; there are not many sports out there that allow you to be great friends with your competition. Desert racing is an amazing sport and I am very privileged to have the opportunity to race will all of these great men and women! We will see everyone at the Baja 1000!!
Coming off of two consecutive second place finishes by only minutes or seconds, the BITD Blue Water Desert Challenge seemed within an arm’s reach of a victory for our team. At the Laughlin Desert Classic we came up short by 30 seconds, Vegas to Reno we were plagued by several issues and came up 3 minutes short, but the BWDC seemed as simple as fixing those problems and taking the checkered flag. To be honest, I dislike the shorter BITD races because if you have one small issue, you are out of the running. Knowing this and having experienced this in the past, the team and I prepped as if this race was the Baja 1000. Every heim joint was replaced, drivetrain cases were opened, and fresh axles installed, fresh clutches, the works. Roughly 150 miles of sandy whoops was not going to give us any problems and I was sure of it, until race day of course.
The days leading up to the BWDC were unusually peaceful and slow for our team. Every race this year we have scrambled right up to the starting line. The Arizona off Road Expo was a few weeks before the BWDC and one of our great partners Baja Designs asked to display our car in their booth. Of course, the car was torn down to basically nothing when I got the text, but I was not going to miss this opportunity. I was in the middle of a full “livery” change on the car, and what better place would there be for the first showing of the new color and wrap? Jesse and I put our long nights in prepping the car before the expo. The wrap was installed the morning of the expo at 6am by Wolf Designs (Thank you Wolf for the fast turnaround!). After the expo was over, we had a prepped car, and a couple weeks until the race. Not wanting to waste any time, we took the car out for suspension and clutch tuning a few times to get everything dialed. The car seemed nearly perfect.
On Thursday 10/06/16 we headed out to Parker, AZ. The team was beyond pumped for this race as there is usually more time for fun than at most races. We arrived in Parker, AZ around 3PM. This was just in time to hang out for a couple hours and wait for the show to arrive. Right as the sun was going down, Sims (the show) decided he would try to roll in to our camp with his new mobile home, but the Parker sand thought different. The coach was soon sitting on the motor and tranny pan in the sand, with 25 racers (now spectators) gathering around it shouting out all of our ideas on how to get it out. At one point, Mitch Sr. was pouring 5 gallon buckets of water on the sand in front of the rear wheels as if it was going to work a miracle and get a 50,000 LB coach out of a hole. It would ultimately come down to the twin screw toter of Blake Van De Loo to get the monster out. It sure was fun for all of us, but I think Sims had a different view of the situation.
Friday, 10/07/16 we headed straight to contingency in the morning around 10:00AM. Jack (my co driver) and I headed up to registration as my girlfriend Brittany took the car through tech. Judging by the UTVUG tech video, not many women take the cars through tech. You guys are clearly doing it wrong… I have never had my car in so much tech footage before!
Saturday, 10/08/16 RACE DAY!!! After going over the car the night before and getting some good rest, we were more than ready to race! We jumped in our second row starting position next to the Murray’s and their new X3 race car. Staging was surprisingly quick and we headed to the start line. The flag dropped and my 2016 model year Polaris XP Turbo ate the new X3 for breakfast. We were first to the merge and the first turbo car on course! We powered through the whoops with our newly tuned suspension and started to put some distance on the X3. By the time the course started to pull away from Shea Rd we had already caught Matt Burroughs. We followed for a few miles until we could safely make a pass. Once we were around Matt we started to put the hammer down. The first lap seemed as if it was over in the blink of an eye. 25 miles of desert seems like nothing to these cars. As we were ripping through the python we could see Lambert up ahead. I wanted more than anything to get an overall win so we took chances that we shouldn’t have taken on the start of the second lap. Again by the time we were pulling away from Shea road we had caught Lamberts dust, but he had the hammer down. I knew if I finished less than 30 seconds behind him that we would have him beat, so we paced him. Halfway through the second lap we had the 239 films chopper following us and I was getting excited about the footage that they were getting. Paying too much attention to the chopper, a hard right came out of nowhere. The corner caught my co dog and I both by surprise so I had no choice but to lock up the brakes. I got back on the gas after we made the corner and the car instantly hit the rev limiter. I let of and floored it again, the motor popped off of the limiter. I thought great what just happened. I tried a third time and again, the limiter hit elevating my heart beat. I knew we had a problem. We coasted off of the course thinking we had blown a belt. We jumped out of the car and pulled the clutch cover. To my surprise, the belt looked fine. Right as the shock hit me, the Murrays and Burroughs passed back by us. We threw the cover in the car and jumped back in. We harnessed in, crossed our fingers, and I hit the gas. The car took off with no hesitation. My mind was blown. I still have no idea what happened, but I am glad we didn’t have to change a belt.
We were now once again playing catch up. I put the hammer down and tried to make up as much lost time as possible. In the Python I could tell we were gaining on the Murrays and Burroughs. They were still in sight and we had one lap left. After a few miles we passed Burroughs back. We then worked to catch Murrays. As we started to catch their dust I began to grow impatient. I pushed the car as hard as I could and slammed over whoops, rocks, and ruts. Our Lonestar Racing suspension and ITP Tires took the beating no problem. As we began to descend towards the river we noticed the Murrays pulled over. With a smile on my face we blew past them. We now had roughly 10 miles to go in day one so we made up as much time as possible. As we pulled up to the Mesa we waited to hear the times. Unfortunately we would fall short. We ended up 4th overall UTV on corrected time. We did not lose hope as we were starting in the same position on day two that we had just started on day 1. One thing was for sure, it was time to make sure our clutches that ran the last lap with no cover, were ready for day 2.
We got back to the camping area and began to review the car. We changed out any parts that needed attention and put the car in the trailer for some rest. It was then time to have some fun! We headed out to the river with Team RZR and UTVUNDERGROUND to watch the trucks from the water. What a blast! All of these guys know how to have a good time! After the truck race we headed back to camp to make sure everything was in order for day two one last time.
10/09/16, RACE DAY 2!! Again, starting in the second row, my previous day’s performance would shine brighter than day 2. Unfortunately I was second to the merge and stuck in the dust. The day two track was beat to s**t and the dust was twice as bad as the first day. We pushed hard for the first half of the first lap to try to pass our competitor, but the dust was too blinding. When we got to the river, the track was watered and we put the hammer down. We caught the car in front of us and were right on their bumper just in time to get a face full of dust when the watered course ended. I knew we were now stuck for another lap. We eased back and followed the dust for the remainder of the lap and the start of the second. I knew the pavement on lap 2 would be our only chance to pass, so we hung back for a few miles and preserved the car. When we got 5 miles out from the pavement and watered course, I knew it was our time to strike. We put the hammer down and began to catch the car in front of us. A mile out from the visible section of the track we were eating dust and had no visibility. We were taking chances and following the flashing lights in front of us trying not to lose any ground. We hit the watered course and two turns in we made our pass. We were now the 2nd physical turbo car on course. We knew that we were too far back to pass the first car and make up the 3 minutes we were down on day one, so we held a conservative pace. On the third lap, Jack and I began to discuss if anyone was coming up from the back to beat us on time. I said screw it, we only have 25 miles left, let’s make sure we don’t get caught! We picked the pace up. We now knew the course well and didn’t have to take chances to be fast. We crossed the finish line second in class. As I pulled up to the mesa, they announced that we were also second in class on corrected time! We were once again excited for our 3rd consecutive BITD second place finish, but slightly let down on coming up short of first place.
In all, we were happy to show that we will continue to succeed and continue to finish on the podium. I think that some teams think that we got lucky at V2R right at the perfect time to get brought on to Team RZR. The reality is that our hard work is finally paying off and we finally know this car. We still have a lot to work out and lots of room for improvement, but we are here to stay.
Thank you to Polaris RZR, ITP Tires, Raceline Wheels, Lonestar Racing, Baja Designs and all of our other partners. I would also like to thank my family, friends, girlfriend and everyone else who have been at the races all year helping out and being a huge part of the team. Without the amazing partners and team, I would not be able to do what I love. In addition I would like to give a huge thanks to Polaris RZR and UTVUNDERGROUND for their efforts in covering the race and providing awesome videos and pictures all weekend. Lastly, I would like to thank all of the other competitors; there are not many sports out there that allow you to be great friends with your competition. Desert racing is an amazing sport and I am very privileged to have the opportunity to race will all of these great men and women! We will see everyone at the Baja 1000!!
