BEST IN THE DESERT Parker 250 UTV Race January 6, 2018

Burnett started fourth in his four-seater Can-Am Maverick and then fought issues during the first lap. After that, the 2017 SCORE champion began catching the field and was in the right place on the final lap to finish second.

The 2017 SCORE Champion, Marc Burnett kicked off the season with a 2nd place finish in his Can-Am Maverick X3 MAX

“We had some issues at the start of the race and had to get out of the car four times,” explained Burnett. “We got passed by a few people and we passed them back. The car handled great. It’s unbelievable in the rough stuff. We’re getting it dialed in and we’ll be good this year. We just got done with the SCORE championship and I think this is going to be a good year for us. We’d love to take both series this year.”

While the frontrunners had relatively clean air, those behind them were in a dust storm. Gastel started 19th in the same Can-Am he drove last year and he drove a consistent pace to nab the final spot on the podium. With BITD points based in part on car count, Gastel is happy to start out the season in a strong position for the title.

Logan Gastel rounded out the top three at the Parker 250

“This Parker dust is bad, especially down in the canyons with no wind,” said Gastel. “We just kept a solid pace all day and pushed it toward the front. It’s nice to start out the year with a top-three finish when there’s 56 cars in the class.”

Sims finished fourth in a race he described as being akin to warfare. Sims started 25th in his Polaris and dealt with visibility problems all race, but he ran a hard pace to bring it home fourth. After a difficult final race in 2017, it might be the finish he needs to get him back in the running.

LSR's Branden Sims started 25th & charged his way through the dust to secure an impressive 4th place finish

“Starting 25th there was a lot of dust,” said Sims. “I don’t think I got see any part of the track except for the 10 feet in front of my car. It was like a war zone out there, so we just charged and ran a pretty quick pace. We had no issues all day and had a flawless run. That was a nice morale lifter especially after the last race when we only went 20 miles and put it on the roof.”

The Murray brothers, Derek and Jason, started 22nd with Derek at the wheel for the first two laps. After a lengthy driver change, Jason brought their Can-Am Maverick X3 Max to the finish fifth, ending a streak of bad luck that plagued the pair all season in 2017.

Jason & Derek Murray rounded out the Top 5 in the Pro Turbo UTV Class at the Parker 250

“We worked our way into the top five and paced it there all day,” said Jason Murray. “The driver change didn’t go so smooth. Ultimately that kicked us off the podium, but we had no major issues and it’s great to be back here racing in 2018. We’re hoping to get back to the way we used to run and stay in the top five all year.”