BEST IN THE DESERT Series Bluewater Gran Prix Parker, Arizona May 19-20, 2007

By: Levi Merriman

#627 Colton Marty's Sled/ATV grabbed the Holeshot

The last race nearing the end of the day was the Expert, Amateur and Ironman Classes. 30 racers in all would line up side by side in a motocross style start to see who could make it to the turn first. When the flag dropped they were off, and surprising the first ATV to the corner was not an ATV at all. #627, piloted by Colton Marty was a purposely built off-road Ski-Doo sled outfitted with custom a-arms, shocks, spindles, and wheels up front. It obviously had a ton of power too. By the end of the second strait before they headed into the washes, #403, the expert class Alba Honda 450R driven by Rick Cecco, and Cory Hove would work their way around the Ski-Doo and distance themselves from the rest of the field.

Unfortunately, the #627 Ski-Doo would take a nose dive as it launched off one of the many rough and whooped out sections of the track less than a mile into the start and end up totaling the sled, while Colton was able to walk away with out any major injuries. With one of the of sleds out of the race, it was now down Colton’s team mate, George Marsh, to finish the race aboard the Yamaha sled and prove what these machines are really capable of.

Q1 Team - Wayne Matlock & Chad Prull were back to their winning ways claiming the Overall Win	Q17 Team - Josh Row & Travis Dillon secured the final Podium spot behind Q3 Team Jose Ramirez & Don Green

As the laps wore on, #403 would distance themselves from the rest of the pack by a substantial amount, as most of the racers were banging bars in the top ten. Leading the Ironman class was # 671, John Skaggs, on his Polaris Outlaw followed by #677, Ben Pena on Kawasaki KFX400. #671 would go on to win the Ironman Class and place 12th overall in the race; an excellent finish for a lone rider in a team event. In the amateur ranks, the first place finish went to #457, Jesse Gulas and Harley Hazzard on their Yamaha YFZ 450 who also placed 6th overall. Second amateur would go to the local Parker residents Michael Ellsworth, Alex Covarrubias Sr. and Joey Venegas riding their #485 YFZ 450. Third in class for the Amateurs would go to Kristen Matlock (Team Hondas Wayne Matlock’s wife) and her teammate Eric Siraton aboard their Honda 450r. First to cross the finish line though would be #403, the ALBA 450R, followed by #412, another 450R ridden by Nicholas Charlon, Colby Begin and Craig Baker. Third place was seized by Gregory Price, and Mitch and Kevin Canepa on their #409 Honda 450R.

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