As Round 9 of Championship Off Road Racing got under way the Pro 2 Division of trucks took the field in over 100 degree weather. When the green flagged dropped the 800 horsepower monsters came thundering around turn 1 with Todd LeDuc in his Rockstar/Makita truck taking the early lead; however on lap 7 he made an error that would cost him the win. Coming out of the bowl LeDuc got sideways and Rob MacCachren's Rockstar Energy/BF Goodrich truck took full advantage with a clean pass for the lead. All eye's were on the #15 of Jeremy McGrath as the truck had white smoke pouring out of the cab he slowed to a stop going into the bowl and quickly exited the vehicle and ran over to the course workers. A power steering line had burst catching fire and was spraying fluid and flames on McGrath's hands. A later conversation proved it was minor and he would be ready for battle on Sunday. Rounding the top 3 spots were Rob MacCachren in 1st, Todd LeDuc 2nd, and Skyjacker's Scott Taylor finished in the 3rd spot.

For a hundred centuries, grains of sand measuring a mere 2 mm in diameter were swept one by one down the Sevier River into ancient Lake Bonneville. As the lake receded around 8,000 BC, prevailing winds carried these bits of silica across the parched desert, depositing a hundred billion of them on the lee side of a rocky escarpment. Fast forward to the third millennium AD, and you have Little Sahara State Park. Crescent bowls, precipitous mountains, and miles of rolling dunes cover the park. And the best part? Little Sahara is managed by the BLM. Camping is cheap, and there are tons of motorized opportunities available.

This year marked the 40th running of the second-oldest desert race in the world: the Tecate SCORE Baja 500. This year's racecourse covered a very technical and grueling 441.15 miles of Baja California, Mexico, terrain, with over 100 miles of course that had not been raced on in the previous decade, and over 30 miles that had never been raced before. The race started on Saturday, May 31, in downtown Ensenada on Costero Boulevard and finished, for the first time ever, on that same street 20 hours later on Sunday, June 1.

I've done the Baja 500 and the Baja 1000, been to countless MDR, MORE, SCORE, CORR, and BITD off road races in the States, but never have I been to the Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno race. That is until now.

If you're an off-road fan and missed Chula Vista, we feel bad for you because this race was phenomenal. There is just something to be said about the laid back atmosphere of Southern California and the San Diego environment. With the cool ocean breeze, it was never too hot, but defiantly not at all cold, it was a perfect weekend for high speeds, dirt, and awesome jumps!

When you think of Baja what is the first thing that comes to mind? Amazing scenery or maybe adventurous trails that lead you on paths that can invigorate you or destroy you. The Baja 1000 and 500 are both incredible races, where so many people enter but only the strong, devoted, and prepared survive. With rough terrain, rocks, sand pits, and booby traps there is a silence every morning while looking out the Mexican land that calms you. It's as if the race is calling. For many people they will never be able to experience this feeling in first hand.

The fifth Oregon Trail Rally started at Portland International Raceway under a surprisingly brutal sun for the season and locale. Media all over the 115-degree track fought off heat exhaustion as they chased racing legends and would-bes from stage to stage. The Oregon Trail Rally is noted by many as the most technical rally in North America. Portland itself sees roughly, 144 days of sunshine per year. Between wet roads, cliffs, and the way Oregon forest roads are crowned, one can understand why the rally has such an unforgiving reputation. There isn't a lot of room for error. And things get even more interesting when everyone expects rain and Oregon throws heat and dry roads. Numerous racers ended up bringing the wrong tires to the Oregon woods with them. Because the Oregon Trail Rally counted for three separate race series there was good attendance. Sadly, more than half the teams on the stages the weekend of May 16th through 18th failed to finish.

If you're just tuning in, each year, off-roaders gather in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, for the Bloomsburg Four-Wheel Jamboree Nationals. Bloomsburg is all dirt, all the time. Street trucks are allowed in the parking lot, but that's about it. Between the arena and the rest of the fairground areas, there's plenty to peruse. Monster trucks and NMRO Mud Dragsters put high-rev, high-octane entertainment on the menu. The Bloomsburg Fairgrounds were also dripping with show-'n'-shine rigs.

It's been 40 years since the first of the annual races down the Baja Peninsula, and we bet guys like Ron Bishop and Rod Hall can barely believe it. We can barely believe these guys are still doing it! Talk about hardcore! Imagine getting to race in every single Baja 1000 (or Mexican 1000 Rally as it was originally known) race since the beginning and still doing it to this day.

Whiplash Motorsports is a Phoenix-based off-road racing sanctioning body that was formed about 20 years ago and now holds about 10 races a year in various locations across Arizona. The desert racing events have classes for trucks, buggies, motorcycles, quads, and UTVs.

It is that time of year again - the slow season. With most all of the race series drawing to a close or already having completed their season, we are left wondering what to do. This is the perfect time to get out and work on that truck of yours, maybe get it ready to race next season instead of just watching from the sidelines. It would be a good time to break out those desert-racing DVDs you have been meaning to watch. Or you could choose to ignore all of this and go to a race because by the time you read this, the new racing season will have already begun. However you choose to use your time, we hope you had a great off-season and didn't have too bad of racing withdrawals!

Thanksgiving is a time of celebration and recollection combined with good friends and family. you'll find much of the population stuffi ng themselves with holiday food and plopping down on a sofa to catch sports games or headed to the mall. Then there are those who cure the holiday itch with a trip to the sandbox... the Imperial Sand dunes, that is.

Saturday April 26th Race Results (Unofficial)

Pro Lite (Winner Marty Hart #15)

1. Marty Hart
2. Rodrigo Ampudia
3. Chad Hord
4. Todd Cuffaro
5. Jeff Kincaid
6. Bryce Menzies
7. Chris Brandt
8. Jimmy Stephenson
9. Javier Sacio
10. Chuck Demsey
11. Bobby Altamirano
12. Heath Carpenter
13. Dan Pentico
14. Shannon Campbell
15. Bruce Fraley
16. Brian Deegan
17. Robert Naughton
18. Jose Reyes
19. Leroy Loerwald
20. Casey Currie
21. Jeff Huseman
22. John Beyer
23. John Fitzgerald
24. Andy Bargaehr
25. Matt Barney
26. Aaron Daugherty
27. Garit Wallace

Saturday April 26th Race Results (Unofficial)

Pro 2(Winner Rob MacCachren #21)

1. Rob MacCachren
2. Ricky Johnson
3. Carl Renezeder
4. Todd LeDuc
5. Jerry Whelchel
6. Greg Adler
7. Scott Taylor
8. Jeremy McGrath
9. Adrian Cenni
10. Alan Pflueger
11. Steven Sourapas
12. Mike Johnson
13. Jeff Geiser
14. Mike Oberg
15. Mark Jenkins
16. Ross Hoek
17. Scott Schovajsa
18. Evan Evans
19. Mark Shoaff
20. Rodrigo Ampudia
21. Leon Noel
22. Johnny Greaves

Championship Off Road Racing (CORR) roared back to life for the 2008 season with Rounds 1 & 2 being held in Pomona CA on April 26th and 27th 2008.

Be sure to check out Page 2 for even more exciting CORR UTV action!

Saturday April 26th Race Results (Unofficial)

Pro Buggy (Winner Rob MacCachren #921)

1. Rob MacCachren
2. Greg George
3. Larry Foddrill
4. Larry Job
5. Dale Dondel
6. Anthony Verdone
7. Vic Bruckman
8. Steve Sourapas
9. Phil Lewis
10. Chuck Cheek
11. Mike Halliday
12. Randy Minnier
13. Brandon Coyne
14. Jake Capriotti
15. Mike Porter
16. Jay Halsey
17. Greg Foster
18. Kevin Carter
19. Phil Bollman
20. John Cooley
21. Andrew Alsobrook
22. Doug Fortin
23. Corry Heynen
24. Aaron Hawley
25. Malcolm Pointon
26. Mike Dondel
27. Joe Heger
28. Rob Archibald
29. Scott Peterson
30. Shawn Gibson

Saturday April 26th Race Results (Unofficial)

Pro 4 (Winner Carl Renezeder #1)

1. Carl Renezeder
2. Johnny Greaves
3. Scott Douglas
4. Rick Huseman
5. Kyle LeDuc
6. Adrian Cenni
7. Josh Baldwin
8. Jerry Daugherty
9. Tim Herbst
10. Steven Barlow
11. Mike Jenkins
12. Travis Coyne
13. Ed Herbst
14. Troy Herbst
15. Curt LeDuc

It was a beautiful, crisp September morning in Silverton and we were looking for gold! Aspen gold, that is. We had come north to this southwestern Colorado town for the fall color extravaganza but it appeared we had arrived a few days too early. The fall colors are fickle and fleeting and the signature golden hue we sought was still limited to a few small clumps of trees in the immediate area. From experience, we knew local color conditions can vary widely from valley to valley so we immediately put "Plan B" into effect. If the color wouldn't come to us, we would go seek it out! Our destination for the day was to be the ghost town of Carson, perched high on the Continental Divide, almost 30 miles distant. Covering that much ground increased our chances of finding some of the brilliant trees that we were seeking. The fact that the area we would be traversing is some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the entire country did very little to dissuade us either.

Way too long, that's what it had been. The last time a green flag flew to start a CORR race in SoCal, it was a different world. Mr. Clinton still occupied the Oval Office, and 9/11 was only significant because it was the day after 9/10 and the day before 9/12. Yes, it was a different world.

We stood around the breakfast truck and sipped our coffee while we watched the first Jeeps pick up their lunch bags and rumble up the trail -- the Rubicon Trail that is. There were some very impressive vehicles, clearly capable of the challenge ahead. To my surprise though, there was also a good number of what looked like nearly bone-stock TJs and YJs. I wondered if they really knew what they were driving into. The Jeepers Jamboree is considered the oldest, toughest, and largest organized event of its type in the world. On a 1 to 10 scale of difficulty, it's a 10. This was the 53rd Annual Jeepers Jamboree, and the vehicles that filed past did say Jeep on the hood, so of course they were suited for this event, right? Hmm?

Australia, the Land Down Under, home of 5-meter crocs, kangaroos that can look you straight in the eye, Fosters beer, and the late great Steve Irwin. Australia is also home to one of the premier off-road endurance events on the planet: the Outback Challenge (OBC). For anyone who has never experienced a multiday 4x4 endurance contest or ventured into the vast and remote regions of the Australian Outback, the OBC is worth checking out.

Championship Off Road Racing (CORR) roared into Texas for the first time late last year. Series racing ran, October 18-20, 2007, with two nights of racing at the Texas Motor Speedway dirt track. The dirt track was completely redesigned to 0.57 miles of whoops, turns, jumps, and many challenges for this CORR race series and was met with mixed, mostly positive, reviews by the drivers.

To the Longfields, to the Newfields, to the Profields -- this story is dedicated to you, the aftermarket birfield manufacturers. A few short years ago and this trail report would not have been possible. Like everything else in this fast-paced world, though, rockcrawling technology is improving by leaps and bounds. As vehicles get more capable, trails become passable that would have been considered unrealistic in the past. One such trail is Coyote. Sorry for the pun, but this trail is ugly. This fact, however, did not deter our group of Toyota pickup owners from attempting it. After running Pritchett Canyon the previous day as part of the Toyota Land Cruiser Association's Cruise Moab event, Denver's Homegrown Crew was hungry for more. And more is exactly what they got with the Coyote Trail.

Yeah, man. I tell ya what, man. That dang ol' Cavanal hill, man. Woowee. Tell you 'bout Poteau, Oklahoma. Love that wheelin', man. You just go there and rev-brake, rev-brake. Axle-break, transfer-case climb there, man. An' lotsa nekkid, wicked wheelin'. Yup, love those bus-like rigs like catnip. Yup, it's all wild wheelin', uh-huh.