Mike Bilek Takes the Overall at MDR California 200

August 15, 2009, Lucerne Valley, California

By the numbers:

Entries 96
Starters 80
Finishers 55
Fast Lap 0:44:34 (Mike Bilek on Lap 1)
Course Length 50 miles
High Temp 96
Low Temp 64
Female Podium Finishers 3

The course was the Lucerne Valley “A” Course, running counter-clockwise from the Start/Finish at Bessemer Mine Rd.  About 4 miles in was the “Rockpile”, the Ojos Negros of the US.   This area has traditionally been a total cluster bomb, with the hard partying crowd pushing the limits of the protective orange snow fence, which lined both sides of the course.

Class 100 (7 starters, 6 finishers)

1st 156 Mike Bilek:  ”Good race for us.  We did the first lap in just under 45 minutes, the rest were a little slower because the winds died down at night and we started getting into the dust.   This was our shakedown for the upcoming Vegas to Reno race and I’m very happy with the outcome.  Don’t forget to mention that my daughter, Alexa took second place in Class 12!”

2nd 181 Robert Pickering: This entry was an extreme last minute decision that they made at 2:30 PM on race day. Pickering & co-dog Mikey Childress were showing the truck at 15th Annual Wrightwood Mountain Classic Car Show when someone asked them if they were going to the MDR race in Lucerne.  A couple of quick phone calls were made; one to the crew for spares and another to Mikey’s dad, Reverend Roy Moore, who rounded up a half dozen Checkers for pit support.  They were able to sponge 25 gallons from Art “the Tech Dude” Savedra and a drum from a 1450 team.  Robert Pickering said, (from RDC Forum), “I took one for the team and stayed in the co-driver’s seat for the entire race.  The plan was that Mikey and I would drive two laps each but since we were in the hunt, I stayed put.” Brenthal Industries is building them a new Class 6 truck which, according to Mikey, is “basically a Trophy truck with a V6 in it.”

3rd place went to 158 Danny Wingerning in his Jimco / Chevy

The rest of the finishers in order were:

199 Bryan Yonan
124 Craig Dillar
197 Rory Ward

Worthy of note is #197, Rory Ward of Racers Only.  Wardy planned to enter as a Sportsman, (to dial in the lights and get a little night experience for the upcoming Baja 1000), until he posted a question on RDC about the course.
The thread lit up with hecklers challenging him to run with the pros in Class 100.  Team Locos Mocos, Total Chaos, Checkers and a group from Tony Tellier’s “Cheeze” list banded together to support his formidable finish.
Rory Ward: “No bitches, moans or complaints from me, although I was hoping for a little more attrition in Class 1.  I guess you could let everyone know we went on a tight budget, only brought 3 guys with me, all my buds showed
up and pitted for me.  No problems except loose bolts on the front end through-rod, which slowed us down a bit.”

As an added note, two of the four racers pitted by the Locos Mocos / Total Chaos team enjoyed podium finishes; Dan Vance and Mike Koenig.

Class 1400 (19 starters, 6 finishers)

1418 Kevin McMurray, Peoria, AZ:  “We had a clean race with no real problems except an electrical issue with our radiator cooling fan.  We jumped out in front early and finished with nearly a fourteen minute lead over second place.” When asked about the high attrition rate, McMurray replied, “Some of the guys are just pushing it too hard in the rough sections.  I backed down and took it easy through the slow stuff and went fast in the fast
sections.”

Finishing order for Class 1400:
1418 Kevin McMurray
1419 Tyler Fain
1429 Dan Vance
1446 Ryan Lewis
1420 Russell Hampton
1435 Nathan Strong

Class 1450 (39 starters, 28 finishers)

MDR’s Class 1450 has the same technical requirements and rules as Class 1400, (blowers and turbochargers are LEGAL in both classes!), with the exception that 1450′s are a sportsman class and in this race, only ran three
laps.  (Classes 100, 1400 and 1600 ran four laps.)

Top five in the 1450 Class were:

1451 Steven Herrera
1499 Geoff Falzone
1486 Mike Koenig
1478 Scott Bicknell
1457 Nick Isenhouer

Class 1600 (4 starters, 4 finishers)

1600 Joe Jeffrey
1624 John Manring
1621 Christy Sizelove
1625 Ed Bonanni

Class 1000 (4 starters, 3 finishers)

1025 Kelly Boyle
1056 David Greenhill
1021 Mark Fusting

Class 1200 (6 starters, 5 finishers)

1203 Terry Ingold
1267 Alexa Bilek
1278 Aaron Farkas
1213 Taylor Mofford
1250 Ben Swift

Congratulations to the three women who took home trophies:  Christy Sizelove, 3rd in Class 1600; Kelly Boyle, 1st in Class 1000; and Alexa Bilek, 2nd in Class 1200.

Based on the radio chatter, there were no apparent injuries, accusations, course violations, or other hooliganism to report. Kudos to MDR, for running a successful and fun event.  Kras

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