2014 AZOP Racing Gila Bend GP November 15, 2014 Gila Bend, AZ

Gila Bend, AZ (11/19/2014) - The Arizona Off Road Promotions series held their 2nd annual Gila Bend GP at the familiar pit adjacent to Interstate 8.  The town promoted the race and welcomed all the racers.  The race was a success and we are pleased to announce that this will become an annual race every November and with the help of the town we will be racing through the streets of Gila Bend starting in November of 2015! 

The AZOP crew laid out a 4 mile course for this year’s non-points fun race.  The course featured sand, technical tree sections a few hard packed high speed sections and some silt.  The silt in the area is just like the silt beds of the famous Baja races. 

The AZOP Gila Bend GP featured a variety of terrain including silt beds

The Pee-Wees and minis starting the racing at 8:15am.  Aydian Olguin won the 80cc ATV class, other winners included: Jaxon McDonald, Travis Wells, Gunner Deatherage and Jackson Bluth. 

The next race featured all of the big bike classes. Erik King, who won, led every lap of the Pro race followed by Wyatt Perry and Mike Villegas. The Expert class victory went to Chad McHugh.  Kene Kona won the Sportsmen class over 8 other entries.  The biggest class was the 30+ Vet class.  Dustin Bluth won the class and he was followed by a great battle for 2nd place between Kyle Fondrulia and Rod Terry.  Kyle took over 2nd place on the second to last lap and held on to take 2nd.

Race number 3, featured ATV’s and NINE ATC’s aka 3 wheelers!  The 3 wheelers were the real crowd pleasers with many tricked out machines on the starting line. 

Three-wheeler racing was a big hit at the AZOP Gila Bend GP

Conrad Funke led the race from green to checker winning the Open Pro class and the $250 cash payout. He was closely followed by Gregg “Father Time” Conroy.  Shannon Gladdem made a last lap pass to win the Open Expert Division over Chuck “The Wildman” Borges.  There were 8 Sportsmen ATV’s battling the course and the win went to Travis Crawford.

The ATC’s left the line last and they raced for 45 minutes.  BDT Motorsports rider David Ham won the class by completing 6 laps aboard his Honda ATC.  Paul Proctor took second place among the ATC’s.

Ten UTV’s lined up for the next race.  The UTV’s ended up setting the fastest lap times of the day but they also had the tree sections removed for them due to being too tight.  The UTV Expert class was won by AZOP regular Angela Olander with 2nd going to Chase Warren both were driving Polaris’s.  Mitch Usko won the UTV Sportsmen class.

The AZOP Gila Bend GP also featured UTV Racing

Following the UTV race the AZOP hosted a 50 mile poker run along the Sonoran Desert and some of the old Gila Bend desert loop that used to be raced by ADRA and Whiplash many years ago.  Following the Poker Run there were lots raffles and many smiling faces. The winner of the Poker Run won $250.

To finish the day AZOP put on a 2-man team race.  This was not originally scheduled but the racers wanted it so AZOP obliged.  The teams lined up for a 90 minute race.  The race was won by Cory and Chad and they were the only team to finish 15 laps within the time limit. The best part was they had to do 5 jumping jacks and then run to their bikes at the start.

The next and final race for the 2014 AZOP series is scheduled for December 13th at Canyon MX Park in Peoria, AZ.  For more information and the latest news please visit http://www.arizonaoffroadpromotions.com/
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