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Johnson Valley, CA
After taking a 3rd place podium finish at the BITD Parker 425, Brenthel Industries and Kyle Jergensen had scheduled plans to attend the King Of The Hammers (KOH) and race the Toyo Desert Challenge Presented by Monster Energy. Racing the #27 Brenthel Gen 3 Trophy Truck (T1 under the sanctioning of Ultra 4), Kyle composed a monumental effort to chase down a 3rd place podium finish.
The Toyo Desert Challenge at KOH is a standalone desert race and not part of any season or series. This unique event features one of the largest purses in off-road racing and presents a different format as the T1 (Unlimited Truck), T2 (Spec Truck) & B1 (Unlimited Buggy) competed in the same race. Qualifying kicked off Saturday on a 5-mile loop to determine the main race’s starting position. The main race would play out over 304 miles of punishing terrain in Johnson Valley OHV Area and comprised of 3 big laps and 2 smaller laps.
Racers reported a very technical, rough, and rocky track that got beat up even more as the trucks ripped around through the desert. Jergensen realized that patience was going to be a factor to maintaining speed and avoiding any flat tires.
“We had no flats and no mechanical issues. The Brenthel truck was flawless as usual. Shawn (Co-Driver) was calling all his notes very well. Moe and Team Brenthel pits stops were fast and accurate. We never got out of the truck. It was pretty much a textbook perfect day.”
“The truck was set up perfectly with our normal suspension tuning, but as the day wore down, the course became really chewed up, more than we thought it would have. I did not think the track would get so rough. We had a great race going and were 2nd on the course for pretty much the whole time. We could see where we needed to make up time, so we pushed very hard in the tight turns. This had a bizarre effect on driver fatigue. The last two laps were a struggle in the bumps and I was beaten after that. I felt like we did the San Felipe 250 twice. It was rough, very rough and heavily deteriorated with the sand and rocks. We were using every inch of suspension.”
“Everything was great, I just need to gain some speed to be able to compete with Menzies. This is a great and successful finish in the unlimited class and something we have been working very hard for. We needed to get a finish to build some momentum into this year. We have made it on the podium with two 3 rd place finishes and I am not satisfied. Team Brenthel is there is to win.” – Kyle Jergensen
49 vehicles started the race, but only 23 would make it to the finish line and complete all 5 laps. Jergensen started 2nd in class and 4th on the road. Completing the 304 race miles in 5 Hours, 44 Minutes, 19.697 Seconds, Kyle would physically finish ahead of Cameron Steele but lost the position by a mere 14 seconds.
Go to https://brenthelindustries.com or http://www.bajakits.com to find out more about the many services, highly developed suspension systems and race-proven products available from Brenthel Industries.
Action Photos By: Bink Designs & GetSome Photo