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January 7, 2012
Best in the Desert Parker 250
This past weekend saw Cook Off-Road Racing taking on the Best in the Desert at Parker Az. The weekend began with tech and registration at the Blue Water Resort on friday, UTV's were rolling in right until the close of tech. At final count we had 24 vehicles signed in, a new record for Best in the Desert. The Rigid Industires / Fabtech / Torco Motor Oils / Griffin Radiators sponsored UTV was through tech with flying colors. We headed out to the main pits for final prep and to put our race plan into action. This race we teamed up with our racing partner Dennis Jean in the #1949 XMF sponsored UTV. Since the vehicle was so well prepped by our crew chief Jeff Correia there was very little to do, checked all the nuts and bolts and put the car cover on for the night.
0530 am rolls around pretty quick on race morning but the team was up and getting ready before the sunrise, by 0645 we were staged and poised to run. At about 0730 our race began the mighty Rzr left the line in a blaze of glory. The ride was pretty uneventful for about the first 15 miles but after that the rzr began to sputter on the low end, our new throttle body was not performing as it should, as we continued on. We found the rzr ran fine at the top end wide open, but when we slowed into the turns it was evident we had an issue. Our team worked very hard trying to overcome the issues at hand and it seemed we had. At the mid way pits we had moved into second place behind Matt Parks in the Jagged sponsored Polaris, but as we entered the mid way pits I noticed our team mate Dennis Jean hard on our tail as we exited the pits Dennis took us on the inside line and never looked back. As we continued on Dennis had stretched out and we kept a 2 mile buffer between us.
We finally found our rythm in the dirt and things seemed to be on pace, we had settled into 3rd place with about 15 minutes over 4th place. Then it happened the dreaded flat tire, can't really say I was to surprised after the rock garden we had just gone through. Since my co-rider (Brendan Cook) and I have had so few flats on our Maxxis Tires we were a little rusty on the procedure, took a little longer but we got the job done. By the time we were back under way the train of vehicles chasing us had not only caught us but passed us. From this point on I put it all out to try and catch up. At the end of lap one we rolled into the pits took on fuel did a once over on the car and then back to work hunting down the pack. We only had one lap to get back into the hunt and try as we did the mighty Rzr was able to finish in 8th place. Our partner Dennis Jean came from way back in the pack to pull off a truly David v. Goliath finish by placing 2nd against the Polaris factory backed team of Matt Parks and Team Jagged-X.
Just finishing this race was a big accomplishment after our dissapointing 2011 season. The Rzr S motor supplied by Cal Custom Polaris never missed a beat, the motor stayed well lubicated by the fine products supplied by Torco Motor Oils, the motor was exhaling with ease due in part to our Muzzy Performance exhaust, and of course you could see the car even through the thickest silt with our Rigid Industries lights. All of our sponsors had a pivotal role in our finish and all of us at Cook Off-Road Racing would like to thank, Fabtech Motor Sports, NOS Energy Drinks, Grant Steering Wheels, OMF Wheels, Zamped Helmets, Pink Divas, 4130 Clothing, Cal Hot Coatings, Optima Batteries, Cargo Buckles.
Stay tuned for more exciting off-road racing action, you can find us next weekend at the Sobobba Grand Prix co-piloting with Team Jean. In february I will again be on board with Team Jean at King of the Hammers. In March you will find the mighty Cook Off-Road Racing Rzr on Fremont St in downtown Las Vegas preparing for the Mint 400, see everyone soon....
You must first finish to finish first!
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Well the dust has finally settled on the 2011 BITD season and for some of us it wasnt pretty. We placed 6th overall. The Fabtech UTV team (aka Cook Off-Road Racing) never gave up, we had 5 engine failures at 5 races not the kinda thing that wins championships, but nevertheless we worked through our issues and with the help of Trevor at Cal Custom Polaris we pulled a rabbit out of the hat for Henderson. We purchased a crate rzr S motor and we were off to the races. The Fabtech Rzr never missed a beat at Henderson, a true testament to "Keep it Simple".
The Fabtech team came together early this year when we added our newest sponsor and co-driver Tammy Faulkner of Pink Divas apparel. We not only got Tammy but the complete package with her husband Dan, her father, and who could forget Deanne and Velvet, Instant pit crew.
My Crew Chief Jeff Correia was simply amazing, coming to my house during the week working late into the night, pulling the motor umpteen times. He was the cornerstone of our program.
And who could forget our Pit Queen yes my wife Gina, she was the voice in my radio that kept me calm during the many disasters, she stepped up and took care of all our pit needs including running the chase vehicles across the desert.
The rest of the team, Ricky Leard of TRM, this is the guy you want to have in the desert when things go wrong, my sons Colton and Brendan for filling in behind the wheel and for their never ending support for me and the sport, love you guys.
And finally a big thank you has to go out to my other co-driver whom I co-drive with in the VORRA series Dennis Jean #1959, he has been one of my best friends and closests allies this season, when things were really looking down at V2R he pulled me aside to tell me we can make this better, and we did!!
I would like to thank our many sponsors for without them we could not do what we do, Fabtech Motorsports(the name says it all), Rigid Industries Damon and Taylor you guys are the bomb, you made daylight in the dark your lights are unbelievable!, NOS Energy Drinks, gave us that little extra push when we had to pull a late night thrashing on the car, Maxxis Tires, Scott and Heather you guys gave us tires that never went flat looking forward to them for next year,Red House BBQ Manno you kept us fed with some of the tastiest BBQ in the world, Optima Batteries Jimmy Day you kept us charged and running, Muzzy Performance Murray thanks for the bolt on power from our exhaust, Holz Performance Matt who was always there for my questions, OMF Wheels Tim and Bones great guys, Torco Motor Oils Ernie thanks for all your lubricating support, Rugged Race Products Chris can you hear me now thanks for the radios, Cal Hot Coatings Alex you always came through for us with your fabricating and powder coating skills.
This is my 2011 racing summary, we here at Cook Off-Road Racing have learned so much this past season that we can't wait to attack the 2012 season. You can look for us to be at all the Best in the Desert races, VORRA races, and some HDRA races the season finale will see us at the starting line for the Baja 1000, yes you heard it the BAJA 1000 this will be our year! Look forward to seeing some of you next year, and thanks for all the support this past year.
Sean Cook
Cook Off-Road Racing #1930
Gallery (click on the image to enlarge):
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