Adam Householder Triumphs in King Shocks Laughlin Desert Classic

Adam Householder scored the Trick Truck class and overall victories as the 2020 Best in the Desert season continued this weekend with the return of the King Shocks Laughlin Desert Classic. The unique two-day race format, which saw cars and trucks run four laps each on both Saturday and Sunday, saw Householder post the weekend-best time of 2:09:38, just over two minutes better than the runner-up Trick Truck led by Kevin Thompson. Former BITD champion Jason Voss completed the Trick Truck podium.

Laughlin proved to be a battle of attrition, with Apdaly Lopez falling short of the finish in Tony Smiley’s truck by just half a mile to hand the victory to Hourseholder. A dramatic Class 1500 battle also shaped much of Sunday’s action: first, James Dean stopped on track to change a belt from the lead, and Bob Lofton later rolled from the top spot. In the end, Sam Berri ended up taking the top spot in the 1500 standings.

Class 6100, meanwhile, produced a highly compelling fight for the win. Kyle Craft and James Dean beat Ryan Hancock for the class victory by just 31 seconds, while Troy Messer ensured that the three podium finishers in class were all within a minute of one another. In fact, the 6100 battle was so tight that the entire top 10 was within 10 minutes of one another at race’s end.

Alongside the car and truck action, the event began on Thursday with the Baja Designs UTV Night Race, the only event of its type on the BITD calendar. Defending UTV Turbo champion Mitch Guthrie Jr. took his first win of the season in the premier class, while last year’s UTV Unlimited champion Michael Isom also scored a victory in his class and Kolton Hustead topped the UTV Production category.

Class results from the King Shocks Laughlin Desert Classic were as follows:

Trick Truck

Pos. No. Driver Home Laps Total Time
1 24 Adam Householder Yorba Linda, CA 8 02:09:38.655
2 70 Kevin Thompson New Braunfels, TX 8 02:12:10.264
3 35 Jason Voss Cupertino, CA 8 02:14:20.371
4 27 Steve Olliges Las Vegas, NV 8 02:19:52.394
5 58 Tracy Graf Sylvan Lake, AB 8 02:20:28.148
6 47 Carrie Smiley Buckeye, AZ 8 02:32:37.322
7 84 John Bowers Norco, CA 8 02:34:28.951
8 69 Carty Beal Midland, TX 8 02:47:40.519
9 2 Tony Smiley Buckeye, AZ 7 01:49:09.793
10 127 Jonathan Brenthel Murrieta, CA 7 01:55:07.455
11 38 Eric Hustead St. George, UT 7 02:03:10.886
12 25 Jax Redline Amarillo, TX 7 02:07:31.901
13 41 Justin Lofton Brawley, CA 6 01:35:05.767
14 32 Shawn Croll Corona, CA 5 01:34:46.858
15 45 Scott Schovajsa Dayton, TX 5 01:53:09.730
16 68 Joe Miller Wildomar, CA 4 01:07:30.543
17 33 Brett.. Comiskey Yucaipa, AZ 4 01:12:49.388
18 100 Dale Dondel Temecula, CA 2 00:30:41.224

Class 1500

Pos. No. Home Laps Total Time
1 1549 Murphys, CA 8 02:29:59.523
2 1513 Las Vegas, NV 8 02:51:28.021
*3 1529 Riverside, CA 8 02:59:50.383
4 1541 Brawley, CA 7 02:02:15.545
5 1575 Henderson, NV 7 02:06:04.558
6 1583 Palos Verdes, CA 5 01:28:24.354
DNF 1562 Las Vegas, NV 0 00:00:00.000

Class 6100

Pos. No. Driver Home Laps Total Time
1 6102 Kyle Craft Corona, CA 8 02:17:21.699
2 6118 Ryan Hancock Yuma, AZ 8 02:17:52.196
3 6117 Troy Messer Kingman, AZ 8 02:18:06.363
4 6175 Dustin Grabowski Alta Loma, CA 8 02:18:07.925
5 6139 Terry Householder Yorba Linda, CA 8 02:19:25.199
6 6149 Ray. Griffith Downey, CA 8 02:19:53.308
7 6108 Chad Dohrman Murrieta, CA 8 02:19:59.886
8 6147 Scott Shields El Cajon, CA 8 02:24:06.240
9 6184 Andre Laurin Toronto, ON 8 02:25:27.097
10 6178 Taylor Mills Houston, TX 8 02:27:10.480
11 6120 John Walton Sparks, NV 8 02:30:27.337
12 6190 James P. Scully Long Beach, NY 8 02:31:29.585
13 6116 Neal Drickey Rancho Mirage, CA 8 02:32:54.703
14 6127 Kelly P. Mcarthur Pomona, CA 8 02:36:23.882
15 6150 Joseph Herling Yucaipa, CA 8 02:36:32.938
16 6133 L.d. Smith Commerce City, C 8 02:36:38.096
17 6177 Travis. Williams Avondale, AZ 8 02:38:58.933
18 6132 Steve Croll Corona, CA 8 02:44:06.572
19 6110 Bryan Scheible Georgetown, TX 8 02:57:49.947
*20 6173 Kyle Jergensen Murrieta, CA 8 03:27:10.527
21 6142 Brandon Arthur Ramona, CA 7 02:03:40.784
22 6185 Matt Laughlin Laughlin, NV 6 01:47:09.958
23 6122 Michael Pyle Draper, UT 6 01:48:02.307
24 6159 Dennis Jean Sacramento, CA 6 02:06:17.355
25 6154 Alan Levinson Blue Diamond, N 6 02:44:45.433
26 6153 Adam Ray Lunn Wichita Falls, TX 4 01:10:02.453
27 6157 Trevor Harvey Westminster, CO 4 01:17:43.259

The 2020 Best in the Desert season continues for motorcycles, quads, and UTVs with the Jagged X National Desert Cup, also in Laughlin, on March 20-22. All BITD classes will be on the starting line for the VT Construction Silver State 300 in Alamo, NV on April 30-May 3.

Chris Leone

A veteran of the motorsports industry (both physical and digital), Chris Leone contributes coverage of race events of all types to Off-Road Racer. Elsewhere, he is the marketing/communications manager at iRacing, media director of Jim Beaver's Down & Dirty Show, and a frequent contributor to UTV Underground.