The 2021 Dirt Rebelution put a capstone on Legacy Racing Association’s inaugural season for motorcycles, quads and UTV’s. With Championship titles on the line for multiple teams, a wrinkle of conflict presented itself that created extra drama for the finale. Per Legacy rules, the Racer of Record representing a team is allowed to miss one event in the Legacy Series and have a fill-in Racer participate on their behalf. For the Ironman classes, Legacy reached out to all Ironman participants and asked them if they wanted to allow this same rule to apply for only this one event. With everyone on board, the Championship race could officially get under way. For all those that could not be in attendance, the Dirt Rebelution event in its entirety was being Live Streamed. Just after sunrise in the cool morning air at Iron Springs Resort in Cedar City, Utah, the motorcycles and quads took to the course. Many of the teams had not visited this part of the country before and some were surprised with the cooler weather.
The pro motorcycles were first off the line. Otto Pearson and Karson Boyce (88Z), had a
slight advantage being more familiar with the terrain and temperature. Both are from Pioche, Nevada which is approximately 90 miles from Cedar City. They were able to get ahead of the pack and keep the lead for the duration of the race. Taylor Stevens (95M) was able to keep them in his sights until he stopped for a down rider, who happened to be his sister Shania Stevens (25W) after she had crashed into a tree resulting in her being out of the race. Taylor pushed on, knowing she was in good hands, to finish off the race and secure the Ironman Pro Class Championship. Otto and Karson not only snagged 1st Place in 399 Pro class, they also took home the Overall win in the first race.
In Open Pro, Danny Cooper had Chris Fry and Nacoma McCormack (7X) share riding duties where they locked up the 2021 Championship and were awarded the 1X number plate for the 2022 season. In Open Expert, Tyler Harvey piloted the 122 solo as teammate Eric Holt was running for a secondary championship. Tyler held a solid pace with no major issues resulting in a win and earning them the 2021 Class Championship. In the Over 30 Expert class, team 316 of Steve Hammack and Roy Ulrich had a great day on course. After completing Lap 2, Roy flagged down a Legacy Race Official in the main pit just to say, “This is the best time I’ve had racing in 6 years, what a great race course.” And it showed. Ulrich put in fast laps and earned a time good enough for an overall top 5 finish in the Motorcycle and Quad Race and taking home the win and class championship.
Our Open amateur Champions 193 Thomas Tangedal and Brian Lopez played paper rock
scissors at the start line to determine who would start the race. Rumor has it that it’s been played all year by this team. The Race to Erase 22 team had a solid finish to the year with a class win and 1st in year end points.
The Ironman Class was where the heat really was. The championship would be determined by this race. 713 Krista Conway had the lead going into this event but 720 Darian Hickey was right behind her. 712 Ashley Ross was still in the hunt and was just waiting for her chance to sneak into the top spot. It was a close race with 720 Hickey taking home 1st place in class for the weekend. However, 713 Conway was still able to snag first place in the year end championship beating out Darian by only 1 point! Ashley was able to keep hold of third place for the year.
The Quad Utility class saw some great lap times by the 1A Don Higbee and Cody Mitchell.
They had some serious speed taking home the class win, class championship and the 3rd overall fastest time in the Motorcycle and Quad Race. The Quad Expert 844 Romans saw some mechanical issues which took them out of the race. However, they were still able to clench the Class Championship!
Early in the afternoon, the start line for UTV’s was buzzing. As they got the green light, rather than going full throttle, the course led them right to a narrow tunnel they would have to navigate through. Many drivers were convinced it was not wide enough for their UTVs to fit through and even brought out their own measuring tapes to check for themselves. Contrary to their opinions, they all indeed made it through the tunnel with no issues. Their mirrors, however, got their fair share of scratches. Those blemishes were not only from the tunnel wall but the trees that lined a lot of the course. The race blemishes were all about sharing the love.
The Turbo championship came down to this last race. Dan Fisher (T910) had the lead over Ryan Piplic (T815) coming into the final round where anything is possible. Ryan had to finish first in order to secure the championship over Dan. As they charged off the start line and into Lap 1, Dan experienced some physical sickness and had to slow down, turning the lead over to Ryan giving him the advantage. By the end of Lap 2, Dan was too sick to continue the driving effort and had to relinquish the steering wheel and become part of the Pit Crew. Even though Ryan’s UTV came across the line first, Kolton Hustead had put on a late race burst of speed and had closed the gap rapidly. Kolton physically crossed the finish line second, but he had everyone guessing if he had made up enough time on Ryan. After verifying the official race clock, Ryan was able to maintain first place with Kolton coming in second officially. Andrew Blood (T810) battled back from an early race tip over to secure a third place finish. With Ryan not able to be in two places at once, he had Larry Heidler do the driving duties. It was an exciting moment to be there at the finish when Larry called Ryan and told him the news that they had won the race and the 2021 Class Championship in the UTV Turbo class. A double win weekend for Ryan.
In the UTV Naturally Aspirated class, going into this event, Maddie Wedeking (1908) had a 43-point lead over second place Austin Bolton (1957). Essentially, Maddie had to start the race in order to take home the #1 plate for the 2021 season. She did just that but also maintained the race lead from start to finish taking home first for the weekend.
Austin had his Dad, Joe Bolton, do the driving duties for him and he was able to cross the finish line in second place taking home second place in the class championship. Mike Podratz (1951) came into the event sitting in third place points but had mechanical issues that took him out of competition early on in the race. But, Mike had a large enough points lead to maintain his third place championship position even with the DNF.
In UTV Unlimited, rookie Nolan Williams had a great 1st year racing. Not only did he win Dirt Rebelution but he won 3 out of the 4 events he competed in this year giving him his very first UTV Class championship. Sportsman class S915 Craig Macintosh with Desert Racing Vets had Vet Miles Kimberly riding for the first time in a UTV as his co-driver. They enjoyed the tight and twisty course as they raced for their Championship. Our youngest two Class Champions are in the Stock UTV and took home 1st and 2nd. U927 Jack Olliges (14) dominated this season and snagged 1st place. U969 Gavin Wardle (13) who is the youngest driver racing, was able to keep hold of 2nd place in the championship. Gavin seemed to always be our last UTV across the line the first half of the season but after some seat time under his belt he started to move up in the pack.
Photos Courtesy of Dirt Nation & UTV Sports
Official results are posted on LegacyRacing.net as well as final point standings. Head over to the Legacy Racing Broadcast YouTube Channel to rewatch the Livestream of the Dirt Rebelution.
Legacy Racing Tread Lightly Spit Shine
On Sunday, November 7, Legacy Racing Association, in partnership with Tread Lightly! - America’s leading outdoor ethics and education organization, hosted a stewardship event at Iron Springs. Competitive events like Legacy’s are part of the one hundred fifty million dollars of economic impact annually added to Utah. However, the Legacy leadership knew it wasn’t enough to simply put some money into the local economy, they wanted to take something too. And what they took was a dumpster full of trash. With Legacy’s successful “Dirt Rebelution” off-road race wrapped up the day before, the leadership saw the perfect opportunity to get their available team of racers, staff, volunteers, and local members involved in the community and give back even more to Iron County.
Sunday Morning, a few dozen volunteers, from all over the nation met at the Dirt Rebelution finish line and took on the task of removing roadside litter and debris, along Iron Springs Road south of the Iron Springs Resort.
It is events like these that allow the motorized off-road community to give back some of their time to protect the resources that call us to the backcountry” said Mathew Giltner a Treadlightly! Volunteer. “Without the support of groups like Legacy Racing Association, providing a positive stewardship message of responsible off-road recreation your right to access your public lands, would become increasingly difficult”.
Volunteers donated over 150 hours of time to the cleanup event, and removed over twenty yards of debris. Legacy Racing and Tread Lightly! are grateful for the volunteers, race teams and staff that showed up to give back to the communities we race in. For more information about these groups visit treadlightly.org and legacyracing.net
2021 Legacy Racing Championship Celebration
Please join us December 17, 2021 as we celebrate our class champions at the Legacy Racing Championship Celebration here in Las Vegas at the Suncoast Hotel & Casino.
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