AZOP Racing Mormon Lake Grand Prix

Part of the 2021 AZOP Race Series!

Photos and Story by KarakurtMP (May 2021)

AZOP Racing Rowley White RV Series presented the Mormon Lake Grand Prix at Mormon Lake Lodge in Mormon Lake, AZ. Sponsored by L&D Hydraulics and Sunny's Haul Away Service. Both days of racing were a challenge with the dry and windy conditions other reducing visibility to zero. The track was deceiving around a few turns for some of the racers coming to an unexpected halt putting the Sweeps to work.

First up on Saturday were the Mini Bikes and Pull Start classes lined up 46 riders deep. Three 80-150cc A riders maintained the top podium positions throughout the entire race with 1st place #032 Tristan Andrade from Lake Havasu City having an over minute lead over 4th place. 25 seconds behind Andrade was 2nd place #362 Demarco Dugi, and 3rd place Marley Kuhn. Sunday brought a new pack leader with #168 Samuel Campbell from Gilbert crossing the finish line 22 seconds before 2nd place #78 Jacob Jewell, and 3rd place Tristan Andrade.

83 Big Bikes lined up next each rider attempting the hole shot before reaching the choke point at the first turn. Tate Vanvoorst #415 from New River pulled off dual wins both days with a 14 second lead on Saturday, and a 21 second lead on Sunday. Coming in 2nd on Saturday was #372 Alejandro Cortez Jr, and in 3rd was #590 Matt Dally. On Sunday Dally improved his performance gaining a lap and placing 2nd over 3rd place, #138 Cody Reyes. Big Quads and Trikes were off next with 31 entries including two trikes. Saturday saw Ron Suor #102 destroying the competition with a stunning 2 lap victory over 2nd place #27 Ian Sessions, and 3rd place #65 Ian Kubik. In the Trike class, #71 Paul Airey beat out #208 Ed Hicks. The following day we saw an interesting change on the podium. Ron Suor fell to 3rd and a lap under Saturday, and #199 Jarrett Curley who placed 12th pushed himself to 2nd place. The top spot on the podium was #34 Andrew Simmons with a minute lead.

Three UTV races were next with the first being the 570cc Youth 1000 classes. TJ Siewers #157 and Braden Krah #147 were the excitement of both days. These two were neck and neck battling for 1st often barely squeezing two-wide around turns. In the end, Siewers had a 34 second lead over Krah for 1st. Coming in 3rd over a minute behind Siewers and #566 Alexia Leaming. Sunday brought remarkably similar results with a Siewers and Krah having their own race amongst themselves. Siewers again came in 1st with a 21 second over Krah. Holding true to Saturday's podium positions, Alexia Leaming repeated 3rd place. Second the UTVs to race was the UTV 1000 N/A class with 11 entries. Coming 1st on Saturday was #971 Will Munns out of Flagstaff over 2nd place #1994 Tyler Hurlock and 3rd place #314 Katin Ladin. The next day, Munns was only able to finish 1 lap before breaking a tie rod paving the way for the Tyler Hurlock to place 1st over 2nd place Katin Ladin and 3rd place #169 Mike Aanenson.

Last of the big UTVs was the UTV Turbo and Pro classes. The Winiecki family out of Ehrenberg showed up ready to drive with three separate Winieckis on the track at once bringing home two victories and a 2nd place. Kody Winiecki #903 placed 1st on Saturday with Clayton Winiecki #901 placing 2nd, and #80 Hayden Thomas. On Sunday, Clayton Winiecki remained on the podium to place 1st over Hayden Thomas, and 3rd place #900 John Nix. After the last of the big UTV races came to an end, 9 Mini Quads lined up ready to take off. Both days of Mini Quads ended with the same podium positions with #187 Jayden Llamas coming in first, #10 Sage Mckinney in second, and #47 Ryder Nugent in 3rd.

UTV 170cc Beginner/250cc were on the line next before UTV 170cc Modified/Advanced. In the Beginner/250cc class, #45 Dexter Warren placed 1st both days of racing. On Saturday, #10 Reid Aikins placed 2nd and #411 Cache Crawford placed 3rd. The following day #136 Krew Hart came in 2nd and #210 Triton Lawrence came in 3rd. In the 170cc Modified/Advanced class, #1866 Cameron Leaming came in 1st both days of a racing. Jaxson Leaming #866 came in 2nd on Saturday, and #31 Evan Atkins came in 3rd. On Sunday #130 Kash Hart came in 2nd and #258 Declan Shields placed 3rd.

The final two races were Pee Wee Quads and Pee Wee Bikes. In the Pee Wee Quads #88 Tyler Wade dominated the field both days with a 49 second lead on Saturday and a 36 second lead on Sunday. On Saturday Cain Llamas #623 placed 2nd and Cutter Gehrts #200 placed 3rd. Sunday's race saw Kaiden Lee #31 place 2nd and Cain Llamas placing 3rd.

The last race of both days was the Pee Wee Bikes. Tanner Sutton #51 from Williams raced four time throughout the weekend. Sutton bumped up to the Mini Bike Open class for the Mini Bike race for non-points and won his first 1st place of the weekend in the non-points class, then went on to win overall during the Pee Wee Bike race. The following day, Sutton repeated his performance taking home two more trophies. Coming in 2nd in the Pee Wee Bikes on Saturday was #45 Shay Anderson and in 3rd was #17 Courtney Curley. On Sunday coming in 2nd was #881 Jake Pennington and coming in 3rd was Shay Anderson. As always, the AZOP Racing Rowley White RV Series would like to thank Mormon Lake Fire Department, L&D Hydraulics, Sunny's Haul Away Service, Rowley White RV, and all its sponsors, staff, volunteers, racers, and spectators for making this another great race weekend. For complete race results and upcoming events visit www.azopracing.com.