2014 Race SeasonJanuary 11, 2014Purvines Racing/Beta Race TeamJanuary 11, 2014 marked the beginning of the race season for Purvines Racing/Beta off road racing team. As always the season started with the Best in the Desert “THR Parker 250”. This year Jeremey Purvines /Curtis Bradley would be defending their 250 championship aboard the Beta 250RR and Nick Burson/Justin Morrow will be vying for the Open Pro Championship which has eluded them the past three years. They would be racing aboard the Beta 498RR. Friday January 10, 2014 the team arrives in Parker and preps for tomorrow event. Sign up, Tech inspection and racers meeting completed and then the team was treated to a homemade spaghetti dinner cooked by Sheila Purvines that she and Ron Purvines had brought all the way from home in Henderson, NV. New sponsor Klim Riding Gear passed out new gear to all the racers. 6D Helmet also presented each Purvines racer with a new racing helmet. Collin Woolsey, team mechanic, put the final race prep on the bikes and all retired to their rooms at Blue Water Resort. Race Day Saturday 1/11/14 This year BITD started the race at 7:30 AM which was a little later then years past and the racer appreciated the extra day light at the start of the race. Open Pro team Burson/Morrow was set to be the 6th team to leave the starting gate as each pro team was sent out one at a time on one minute intervals. Justin Morrow would be the racer starting on the bike with Nick Burson waiting at the midway pit 30 miles into the 80 mile loop. Jeremey Purvines would start for the dual Purvines/Bradley, leaving the starting line in the 7th starting position. The first thirty miles was fast and dusty and Justin completed the first thirty miles in just less than 30 minutes. Justin was making good time and had closed the gap on the 4th and 5th place teams at the midway pit. The bike was gassed and Nick Burson got on the bike and continued the chase. Jeremey also had a good run and handed the bike off to Curtis leading the 250 Pro Class. Five miles into his section of the race disaster struck and Nick had a rear flat. Nick continued with the flat and even made a pass on the team running in 5th. At mile marker 62 the rear tire came off the rim and stopped Nick dead in his tracks. Nick being resourceful and was lucky enough to have stop near a highway crossing was able to borrow a cell phone and call Collin for help. A BITD course worker was allow to take a rear wheel, tools and a bike stand to Nick. After the tire change Nick continued on with hopes to finish and salvage some points towards the Championship. When Nick arrive back at the Midway pit he informed Justin the bike was having transmission issues and was popping out of 5th gear so skip 5th and from 4th go directly to 6th. Meanwhile the 250 Pro Team Purvines/Bradley were enjoying a flawless race and still leading the 250 Pro Division when they had their second racer exchange at the midway pit. Morrow/Burson team’s bad luck continued and the transmission expired on Justin and they were unable to finish. The N1 bike of Bell/Brabec THR Kawasaki team also experienced engine issues and were forced to retire from the race. Both bikes were brought back to the finish in the same recovery truck. So it was a bitter sweet day for Purvines Racing with Jeremy Purvines/Curtis Bradley taking the win in the 250 Pro Division and the Open Pro entry suffering a DNF. 1st N2 David Pearson/Tuffy Pearson, 2nd N45 Stouard/ Kundert, 3rd Sammy Bangert/ Skyler Howes District 37Jackrabbits Hare and HoundJanuary 12, 2014Nick Burson racing didn’t end at the disappointing THR Parker 250. He now had to return to Ridgecrest from Parker and get ready to race Sunday at the opening round of the District 37 Desert race series Jackrabbits Hare and Hound. We arrived in Ridgecrest with time to make the final prep on the race bike and watch the Phoenix Suppercross. Plus enjoy a good spread of food put out by Alison Burson while we watched the Supercross. A good night’s sleep and we were up at 6 AM to head out to the Ridgecrest Desert to Teagle Wash. Nick got signed up, practice the bomb and he rested while he waited for the ten AM start. Race bike was given the once over and topped off with gas. Nick headed out to the start at 9:30 AM to secure his spot on the starting line. The banner was raised at 10 AM and when it was dropped Nick wasn’t able to get his bike started as quickly as he would have liked and was forced to take another line then the one he had practice due to the dust. At the end of the bomb and maybe a few miles into the race Nick was running 5th. By the first check and road crossing Nick had moved into 2nd place and was right on the rear wheel of Evan Kelly, another racer from Ridgecrest and son to Tom Kelly a fast off road racer from the past. Evan and Nick battle for a while till Nick was able to make the pass and pull away a little. Coming into the pits after 31 miles of Ridgecrest desert it was Nick Burson leading with about a minute gap on 2nd Evan Kelly. Nick took on a fresh pair of X-Brand goggles and a full tank of gas and continued on to the 2nd loop. At the finish and the completion of 60 plus miles of desert terrain Nick crossed the finish line in first place. He was greeted there by his pit crew Dad, Mom, Maddy and of course Copper, his dog along with crowd of race fans cheering for his victory. Nick also collected one hundred dollars for catching the hare who took off ten minutes ahead of the Expert start. Evan Kelly was 2nd; Morgan Crawford was 3rd and 1st vet. Nick’s next race is a district 37 Los Coyotes Qualifier Sunday 1/19/14 at LPNF. Team Sponsors: American Beta, GPR, 6D Helmets, Klim Riding Gear, SiDI Boots, Fasst Company, EKS Brand Goggles, Dunlop, FMF, Fastway, Motul, RK Racing Chain, AME Grips, TBT Suspension, BRP, Matrix, HBD Graphics
the whole kit looks great, lots of Italian Racing RED the bikes look super well race prepped bravo Purvines racing!! Sano!
