Jon Crowley drove the Monster Energy Kawasaki Teryx to victory in the 2010 Valley Off Road Racing Association race near Hawthorne, Nevada. The win was Crowley’s second consecutive victory in VORRA’s desert format and extended a streak that began with the Fallon 250 night race.
The Hawthorne course presented a very different challenge from Fallon. Instead of racing through extreme heat after dark, the team faced a rugged 55-mile loop filled with rocks, ditches, deep sand and substantial elevation changes.
A Race of Survival
After pre-running the course on Saturday, Crowley determined that outright speed would be less important than protecting the Teryx and avoiding the mechanical problems that could end a desert race.
“After pre-running the course on Saturday, I knew the race was going to be about surviving,” Crowley said. “My strategy was to drive smart and minimize damage, and that is just what we did. We started second and just kept the leader in our sight until they stopped for fuel after the first lap. We passed them in the pits and never looked back.”
That strategy placed the Monster Energy Kawasaki team in position to capitalize during the first pit cycle. Once Crowley moved into the lead, the team controlled the race and kept the Teryx at the front.
The victory followed Crowley’s dominant performance at the Fallon 250, where he finished more than 40 minutes ahead of second place. Together, the two results demonstrated the durability of the race-prepared Teryx across two very different Nevada desert courses.
The Kawasaki Teryx Goes the Distance
Crowley competed with the same Kawasaki Teryx in VORRA’s desert and short-course events. That required the vehicle to withstand long, punishing desert loops while remaining competitive on the tighter short-course tracks used elsewhere in the series.
“The car ran great with no flat tires,” Crowley said. “We only had one minor issue, but we kept our Kawasaki out front for most of the race.”
The race Teryx was powered by a Muzzys-built 840cc V-twin engine. Its successful 2010 campaign came during an important period in the history of the Kawasaki Teryx, when teams were proving that the early recreational side-by-side could be developed into a capable desert and short-course race vehicle.
Returning to the Short Course
Hawthorne was VORRA’s final desert race of the 2010 season. The series would next return to short-course competition, where Crowley had already earned a victory earlier in the year.
Winning at Hawthorne gave Crowley victories in consecutive desert events as well as wins in both of VORRA’s primary racing formats. It also reinforced the versatility of a single Teryx prepared to compete throughout the full championship rather than using separate vehicles for desert and short-course races.
Monster Energy Kawasaki Teryx Team Sponsors
The 2010 race program received support from Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing, Muzzys Performance Products, Roggy Enterprises, Fox Racing Shox, Pit Bull Tires, Unisteer, Motorsports Fabrication Services, Funco, DragonFire Racing, Factory UTV, OMF, MSD Ignition, Dalton Industries, Rugged Race Products, Simpson Racing, Beard, Rigid Industries, Baja Designs, iTi Performance Motorsports, Billet King, UTV Inc., Tire Balls and Crowley Offroad.
About the 2010 VORRA Series
The Valley Off Road Racing Association was established in 1975 and combined desert and short-course competition in one championship. During the 2010 season, its events attracted cars, trucks, buggies, ATVs, UTVs and Trophy Karts.
This Hawthorne victory forms part of UTVGuide.net’s firsthand archive of early side-by-side racing, documenting a period when the Kawasaki Teryx was helping establish UTVs as legitimate desert-racing machines.
Photo credit: Bower Motorsports Media
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