Season 2 of the Purple Bull Scramble kicked off Saturday within the dunes of Glamis. Though many faces starting from World Rally-Raid Championship stars Seth Quintero and Austin Jones to the good Robby Gordon and his son Max Gordon headlined the cardboard, newly minted Purple Bull athlete and actual property agent Corbin Leaverton got here out on prime.
Leaverton, who gained the Purple Bull Excessive Desert Scramble and the Finest In The Desert Trophy Limitless title alongside Cody Bradbury in 2023, continued his momentum into 2024 by profitable the Professional class remaining forward of pole-sitter Chase Carr and Shawn Saxton. Carr had dominated the race by main the primary 4 laps earlier than Leaverton handed him on the ultimate circuit to attain the win.
Jones, two weeks faraway from profitable the Challenger class on the W2RC’s Abu Dhabi Desert Problem, positioned fifth. He narrowly edged out Michael McFayden for the top-five end, the latter a brand new Honda Manufacturing unit Off-Street Racing Talon driver; McFayden’s colleague Ethan Ebert, who races the crew’s Honda Ridgeline in SCORE Worldwide competitors, retired from the ultimate.
“I’m tremendous conversant in this space as a result of I do so much for Dakar and Abu Dhabi out right here in these dunes,” stated Jones. “I’ve been right here so much however I’ve by no means performed a race right here. The course that they arrange was completely insane. It was the right mixture of actually quick and enjoyable and slightly little bit of sketchy to maintain everybody sincere.”
The Gordon household, getting into their first Scramble Collection race, had combined outcomes. Robby completed third in his warmth race whereas Max was pressured to retire from his when the belt got here off his SPEED UTV. The youthful Gordon’s remaining then ended on the opening lap when his rear tyre clipped a dune and despatched him right into a roll. Robby stopped to verify on Max and one other driver who crashed the identical lap, costing him roughly forty-five seconds. Max prevented harm whereas the automobile remained in comparatively good situation with a lot of the injury being to the trailing arm.
Quintero completed second within the warmth however mechanical hassle relegated him to fourteenth within the remaining. The reigning W2RC Challenger champion was making his return to driving a UTV, having moved as much as a Toyota Hilux for the 2024 season.
Kaden Isobella gained the Sportsman remaining for novice racers.
With Glamis out of the way in which, the Honda drivers now flip their consideration to Saturday’s SCORE season-opening San Felipe 250 whereas the Gordons proceed creating their SPEED UTV marque and kit up for the Stadium Tremendous Vehicles opener at Lengthy Seashore in April. Quintero and Jones rejoin the W2RC subsequent month in Portugal.
The second spherical of the 2024 Purple Bull Scramble, the Ranch Scramble in Texas, is on 4 Could.
