And so it begins...
Photos by Falconer Photo
As this is the First Installment of the "USDR BLOG", a place where the USDR staff (probably mostly myself) will be connecting with the ridership and general public, I'd like to start by giving a little background on myself, my involvement in the series and the series itself.
The US Desert Racing series began in 2006 and was the brain child of D37, DRA, Baja, Alta Vista, Drag Racing Superstar Dave Earll. He saw a need for a series that was welcoming to all riders but would be professionally ran and promoted to also attract the top pros in the desert. We saw a HUGE full page add for the series and we signed up! I promptly broke my wrist at the 1 mile marker... BUT Ryan (my brother) finished 3rd Overall PRO to then Factory Yamaha Racer Russell Pearson and Oregon Honda Native Dylan Murdock.
That started our love affair with the series and we added every round to our 29 race schedule! The next two full seasons of USDR I earned the Open Championship and with being at every single round of the series, filming my own 5-6 minute videos and editing them up, and spending most of my time trolling the boards I sort of became the unofficial racer spokesmen for the series.
In 2009/10 USDR had grown to one of the largest local desert racing series' in the Southern California area with close to 400 entrants at every round complete with a full blown kids series and a strong Pro program. It had become a "Craddle to Grave" experience with kids as young a 3 and adults as old as 75 participating and having a BLAST.
THEN in mid 2010 the offroad community had a HUGE hit and a near death experience to organized desert racing as we know it with the Truck racing tragedy over the summer with the California 200 crash. Along with that came the down turn in the economy which effected Dave and his personal business, Trac Dynamics, which would shift his focus from USDR to the shop and he had to find some one to take over operations of the series. 2011 was a tough season with the loss of a Round due to Cost Recovery and Insurance issues that were continually being changed due to the accident and over the summer it was time to regroup, reformat and revamp the series to keep up with the changing situation in the desert.
This is where I enter the picture!
At the end of the 2010 I had broken my collar bone, canceling my trip to Baja to ride with the 4th overall Finishing team, however I raced just a week later none the less... THEN in February of 2011 I broke my collar bone again! I know it sounds like I get hurt a lot but really I dont... So over the summer of 2011 I approached Dave and offered up my help to keep the series going... And after thinking long and hard about it he decided to give me a shot at it.
Leading up to volunteering for USDR I had spent the last 15 years of my life promoting concerts and local events, had been race referee for our club's Night Races and Enduro's for the past 4 years and became president of the Western Enduro Promoters Group in 2010. With that experience it just felt like the time was right to step up and help the series that I loved so much.
The biggest downer was that I would have to hang up my racing helmet for the series and pick up the bull horn, but honestly if everyone has a smile on their face then I WIN!
For the remainder of 2011 we kicked butt! We hosted an awesome round out in Charlies Place, another one in Anza (which was a first for USDR) and then wrapped up the series with the best weather and best course EVER. It was a great way to end the season!
Fast forward over the winter and bring us to the start of the 2012 Season! Not only have we totally restructured the series, created a brand new web site, but we've also created a whole new excitement with the creation of the TEAM RACE series!
Okay... so thats brings us to now and writing this blog about the start of the season and how great it's been to work with everyone and to be a part of something that I truly believe in. Where ever you desert race we are all one big desert racing family and its amazing to have everyone out there having a great time...
So After this long boring BLOG I'll only write Blogs that actually mean something in the Future.
Thank you.
EREK KUDLA
Event Coordinator
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