The racing comes thick and fast for the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team on both sides of the Atlantic
A hectic schedule of international racing is picking up pace for the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team. Between Best in the Desert commitments in the States and rally-raids on the other side of the pond, the young squad have also been designing racecourses as well as championing innovative new race formats.
The next appointment for US-based members of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team is a trip to the Brimstone racetrack in Tennessee this coming weekend. Mitch Guthrie Jr. and Seth Quintero will race through backcountry woods at the Red Bull Stone Scramble, part of the Red Bull Scramble Series. Mitch and Seth will be joined in Tennessee by Mia Chapman, the latest teenage phenom to shake up off-road racing Stateside.
The multi-stop Red Bull Scramble Series of side-by-side races is open to amateurs as well as professionals. Over 100 entrants took on the first stop of the series, the Red Bull Mountain Scramble in Pennsylvania in May.
« I’m getting excited for Red Bull Stone Scramble coming up. After Red Bull Mountain Scramble, I can’t wait to see what they come up with for the racecourse. I’m also just pumped to get back racing, the competition in Tennessee is stiff, and the racing is a blast so I can’t wait to go bang doors again. » – Mitch Guthrie Jr.
Last month Mitch and Seth revealed the custom-built dream racecourse they designed at TexPlex Park, Texas. From initial drawings on the back of napkins to a fully realised and permanent facility, the boys have now filled their 52-acre blank canvas.
The covers came off the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team’s new course at TexPlex during the last weekend in August and those getting to race the track for the first time were blown away. High-speed corners, a dragon’s back into rhythm section, sand pit, log matrix, ski jump plus doubles and gaps galore make the new course at TexPlex a real one-of-a-kind for short-course racing.
« I come from a moto family so I wanted to bring some of those elements to our racecourse. A dragon’s back is something we’ve never seen on a UTV course, that’s something we’ve been able to bring in from Supercross. We wanted to bring together all different forms of UTV racing together. There’s sand traps in there, there’s logs and rocks plus a heap of jumps. » – Seth Quintero
Mitch and Seth’s busy schedule also includes their Best in the Desert commitments and the guys will both be in action at the King Shocks Laughlin Desert Classic, September 23-26. There will be UTV Turbo Class points up for grabs at the Duel in the Desert with both Mitch and Seth aiming to run up front.
Last time out in the Best in the Desert Series there was a fifth place finish for Mitch at the Maxxis Tires “Casey Folks” Vegas to Reno. The result put Mitch top of UTV Turbo Class standings. Meanwhile, Seth picked up a DNF on the 500 mile stretch between Las Vegas and Reno so will be out for better when he returns to Nevada for the Laughlin Desert Classic.
« We’re gonna be back for Laughlin and we’re gonna end this streak of problems. Just need a little luck. Thanks to everyone sticking behind me and not giving up on me this year. I’m giving it my all to say the least. Let’s get it team! » – Seth Quintero
Also on the horizon for the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team is the second part of the current FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies season. Mitch and Seth are set to link up with their European-based team-mates Cristina Gutiérrez and Guillaume de Mevius to race the upcoming events.
Race wins at the Andalucía Rally and Rally Kazakhstan for Cristina as well as a number of stage wins spread out among the team are making this a season to remember for the young squad. The team will be looking to maintain their rapid progress ahead of the 2022 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia.
Select Quotes
Mitch Guthrie Jr.: « I’m getting excited for Red Bull Stone Scramble coming up. After Red Bull Mountain Scramble, I can’t wait to see what they come up with for the racecourse. I’m also just pumped to get back racing, the competition in Tennessee is stiff, and the racing is a blast so I can’t wait to go bang doors again.
« I’m amazed that so many of the ideas we discussed were actually built into the final TexPlex course design we came up with. One thing that was important to both Seth and myself was to make sure we switched things up. We wanted to prevent the course from being tailored to just one type of car. We pulled this off by making sure we had pretty much every type of terrain featured at some point on the course.
« Seth, he’s like my little brother sometimes. We’re always of course trying to beat each other, but at the same time we’re helping each other out and wanting each other to do better. So I think that’s pretty cool. »
Seth Quintero: « I come from a moto family so I wanted to bring some of those elements to our [TexPlex] racecourse. A dragon’s back is something we’ve never seen on a UTV course, that’s something we’ve been able to bring in from Supercross. We wanted to bring together all different forms of UTV racing together. There’s sand traps in there, there’s logs and rocks plus a heap of jumps.
« [The TexPlex idea] all started with Mitch and I hanging out. We were actually filming for another video and got the phone call that we were able to try and design a course. So immediately we started drawing stuff on napkins and anything we could find.
« We’re gonna be back for Laughlin [Desert Classic] and we’re gonna end this streak of problems. Just need a little luck. Thanks to everyone sticking behind me and not giving up on me this year. I’m giving it my all to say the least. Let’s get it team! »