Race Recap: Dirt Riot Southwest, Round 1, Congress, AZ

Sunday, March 8, 2015; Congress was the race that opened the Dirt Riot season. Mike Klensin was pleased because “We had a whole crew there; it was really neat.”

The group included Mike Klensin, his daughter Alyssa and their boxer Bailey.  Mikey Florian was there with his parents; Mat Carpentier was accompanied by his dad and his sister Taylor Brown. John Brock entered his car and co-drove with Beau Matthews as driver.

Family and friends were part of the action at the diverse venue. Mike explains, “The Dirt Riot series has all different classes, the razor class, the stock class, the trail class and the 4400 class.”

Mike Klensin, Driver; Mat Carpentier, Co-Driver

“We drove the 4400 class. We did good in qualifying, were the fastest qualifier; we got to start up front, but then we had a front end issue – a CV axle break; I didn’t know it at the time and that contributed to me rolling over on the fourth lap.”

It was Mat Carpentier’s first experience as co-driver. “The part where we rolled was pretty fun, I could count the seconds ‘til we hit the ground. I had to get out of the car to help Mike get off a rock and almost got hit by the car behind us.

John Brock helped us out. We used the Amanda Products SpeedHook™ to get us back over. Those things make it quick and easy to hook the line up and get the car back over in no time.”

SpeedHook™ captured the attention of Josh England, Dirt Riot’s rescue specialist – so Klensin gave him one. Mike says “So now SpeedHook will be at all Dirt Riot races across the country.”

Mat enjoyed the whole experience. “It was fun, a whole ‘nother ball game because of the car and my first time co-driving in the race.” Mike sums it all up; “We had a rough start but expect to do very well throughout the Dirt Riot season. We’re really excited about how the car’s working, we just have a few little bugs to work out.”

Taylor Brown, Driver; Mikey Florian, Co-Driver

Mat’s sister Taylor wasn’t there to watch; she was there to race the Razor. 

The team approved. Mikey says “Taylor did really good. I’m looking forward to future Dirt Riot races with her.” Mike says “She did really good in qualifying. We just had a little unfortunate luck with the hub … it broke.”

Mike is certain “We’ll be able to fix it, no big deal. But we couldn’t fix it and finish the race, it was only an hour long race.”

We thank Alyssa Klensin  for taking all the photos and Acacia Pinnell for sharing them.

About Amanda Products

Amanda Products is TITLE sponsor of ColeCar Motorsports LLC, including ‘Timmy,’ the new Ultra4 race car and two UTVs.

Amanda Products is home of SpeedHook™ – as seen on the team’s Ultra4 IFS race car and chase trucks. The ingenious off-road recovery device is priced from $79; it’s compatible with Jeeps, F150s, buggies and any vehicle with a 2” receiver hitch.

Like Amanda Products on Facebook

Follow the Team

Like Ultra4 Driver Mike Klensin on Facebook
Like ColeCar Motorsports on Facebook
See team photos on Instagram