Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

After 15 years of bringing motorsport coverage to our dedicated readers, it is with a heavy heart that I must announce the closure of TheCheckeredFlag.co.uk. This decision hasn’t been made lightly.

The motorsport media landscape has changed dramatically since our inception in 2009. What was once a relatively modest space has become increasingly crowded, with numerous outlets competing for attention in an oversaturated market. While competition can be healthy, the current media environment demands resources and time commitments that, as an independent outlet, we find increasingly challenging to meet while maintaining our high standards.

Since our founding in 2009, TCF has grown beyond anything I could have imagined. What started as a passion project has evolved into a respected voice in motorsport journalism, and for that, I am incredibly grateful.

One of my proudest achievements has been providing a platform for talented journalists and photographers to showcase their work and develop their careers. It brings me immense joy to see many of our former contributors now working professionally in motorsport, covering events worldwide for major publications and teams. Your success is a testament to your talent and dedication, and I’m honoured that TCF could play a small part in your journey.

To our contributors past and present (full list at end): thank you for your tireless work, professionalism, and enthusiasm. Your commitment to delivering quality coverage has been the backbone of our success. Whether you wrote a single article or hundreds, each of you helped build this platform into what it became.

After twenty-five years, Irwindale Speedway & Event Center will close its doors for good. A final event, called the Farewell Extravaganza, will be held on 21 December.

Although popular, the track’s fate had been murky since its previous owners filed for bankruptcy in 2012. It resumed operations a year later before rumours about demolition came about in 2015. Another ownership change eventually kept it open under the leadership of Irwindale track champion Tim Huddleston and NASCAR team owner Bob Bruncati.

“Irwindale has been more than just a track—it’s been a home and gathering place for racing enthusiasts worldwide,” said Huddleston. “On behalf of my wife Lisa and our partners Bob and Maureen Bruncati, we extend heartfelt thanks to our fans, racers, sponsors, and the City of Irwindale for their unwavering support over the past 25 years. We’re grateful for every moment and memory we’ve shared as a community.”

Located in Irwindale, California, the track opened in 1999 as a half-mile oval with progressive banking in the turns. It also features a third-mile oval within and a drag strip.

From 2003 to 2010, the oval was used for NASCAR’s Toyota All-Star Showdown that brought together the top drivers from NASCAR’s regional divisions (currently the ARCA Menards Series East and West and the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series). Notable victors include driver-turned-team owner David Gilliland, former ARCA title contender Michael Self, and two-time winner and eventual twice NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano.

Wouter-jan Van Dijk stole the show at the 2023 Baja 1000 when he completed the full race distance on his own, with a motorcycle that barely passed SCORE International inspection, and was basically falling apart at the seams and held together by zip ties. One year later, he’ll certainly hope his second start goes a little smoother but is up for the adventure.

The 2023 1000 marked Van Dijk’s first time racing in SCORE, on encouragement from his friend Shane Moss who had done the 2019 race. Before Baja, much of his racing experience was in enduro which included Red Bull Romaniacs.

“I didn’t have much expectations, really,” Van Dijk told the SCORE Journal. “I knew the way down would be fun and a mad trip. I just sort of wanted to know a bit of the different terrains before the race, and I just took the race experience as it came along.”

He bought a KTM 500 EXC off Craigslist in San Diego before crossing all of Baja California to the start of the race in La Paz. After frantically making last-second repairs and modifications to comply with SCORE regulations, he was on his way. Despite not having pre-run the course, he caught eyes with his pace early on. As the race wore on, however, the KTM started to take damage that included a broken bike rim and navigation system; to rectify the matter, he hastily used zip ties to hold the tyre to the rim. To further complicate matters, he was competing solo in the Pro Moto Ironman class, meaning he had no team-mates to pass the bike off to.

He fought his way through the night hours, during which fans and racers alike took notice. Various teams and bystanders also lent their support, whether it be assisting in repairs or even a snack before rejoining the race. Sure enough, he reached the finish in Ensenada just past midnight and placed seventh in class.

Barbora Holická and Lucie Engová will bring their 1979 Citroën 2CV back to the Dakar Classic in 2025. After checking off a successful finish in their début this year, their goal for 2025 will be to contend for the win.

The two finished sixty-third overall in the 2024 Dakar Classic and won the H1.A category. However, it was certainly no walk in the park. At one point in Stage #10, the car got stuck and they had to get it towed to the finish. Nevertheless, they achieved their goal and became the first Citroën 2CV to complete the event, whether in the Classic or the main Dakar Rally.

“Last year, our team had a clear goal: to reach the finish,” said Holická. “We raced with an original car, barely modified, just as the 2CV teams had done at the historic Paris–Dakar Rally in Africa. We achieved our goal and became the first Citroën 2CV to finish the Dakar.”

Their 2CV was designed by Josef Rataj with a very colourful livery and a rubber duck on the side. Nicknamed “Duckar”, the car was part of a larger project to support duck raising at Safari Park Dvůr Králové. Rataj will create a new wrap for the 2025 car.

The Citroën 2CV had been used by various competitors in the Dakar’s early history such as Jean-Louis Ramel in 1983 and Claude Yves Petelet in 1985. Pierre David entered the latter in a modified 2CV, only to retire from the Prologue. Holická’s 2CV, which entered on the 75th anniversary for the car, was the fifteenth instance of one taking part.

Greg Gilson‘s motorcycle for the Qatar International Baja is older than some of his fellow competitors. While most riders will be racing their usual 450cc bikes, Gilson is entered on a 1980 Honda XLS 125.

He purchased the bike for €300 in 2018, though expenses for parts and maintenance increased the total tenfold. Certain modifications were made from when he bought it such as larger sprockets, though others remain stock.

The XLS line was introduced in 1978 as the successor to the XL that débuted three years prior. The inaugural Paris–Dakar Rally in 1979 saw Grégoire Verhaeghe and Alain Quie race the XLS 125, the smallest bikes in the field; Quie did not finish, while Verhaeghe placed sixty-fifth overall. Gérard Barbezant attempted the 1985 Dakar on one but retired.

Modern off-road bikes are obviously more powerful and durable than Gilson’s, though that has not stopped him from doing anything and everything with it. He ran the 2019 Rallye du Maroc on the Honda, successfully reaching the finish twelfth in the Enduro class despite a broken collarbone. It has also won thrice in Morocco’s cross-country rally championship and even saw action in the FIM Enduro World Championship’s Requista round in 2020, where Gilson placed forty-ninth overall.

Even outside of racing, he likes to take the Honda out for city cruising or long road trips.

International motorsport will descend upon Spain twice this fall. Last weekend, the FIA Motorsport Games arrived at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, where the host country dominated the medal count with six of each for a total of eighteen. A month from now, Spain’s Circuito de Jerez will host the inaugural FIM Intercontinental Games.

Spain was the only country with double-digit medals in total and over twice as many as the second most of seven by Germany and the United Kingdom. Their six golds were also twice as much as Germany and Italy. The Spaniards also topped the total medal table at the 2022 Games, but failed to score a gold.

Juan Cota Alonso headlined the Formula 4 race after leading the entire race and clearing Peru’s Andrés Cárdenas by two seconds. Hugo Fuertes added a gold in Cross Car at the nearby Aspar Circuit, while four more golds came on the rally side.

“Every lap was key to achieving victory, I stayed calm and focused,” said Cota. “This medal is for my parents and my family for everything they have sacrificed for me. There is nothing greater than representing Spain today with a gold.”

Eric Gené, the son of World Touring Car Championship veteran Jordi Gené and nephew of F1 alumnus Marc Gené, narrowly missed out on adding a nineteenth medal for Spain. He was running third in Touring Car before falling to fourth due to a penalty and late contact.

The FIA has modified its start order for races during the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship. Most of it will remain the same for the leaders, though other changes are intended to decrease gamesmanship in the Prologue.

“The World Council approved updates to the W2RC sporting regulations, and the criteria defining the start order of Leg 1 have been amended to discourage tactics during the Prologue and increase interest in the start order selection process,” reads an FIA statement. “Adjustments have also been made to the start order of subsequent stages to better account for the Challenger and SSV competitions.”

After the Prologue, the top ten finishers get to select their start positions for Stage #1 like they already do, with tenth being the first up followed by ninth and so on until the winner picks tenth. This will continue for 2025, though the FIA will now account for all drivers who set times within 110 percent of the winner along with everyone with Platinum or Gold priority. Gold status is awarded to all Ultimate drivers as well as the champions of the Challenger and SSV classes.

Every driver who meets both caveats will then be grouped by the top ten fastest in the Prologue. The start order selection process from there remains the same.

Starting with Stage #2, the starting hierarchy has been upgraded. The first out remain the same, with the Ultimate drivers whose times in the previous stage are within 115% of the winner going out first behind the victor regardless of their priority. The rest of the Ultimate grid who exceeded 115% go out after by their priority, including those in Silver who requested to have a different start position.

The Ultimate (T1) class for prototype cars is the premier category in cross-country rally, while UTVs compete in Challenger (T3) and SSV (T4). In most rallies, an Ultimate car would easily outpace a Challenger or SSV.

That was not the case at the Baja Portalegre 500, where Ultimate drivers struggled while the Taurus T3 Max of Miguel Barbosa became the first UTV to win the overall in race history. Gonçalo Gurreiro and Paulo Rodrigues, respectively in a Polaris RZR Pro R and Can-Am Maverick X3, joined Barbosa on the podium ahead of Edgar Reis‘ Taurus, making it a top four sweep by UTVs. João Ferreira was the highest-finishing T1 in fifth.

Ultimate driver João Ramos, who retired from the race after water got into his Toyota Hilux’s engine, feels this development is more alarming than impressive. In an interview with AutoSport, Ramos alleged the closing gap between T1 and UTVs stems more from poor regulation by the FIA and fears it could affect fan interest in the discipline.

While it might sound like sour grapes from a T1 driver, Ramos’ sentiment is far from uncommon. North American desert racing had long derided UTVs as golf carts which have little place competing alongside Trophy Trucks and buggies, only for UTVs to become one of the most popular vehicles on the market for their accessibility and increasing competitiveness. Ramos acknowledged the lower cost compared to a T1, but feels UTV teams are investing so much into their programmes that it’s not exactly as cheap of an endeavour as it seemed.

“There are people who prefer watching the trucks, the larger vehicles, and the T1s, which are much more impressive. These are the machines that truly appeal to fans,” he began. “I understand why people go for the UTVs, the T3s and the T4s, because the investment is lower. In reality, with the advancements being made, it’s no longer as affordable as people say. They’re already spending a lot more money now. They’ll never spend as much as they would on a T1 or a T1+, but they’re still spending a fair amount.”

On 25 October, The Checkered Flag caught up with Dylan Parsons to talk about his Championship Off-Road Pro SPEC-winning campaign, the growth of the class, and the 2025 season.

The full transcript of the interview is available below. Some text has been altered from the actual dialogue to improve readability.

An article on the interview can be read here.

Transcript

TCF: You went from not winning any races your rookie season in Pro SPEC to winning five times this year and the championship.  Last time, you told me that 2023 was going to be more of like a learning year for everyone, so by comparison, what was your mindset going into 2024?

DP: To win races like that was definitely the mindset. Towards the end of the year, we started podiuming in ’23 and then got Rookie of the Year. We were just building up momentum and just not trying to wreck the truck. Beginning of the season, I came in, I tested twice before the season and I’m like, “We were ready coming into the first race to run with those guys,” and we won the first race of the year. We were ready to go.

On 26 September, The Checkered Flag sat down with Kostyantyn Bevz to discuss the Automobile Federation of Ukraine‘s collaboration with Motorsport UK to donate a Pinzgauer armoured ambulance to the Ukrainian military’s 46th Airmobile Brigade and how the world has responded to the ongoing Russian invasion.

The full transcript of the interview is available below. Some text has been altered from the actual dialogue to improve readability.

An article on the interview can be read here.

Transcript

KB: So why did you decide to write about this topic with this ambulance?

TCF: Ever since this war started, I’ve always been sort of supportive of Ukraine. I’ve been closely following it, I know some friends who have gone over there, they’ve been doing a lot of things. I’ve also been following a lot of what the FAU has been doing with motorsport connecting it to Ukraine. When I found out about this, I wanted to learn a little more about it, so I decided to write a story on it.

With SCORE International continuing to accept bikes commonly used for rally raids, Kove Moto will enter the sport with factory backing for the first time at the Baja 1000 in November.

Besides bringing the new Kove 450 Rally EX bike, the Chinese manufacturer will also provide factory support for the #801X led by rally veterans Mike Johnson and Jim Pearson. As of this article’s publication, Dustin Davis‘ #805X and Scott Purcell‘s #834X teams are also entered in the class on Koves.

SCORE introduced Pro Moto Adventure for the 2024 season, which is reserved for bikes with up to 450cc engine displacement and a navigation tower like those used at the Dakar Rally and World Rally-Raid Championship. Every entrant in the category so far has been on a Kove 450 Rally, who offers prize money for the top three regardless of their marque.

“KOVE Motorcycles is planning a show of support to the SCORE Pro Moto Rally Class,” reads an excerpt from the latest issue of the SCORE Journal. “The Asian Motorcycle company is sending new EX450 Rally Motorcycles for an international team made up of American, Mexican, Canadian, and Chinese racers.”

Johnson is the owner of Rally Comp, which produces metering devices used in tandem with roadbooks. In 2023, he finished third in the National Enduro class at the W2RC’s Sonora Rally in his first race on a Kove, then backed it up with a second in Pro Rally at the NORRA Mexican 1000 a week later. He also has Dakar experience, racing the 2014 edition. Pearson made his Dakar début in 2023 as a solo rider in the Original by Motul class, but retired with a mechanical issue.

With a third class win in as many races at last weekend’s Laughlin Desert Challenge, 18-year-old Ryan Prosser is the youngest driver to win Best In The Desert‘s Trick Truck championship.

Although Trick Trucks are generally among the top vehicles in desert racing, the class was relatively quiet in 2024 outside of the premier Vegas to Reno. Prosser was the only TT driver to enter all four races, and even then he did the V2R in a UTV Open instead. TT was a Prosser-only show at the season-opening Golden State 250, while defending champion Jonathan Brenthel was his only other competition at the Silver State 300 where the latter retired.

In Laughlin, the only other Trick Truck entered was Jordan Dean who retired. Prosser finished seventh overall among Unlimited vehicles.

While competition was certainly scant, BITD awards forty-five points for simply finishing, meaning a retirement could have easily thrown things out of order. Furthermore, if no driver runs at least three races (the fourth can be dropped as one’s worst finish), a trophy would not be awarded.

Besides the title, Prosser also claimed Rookie of the Year honours. As the reigning champion, he will be allowed to swap his #42 number plate out for #1.

The last time Dylan Parsons sat down with The Checkered Flag, he was preparing for his rookie season in Championship Off-Road‘s Pro SPEC class. A year and a half later, when TCF caught up with Parsons on Friday, he was the newly crowned champion of the category.

TCF and Parsons recapped his 2024 season, discussed the growth of the Pro SPEC class and what makes it one of the most popular divisions in short course today, and even chatted a bit about snocross and what’s to come in 2025.

A transcript of the interview can be found here.

The 2024 Season

Parsons finished fourth in the 2023 Pro SPEC standings. It took some time to get used to his new confines after moving up from 1600 Single Buggy, but he found some steam in the closing stretch with three podiums: a pair of thirds in both races at Bark River International Raceway and a second in the season finale at MidAmerica Outdoors.

“Towards the end of the year, we started podiuming in ’23 and then got Rookie of the Year. We were just building up momentum and just not trying to wreck the truck,” he began. “Beginning of the season, I came in, I tested twice before the season and I’m like, ‘We were ready coming into the first race to run with those guys,’ and we won the first race of the year. We were ready to go.”

TL’O has created the Ultimate Rally Classic, a historic rally raid for vehicles produced between 1976 and 2000, with the inaugural edition set to run from France to Morocco in fall 2025.

The race is headed by Pascal François, who previously founded and directed the Pioneers Classic. Held last month, the Pioneers Classic (Pionniers Classic) is also a historic rally that ran through Morocco.

“After a two-year break, I had time to reflect and think things over properly,” François told MotorLifestyle.com. “I thought, ‘No, this just isn’t possible.’ The Pionniers Rally was a ten-year adventure, and the Pioneers have taken a different direction now, which I have no criticism of—quite the opposite, actually.

“But I missed the adventure of vintage cars. I missed Africa, especially Morocco. So next year, I decided to lead of the team that you knew from Pioneers and head out again, this time for the Ultimate Rally Classic 2025 organised by TL’O.”

It will span roughly twelve days with plans of starting at Montauban in France. Similar to the old Paris–Dakar Rally and the current Africa Eco Race, competitors will then travel across the Mediterranean into Morocco. The cities of Nador and Zagora are among the stops that TL’O hopes to pass before ending at Fort Bou-Jerif in the southern part of the country. Each stage will be roughly 280 to 350 kilometres long.

Hoping to give privateers in vehicles from Red-Lined Motorsport their due, the manufacturer has launched the Red-Lined T1 Adventure Cup for the 2025 South African Rally-Raid Championship.

Any non-factory driver piloting a Red-Lined VK50, VK56, REVO T1+, or even the new REVO+ GT-R in the Adventurer category is eligible for the Red-Lined Cup. Adventurer is a subsect of the usual Ultimate class, classified as T1 while the latter is T1+.

If the trophy existed for 2024 and the season ended today, Gerhard Heinlein would be the winner as he currently leads the Adventurer class standings outright after five of six rounds. Heinlein races a Red-Lined VK56 Evo2.

“Our Red-Lined privateers continue to do us proud, with two of them currently fighting it out for the 2024 South African Rally-Raid T1 class championship,” said Red-Lined Motorsport CEO Terence Marsh. “Looking ahead we feel the need to better recognise our customer teams, so from 2025, we will present the Red-Lined T1 Cup.

“Open to any privateers competing in a Red-Lined VK50, VK56 or REVO in the T1 Adventure Class of the South African Rally Raid Championship, the Red-Lined Cup is a ‘single manufacturer’ type series within the National Championship. Not only will the overall winners get to lift the inaugural Red-Lined T1 Cup trophy, they will also be receiving some really cool prizes for their efforts.