Rider Updates
Jul 31 2021
The 2021 AMA US Hard Enduro season has completed and I am extremely happy with my results for the season. I was able to win 3 out of the 5 rounds and was able to secure the 2021 AMA US Hard Enduro 45+ West Championship! This took a tremendous amount of discipline, sacrifice and endurance so I’m really proud of this achievement.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this effort!
Next up will be competing in the 2021 AMA Endurocross Championship series across the country.
Jan 24 2009
The first race of the 2009 Arizona Motorcycle Riders Association Off-Road series was a GP style event held at the Grindingstone MX park in Fort McDowell, AZ. In addition to a fantastic GP style Motocross track, the event organizers added in about 7 miles of brand new singletrack and a monster endurocross section complete with rock gardens, tractor tires, logs and huge concrete pipes.
The track was fantastic and we were blessed with a nice shower of rain the night before the race, making the singletrack sections absolutely magical with every off-roaders’ dream combination of no dust and amazing traction.
Since this was a GP format I signed up for the Open A class in addition to my normal Vet A class since the Open A race was a couple races before the Vet A race. I figured this would give me a great opportunity to warm up and make sure my settings were good in a race pace condition.
As the Open A race started I found myself toward the back of the pack after the first turn and thanks to a pile up in the section that transferred us onto the singletrack. Since this was my warm up race, I played it somewhat conservative the first couple laps.
As I started to pass people, though, I became engaged in a couple of battles with some riders that motivated me to push the pace a bit. Despite the poor start, I made my way up to 7th by the race’s end.
With the Open A race out of the way I was feeling very good about the upcoming Vet A race as I had time to shake the cobwebs off, verified my bikes settings and was feeling pretty warm.
As I rolled to the starting line for the Vet A race, I was a bit surprised to see Steve Hatch lined up in my class! Needless to say, the race for the win was over after the first turn as Steve just plain checked out by the time the first couple miles had passed.
I started the Vet A race mid pack and had a bit of a challenge trying to find my rhythm on the
Oct 19 2008
The Arizona Trail Riders put on a truly spectacular qualifier format enduro event this year in Wickenburg, AZ. Remnants of a desert winter revealed themselves at the start in the form of snowflakes as the race started! 2-24-2008 Rockstars Classic II - Globe, AZ Having never raced a WORCS event before, I wasn’t really sure what to expect of this format. When I arrived I was amazed at just how big the event was. Speedworld MX Park - Surprise, AZ
The race started on a 5 mile transfer section and narrowed to singletrack before arriving at the first check. This gave me a good opportunity to get warmed up and settle down a bit before the start of the first test section.
My goal for the first three tests was to ride smooth, keep the mistakes to a minimum and not crash (since I’ve had some trouble the last few races during the first half of the race). My plan worked out perfectly and I made it through the first half of the race exactly as I planned and posted some great times to boot!
Once we began the B test sections I began to make some mistakes as I realized that I had forgot to clip on my chest protector at the fuel stop. I didn’t want to stop and risk losing time though, so I just rode it out.
With the high temps and the 85 mile long, very challenging course, riders were starting to drop like flies as we headed into the A test sections. I really started to charge hard and made some good time through this brutal test. My pace led to a few mistakes which cost me some time, but I gave it all I had and finished the race strong
As the results came in I was very pleased to finish 7th in my class right behind the top three points leaders in the AMRA series for my class. This is my best finish since moving up to the A class and I fully expect to continue to show improvement with each race.
Aug 10 2008
The typical Hare Scramble start would prove to be anything but for me as the green flag waved. I’ve been getting some great starts thanks to my electric start KTM 300XC. On this day, however, panic set in as I pushed the button at the start line and ... nothing! After kicking several times I got the bike running, but already had a dead last position to deal with. This definitely didn’t do any favors for my typical first lap arm pump and I ended up crashing or dropping the bike at least five times during the first couple laps.
After the first couple laps though, I was able to get into my pace and started to catch and pass several riders in my class. I really seemed to make up ground on the motocross track section and the really tight singletrack sections of the course.
By the close of the race I had made my way into the top 10 in ninth and was seconds away from the eight place rider... if only I had another lap! As I crossed the line in ninth place, I must admit that I was really disappointed with my start and ultimately my results. I’ve been training really hard and was expecting a better result at this venue, however I’m encouraged with the way I dealt with the early race adversity.
Mar 16 2008
The race started on an easy transfer section to the first special test section. The first special test section was an interesting mix of nice, flowing singletrack and winding sand washes. Things were going pretty well for me until we hit the sand wash sections. For some reason I was completely out of sorts on this section and dropped my bike several times going into the loose corners. One of these drops would result in a pretty nasty gash in my right forearm (which would later become infected).
After recovering from the first test section, I was able to pick up the pace quite a bit on the next several test sections. At the midway point I was able to head back to the pits to try to get some medical attention for my arm.
The last lap was essentially one really long test section and was much more technical than the earlier sections. This is typically where I am strongest in a race due to my endurance conditioning and strength. About 30 minutes into this section there was a long, technical hillclimb section that just seemed to have my number as I must have dropped the bike three times on that section alone.
Other than that hillclimb, I rode a great second half and finished the race in 8th place despite my injured arm and a pretty bent up radiator (from the rocks on that hillclimb).
Many thanks to my great sponsors this year along with the best pit team a racer could ask for in my wife Silvia, kids Raven and Kai and my parents Larry and Lucy Quiroz!
Feb 24 2008
As I pulled into the staging area for the Rockstars Classic II Hare Scrambles race in Globe, AZ I was greeted by the sight of nature’s most treasured gift to dirt bikers... fresh rain on Arizona’s normally dry soil! Perfect temperatures and ideal track conditions were destined to make this event a classic.
Fresh off a strong finish in 2007 that resulted in a 2nd place trophy for the AMRA Vet 30+ B Championship Series, I was faced with a decision to stay comfortably in the lead of the B class or move up to the A class for 2008. 2007 was my first full season of racing and I rapidly moved from Sportsman to C class to the B class to leading the B class points series during the year. With this momentum, I felt moving up to the A class would keep me challenged and allow me to continue improving my skills by riding with the faster riders.
With this race being my first race in the A class, I was understandably nervous as I lined up alongside some very experienced and very fast racers in my class. One of them was last years AA/Pro #1! As the green flag waved at the dead engine start, I was pleased to jump right into the pack cleanly and without getting caught up in the first turn pile up that happened nearly in front of me.
We headed straight into the exciting EnduroCross inspired section complete with stacked mining truck tires, telephone poles and a couple of quick motocross style jumps thrown in. This would prove to be the section I looked forward to the most and a place to show some style to the spectators of the event.
The rest of the 9.6 mile course consisted of tight, twisty and very rocky singletrack with brief sections of rocky sandwash thrown in. I lost a few spots in the first lap as I was trying to keep in mind the wise words f
Jan 23 2008
The first thing you notice are the factory rigs from KTM, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha. Next, the many series sponsor banners and tuff blocks. Finally, many of the top fast guys that I’m used to reading about in all the magazines: Kurt Caselli, Destry Abbott, Ty Davis, Ricky Dietrich, Damon Huffman. If that weren’t enough, legends such as Larry Roeseler, Gary Jones and Johnny Campbell were milling about as well. I admit I was a bit star struck.
The course layout linked together several of the MX tracks at SpeedWorld along with some sections of desert trail and sand washes. The weather was perfect, so the soil was perfectly most and dust was at a minimum. With so many riders over the course of the weekend, however, the track would soon get very rough.
The start was seven rows deep with a thirty second gap between rows. As soon as the green flag dropped, we were underway and unfortunately had one of the worst starts in my life. At the first turn I was nearly dead last.
I was able to make up some time and quickly made passes over the next couple turns. Once we got into the sand sections I was a bit surprised by just how rough the track had become and my arms began to pump up pretty good. Toward the end of this lap I was trying to make an inside line in a flat, hard-packed section when the front end washed out. I went down and lost several places before I was able to get going again.
Over the next several laps, I picked up the pace and my lap times continued to get better. In fact my last lap ended up being one of my faster laps of this 70 minute race.
As the results were posted I was a bit disappointed to see my 17t
Jan 1 2008
Speedworld MX Park’s annual New Years Day Grand Prix (aka Hangover GP) is a great place to start off the new racing year. Destry Abbott and many of the fast WORCS racers usually come out to get a sneak peek at what’s in store when the WORCS series makes its stop here later in January.
The course layout was approximately 7 miles linking together several of the MX tracks at SpeedWorld along with some sections of desert trail and sand washes. Cold, windy conditions made for a dry, dusty track, so visibility was certainly going to be a factor.
This would be the first race on my new 2008 KTM 200XC, so I expected to learn a lot about the handling and power of the bike. This was also a great opportunity to test out gear from my new sponsors.
I didn’t get the best of starts in this race, however I was able to make up a lot of time coming through the pack. I had several epic battles with riders, but I felt really confident on the Motocross sections of the course and was able to pass many riders in this section.
By the end of the race, I had settled into a nice rhythm and was able to finish third in the Vet 30 B class.
Happy New Year!