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Team Falken Finishes 1st At The California 300 Off-Road Race

BARSTOW, CA – Team Falken driver Josh Atteberry delivered a 1st place finish at the California 300 Off-Road Race event in Barstow, California last weekend. Josh finished 1st in the 4600 class with his Dirty Life Ford Bronco after stellar performances from his daughters competing in the Youth 170 and 570 classes.

The start of the event was met with heavy rainstorm, causing the track to be too muddy to practice on. This resulted in the qualifying race also getting cancelled, so a random draw was needed to decide starting positions for Saturday’s race.

Josh Atteberry took the opportunity of this event to get his daughters Addie and Rylee to compete in the Youth classes and show off their talent in the rough Barstow desert. Team Atteberry used Thursday's Open Pre-Running event to better understand the course's layout and condition. Josh diligently went over the youth course with Addie and Rylee and taught them line choices and road hazards to be cautious of to ensure they were ready for the aggressive desert terrain.

Friday morning was Youth race day, and Rylee was first to compete for Atteberry Motorsports in the Youth 170 class. Rylee passed the traffic and finished the race in 1st place overall, with 3:58.549 as her fastest lap. Addie competed next in the Youth 570 class, battling her competitors and recovering from a near crash. She finished the race in 1st, with a 2:58.690 fastest lap time.

Saturday was race day for Josh Atteberry, and he felt pressured to follow suit with his daughters' strong performances. This year's race also presented an opportunity for Atteberry Motorsports, as UNLTD racing made a rule change that allowed Josh to upgrade from 35” to 37" Falken Wildpeak R/T tires wrapped around their Dirty Life Canyon Pro Beadlock wheels. The increase in size allows Josh to have higher ground clearance, a bigger footprint, and more shock absorption in the tire. Each lap in the Limited course featured 74 miles of brutal Barstow desert, with temperatures reaching a scorching 108 degrees.

Despite the harsh conditions, Josh pushed on to compete. The race was smooth overall; however, on the third lap, Josh noticed a "clunk" on the front end of his car. Josh inspected the front end of his Dirty Life Bronco and found the front lower arm bolt holes had worn out. Atteberry Motorsports saw that it would not affect their overall performance and decided to continue racing, which brought the Bronco across the finish line in 1st place. The taxing Barstow course took Josh 8 hours and 37 minutes to finish, with a fastest lap time of 2:40:07.430.

"The 2024 California 300 is going down as one of the most epic race weekends for Atteberry Motorsports thus far! The 37" Falken Wildpeak R/Ts smoothed out the chop and filled some of those bigger holes on the course," said Josh Atteberry. "The Wildpeak R/Ts held up great as always, and we didn't have a single tire issue during the entire race. Racing with UNLTD is an amazing experience, and we cannot wait to do more next season."

The next Ultra4 event will be the Legends of Havasu held at Lake Havasu City, Arizona from October 24th to October 26th.