After winning in Nevada again, Dominguez brothers eyeing chance to go pro
Fresh off their 2012 Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno victory — the longest off-road race in the United States— Juan Dominguez and his brother Alonzo have not waned in their pursuit for perfection.
With their back-to-back victory in Nevada, a race that trekked 534 miles last month from Las Vegas to Reno, Juan and Alonzo Dominguez are gearing up for two more races later this year.
If they win the SCORE International Baja 1000 in November and Best in the Desert's Henderson 250 later this year, Team Pirruñas will move to a professional standing and start getting paid for a passion they say they want to continue to nurture for as long as they can.
“To us, we are just getting started,” Juan said. “We are jumping up to pro next year.”
He added that their team enjoys the lead in points in both SCORE and Best in the Desert.
“Right now we are in first place in the points standings for both organizations. We got one race left in each of those organizations to win the championship.”
To win their second consecutive Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno title, Juan, Alonzo and teammate Travis Dillon rode 180 miles each and finished the race with a time of 11 hours and 29 minutes — 50 minutes shy of the time posted in the professional ranking.
“This race has everything. It has mountains, deserts, washes, everything,” Alonzo said.
In preparation for their upcoming races, the Dominguez brothers are training as well as prepping all the gear so that their quad performs at the highest level. When they compete at the Baja 1000, they will race a Honda TRX450R quad. They hope to use the same quad in their Henderson competition.
Along with conquering Best in the Desert and SCORE International in previous years, Team Pirruñas has won San Felipe 250 in Mexico.
When asked what going pro would mean for the Yuma brothers, they both answer with a smile: “Being factory riders for Honda.”
Clinching the coveted sponsorship would mean getting paid, getting parts, gear and quads from Honda. It would also mean harder competition and a bigger talent pool. Juan and Alonzo admit they are in the rearview mirror of the pro-riders, and they know Team Pirruñas is coming for the top spot.
“We have professional riders tell us, ‘Man, what are you guys doing in the expert class? You should be racing with us,” Alonzo said. “It's like making it into the big leagues.”
Juan said that once they go pro, it will take about two years to train and be at the level that they want to compete. But when they hear that riders in the professional ranks are taking note of their success, both brothers say they are ready for the challenge.
