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Weekly Updates
MANDARIN motors his way into series lead
2024 NasQUACK series champ off to hot start with 3 victories, readies for DUCKtona 500
Denny MANDARIN may just have something to say this season in this, the third season of the NasQUACK Racing Series – presented by Toyota of Puyallup and Goodwill ORR – at Maris Farms. After winning the season series in 2024 with 8 victories and dethroning 2-time champ Scotty DUCKson, MANDARIN is now firmly entrenched as the favorite to win this series in 2025.
And after winning 3 of 4 races this past weekend at Maris Farms, he’s the odds-on favorite to win the DUCKtona 500 on Saturday afternoon.
“Still got a little rust to knock off from an off-season and a little too much DUCKing around,” MANDARIN told a post race press gathering on Sunday afternoon. “I feel like we got a late start on our training this year, and that impacted our first weekend, but things should hopefully get more dialed in this weekend. It’s gotta get dialed in with the DUCKtona 500. I will be ready.”
MANDARIN split victories with fellow DUCK-athlete BILL Elliott on Saturday, each earning a victory apiece, but then came back strong with 2 decisive victories on Sunday (out of two races). He had a little check-up, from the neck-up, he explained.
“I took myself to the duck nest on Saturday night and told myself, ‘you’re better than what you showed out there today, you need to get focused on Sunday.’ And I was totally dialed in all day on Sunday, ready to compete my web feet off.”
Last season, MANDARIN won the first race of the season and really never looked back, collecting at least 1 victory every weekend, often 2 or 3. He was a DUCK-athlete on a mission.
“I don’t think he wanted to leave any doubt in any of his fellow race-mates who was the top duck, he was truly focused and kind of edgy all season, recalled race announcer Dennis Riley. “It’s nice to start the opening weekend off with 3 wins, but we all know the money races start this weekend with the DUCKtona. It’ll be interesting to see how Denny competes with a little more pressure of defending his NasQUACK title. I can’t wait!”
For this past weekend, a total of $95 was raised for local nonprofit Celebrate HARVEST through the “bets” that race fans placed (in the form of a donation) on the races. A total of 155 “bets” were placed and MUSCOVY Andretti had the most bets placed on him with 47. BILL Elliott had the second most bets with 36. Racing will resume this weekend – Saturday and Sunday at 1 and 3 pm – at Maris Farms. The featured marquee race of the weekend is the DUCKtona 500 on Saturday at 1 pm
Here are the results after the first weekend:
| DUCKS | WINS | BETS PLACED |
|---|---|---|
| #1 – Denny MANDARIN | 3 | 22 |
| #2 – “BILL” Elliott | 1 | 36 |
| #3 – Scott DUCKson | 0 | 32 |
| #4 – MUSCOVY Andretti | 0 | 47 |
| #5 – Danica DUCKtrick | 0 | 18 |
MANDARIN motors his way into series lead
2024 NasQUACK series champ off to hot start with 3 victories, readies for DUCKtona 500
Denny MANDARIN may just have something to say this season in this, the third season of the NasQUACK Racing Series – presented by Toyota of Puyallup and Goodwill ORR – at Maris Farms. After winning the season series in 2024 with 8 victories and dethroning 2-time champ Scotty DUCKson, MANDARIN is now firmly entrenched as the favorite to win this series in 2025.
And after winning 3 of 4 races this past weekend at Maris Farms, he’s the odds-on favorite to win the DUCKtona 500 on Saturday afternoon.
“Still got a little rust to knock off from an off-season and a little too much DUCKing around,” MANDARIN told a post race press gathering on Sunday afternoon. “I feel like we got a late start on our training this year, and that impacted our first weekend, but things should hopefully get more dialed in this weekend. It’s gotta get dialed in with the DUCKtona 500. I will be ready.”
MANDARIN split victories with fellow DUCK-athlete BILL Elliott on Saturday, each earning a victory apiece, but then came back strong with 2 decisive victories on Sunday (out of two races). He had a little check-up, from the neck-up, he explained.
“I took myself to the duck nest on Saturday night and told myself, ‘you’re better than what you showed out there today, you need to get focused on Sunday.’ And I was totally dialed in all day on Sunday, ready to compete my web feet off.”
Last season, MANDARIN won the first race of the season and really never looked back, collecting at least 1 victory every weekend, often 2 or 3. He was a DUCK-athlete on a mission.
“I don’t think he wanted to leave any doubt in any of his fellow race-mates who was the top duck, he was truly focused and kind of edgy all season, recalled race announcer Dennis Riley. “It’s nice to start the opening weekend off with 3 wins, but we all know the money races start this weekend with the DUCKtona. It’ll be interesting to see how Denny competes with a little more pressure of defending his NasQUACK title. I can’t wait!”
For this past weekend, a total of $95 was raised for local nonprofit Celebrate HARVEST through the “bets” that race fans placed (in the form of a donation) on the races. A total of 155 “bets” were placed and MUSCOVY Andretti had the most bets placed on him with 47. BILL Elliott had the second most bets with 36. Racing will resume this weekend – Saturday and Sunday at 1 and 3 pm – at Maris Farms. The featured marquee race of the weekend is the DUCKtona 500 on Saturday at 1 pm
| DUCKS | WINS | BETS PLACED |
|---|---|---|
| #1 – Denny MANDARIN | 3 | 22 |
| #2 – “BILL” Elliott | 1 | 36 |
| #3 – Scott DUCKson | 0 | 32 |
| #4 – MUSCOVY Andretti | 0 | 47 |
| #5 – Danica DUCKtrick | 0 | 18 |
Thank you also to the many other supporting partners of this event:
Rainier Fresh, Skulpt Woodcarving, Firehouse Pub, Headworks Brewery, True Imagery Facepainting, I love mini-donuts, Twiddy Prints, Westside Pizza, Glow Martini Lounge, Hops n Drops
HOW THE DUCK RACES WORK:
This special event race is patterned after the famed Iron Man Triathlon, where competitors (human, that is) challenge one another over a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 2.2-mile marathon along the Kona (hawaii) coast each October. However, instead of 1800 human racing machines, Maris Farms will serve up a half dozen of the finest tri-QUACK-aletes in Pierce County, and they’ll cover a grand total of 200 feet! The ducks start at one end of an old cow feeder by swimming 100 feet one direction, then climbing a ramp to a platform built over the swim pond and “running/fluttering” back to where they started. First one back is the winner. In all, there are 20 races during the season. The duck with the most victories over that period is crowned Iron ‘DUCK’ World Champion.
The month-long event helps raise money for the Fisher House by allowing people to place bets on who they believe will win each race. Those bets are given in the form of a donation the Fisher House. To date, the event has raised more than $3,600 for the Fisher House and Wounded Warrior Project since starting in 2013. Money raised now goes toward nonprofit Celebrate HARVEST, whose mission it is to preserve the family farm for present-day and future farmers through helping promote and financially support experiential farming, aka agritainment to them.
Each “betting” participant receives a special duck bill. They also receive a numbered raffle ticket – they keep half and put the other half in the betting slot of their “predicted” winner. At the end of the race, the announcer will draw a name from the “winning” duck’s slot, and that individual will win a prize from one of our sponsors.
Dates of the races: Oct. 1/2, Oct. 8/9, Oct. 15/16, Oct. 22/23 and Oct. 29/30 (weather permitting); Time: 1 pm and 3 pm each weekend day; Price: included with farm admission.
Celebrate HARVEST: a vehicle that’ll help farmers reimagine farming Celebrate HARVEST is simply a vehicle for helping farms travel from where they currently find themselves toward a more non-traditional, profitable and sustainable method of farming – experiential farming or agritainment/agritourism. This allows the farmer to become a price-maker versus a price-taker in the market place by offering memory-making experiences versus a commodity product.