HARD WORK BRINGS HOME KING OF HAMMERS AND WORCS WINS FOR GUTHRIE RACING
Glendora, California (February 12, 2013) – A big week in the world of UTV Racing, and another big week for the father/son team of Guthrie Racing and their Polaris/Walker Evans/Holz Racing Products RZR XPs. Capturing the 2013 King of the Hammers UTV Title and another WORCS SXS Production 1000 win.
Mitch Guthrie backed up his 2012 King of the Hammers win and scored his fourth KOH win with a solid, determined performance, finishing the 115 miles thrash fest in 7:51:52. Dave Cole set a brutally tough course that only three of the 35 UTVs entered finished on time. Guthrie started strong from the ninth position and settled into a solid pace by race mile 3. From there, he and his co-driver Mitch Jr. pushed their Walker Evans-equipped RZR XP 900 through fast desert sections and nasty rock crawls. Mitch Guthrie started off by pre-running the 2013 King of the Hammers course in his #1 car. It was a gamble, but by choosing to pre-run the entire course in the same car he planned to race he knew exactly what he was going to be capable of come race day. Proving that if you can do it once, you can do it twice. All in all the team had a great day. But at the end it came down to sheer determination. The #1 suffered some downtime when we had to change a ball joint on course. Leaving remote pit 2a, we knew it was going to be a sprint to the finish since Matt Enochs passed us while we were broken. Guthrie had the pit crew dump all the unnecessary weight of the car. “Back under way we ran into a pretty serious problem on a course this tough... no brakes. That’s when Mitch Jr. said “Just use the gas we don’t need the brakes†and we got after it running in the last 20 miles with Jon Crowley and his RZR XP hot on our heels we came over a rise and saw Enochs on the side of the course with a flat.†said Mitch Guthrie. When the dust settled, Guthrie earned his fourth King of the Hammers win by a mere 16 seconds! “I can’t thank the sponsors and pit crew enough. A race like this is brutal and it takes great products and teamwork and strategy to pull off a win like this — we cut straps on the spares, jacks and anything else that wasn’t needed. We probably dropped 80 lbs. for the run to the finish.†said Guthrie.
Once the celebrating was done, Guthrie Racing loaded up and headed for Primm, NV and the second round of the WORCS series. At the opening round Mitch Jr. qualified first on a well prepped track, and went on to win in an absolute mudfest. The conditions for round two were perfect — and rough. With the points lead, Mitch Jr. had first gate pick which was important at Primm as they had a narrow start. When the green flag flew on SXS Produc- tion 1000, it was another Holz holeshot, by Mitch Guthrie Jr. and his # 751 RZR XP 900. Guthrie pulled away, driving smooth and gaining time on the short course portion of the course. Mitch Jr. spent another week at the top of the box with his second straight win and finished 3rd out of 40 overall against the entire field of SXS Pro/1000. “This race was tight. The track got really rough and it was tough to see but at the checkered flag I was able to post another win. This Polaris RZR XP works awesome.†said Mitch Jr.
Next up, Mitch Jr. will head for the third round of the WORCS Series March 22nd in Lake Havasu, AZ. with his Polaris/Walker Evans/Holz RZR XP.
