Two days of racing at the 2016 Best In The Desert (BITD) Vegas To Reno (V2R) kicked off this morning and it was a crazy day! Somewhere around 70+/- UTVs took the green flag and headed into some of the dustiest and nastiest terrain Nevada had to offer.
The day was kicked off with a change of race format the morning of the race due to a military helicopter crash that took place overnight on the course. The accident, which resulted in no fatalities, forced BITD to eliminate a 70 mile section of course. This forced racers to start the race, battle 49miles to pit one, then load their cars back up on the trailer and transfer the vehicles to pit two where they would then unload and resume the race. The decision was made on the fly and was the best option for BITD.
The week kicked off with the launch of the new Can-Am Maverick X3 which then made its way to Vegas To Reno to compete under the factory backed teams of Murray Racing and S3 Powersports. Despite nearly breaking the internet with the unveil of their new Maverick X3, the hype that was propelling Dustin Jones and S3 Powersports was not enough to carry them past the first 20 miles. Unfortunately for the team, Dustin while charging hard in the brutal silt around race mile 18 slammed into the back of another racer who was also piled into the back of another vehicle in front of him. Jones then got rammed by another vehicle. Pileups between trucks and buggies had been happening between RM 5 and 20 all morning and Jones was just one of the many victims who wouldn’t make it to pit 1.
Luck was however on the side of Jake Carver who propelled his #936 Polaris RZR XP Turbo out to the front of the pack where he would gap the next closest competitor by over 10 minutes. Carver has put himself in a great position to carry momentum into tomorrows race.
Bill Zemek in his 935 Can-Am Maverick Turbo and Mitch Guthrie Jr. in his 951 Polaris RZR XP Turbo would also finish in the top 3 unofficially on time in the Pro Turbo class.
In the UTV Pro (naturally aspirated) class Justin Lambert continued to show why he is the most dominant UTV desert racer in the country right now. Lambert in his 1918 Polaris RZR XP 1000 not only ran 3rd overall for majority of the day, he also sits first in class. Behind him is Matt Burroughs in the 1948 Polaris RZR XP 1000 and Rhys Millen in his 1987 Penzoil Polaris RZR XP 1000 rounding out the top 3.
We will report back with more info as we get it from officials and will also drop a day 1 Polaris Racing video late tonight or early tomorrow to help you all visualize the intense action from day 1!!
Stay in the discussion with everyone and continue to track the action in our forum: https://www.utvunderground.com/forum/index.php?threads/official-utvunderground-2016-bitd-vegas-to-reno-update-thread.19911/
