| BEST
IN THE DESERT
UTV World Championship
February 20, 2016
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BITD UTV World Championship
Race Report
Mitch Guthrie
Jr Takes UTVWC Short Course Overall UTV Wins
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BEST
IN THE DESERT
UTV World Championsihp |
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Laughlin, NV (2/26/2016) - ITP’s
Mitch Guthrie Jr snagged the holeshot and overcame
a late-race unscheduled pit stop to take the overall
win in the Best in the Desert Championship UTV Short
Course Race, part of the Polaris RZR UTV Championship
weekend. Mystik Lubricant’s Mickey Thomas finished
second overall and won the Production 1000 class.
HOLZ Racing’s RJ Anderson rounded out the top three
overall.
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Super
ATV / ITP's Mitch Guthrie Jr takes the overall
win at the BITD UTV World Championship in
the Short Course UTV Race |
103 UTVs were on hand to thrill the record crowd.
In fact, the organizers determined that it wouldn’t
be safe to run that many UTVs on the original
short course, so the race was run on the full
14-mile course for four laps for the 56-mile race.
There were unprecedented seven rows of entries
for the special event.
Driving the Polaris RZR Turbo in which he finished
fifth in the King of the Hammers event, Guthrie
Jr was first off the line and immediately began
building a lead. However, a late-race pit stop
for fuel nearly slowed Guthrie’s charge.
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Walker
Evans Racing's Mitch Guthrie Jr grabbed
the holeshot on the front row of the BITD
UTVWC |
“My gas light started blinking, so I had to stop
a second time,” explained Guthrie. “I knew it
was going to be close after having to pit twice.
It was nice to be able to get this car turned
around for this race. It shows just how strong
these Polaris racers are. I just wanted to go
for it and see what happened.”
Guthrie had a good lead, but knew he couldn’t
lose focus. “I had Brandon Sims, Beau Baron and
a lot of other fast guys behind me, so I had to
stay sharp,” said Guthrie Jr. “But I was able
to get a gap by the third lap. Coming into the
fourth lap, Branden (Sims) blew a belt, so I was
ready to cruise to the finish.”
In the end, Guthrie Jr secured the overall win
by just 15 seconds over Mickey Thomas. For his
efforts, Guthrie Jr was awarded a brand new Polaris
RZR Turbo.
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| Mitch
Guthrie Jr won a brand new Polaris RZR XP
Turbo for taking the overall win at the
UTVWC |
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