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BEST IN THE DESERT
UTV World Championship
February 20, 2016

Best in the Desert Racing - BITD Series

BITD UTV World Championship Race Report
Cognito Racing's Justin Lambert Takes UTVWC Overall Win

BEST IN THE DESERT
UTV World Championsihp
Laughlin, NV (2/24/2016) - The second annual Best in the Desert UTV World Championship was once again held in Laughlin, Nevada, and Cognito Racing’s Justin Lambert dominated the field with an impressive overall win, which was his second straight against a stacked field of competition. Lambert, driving a naturally aspirated Polaris RZR 4 XP 1000, bested newcomer Kristen Matlock and Mike Cafro for the victory in the Production 1000 class, and Ryan Laidlaw won the Turbo Class race followed by Marc Burnett and Dustin Jones.
Justin Lambert - BITD UTV World Championship
Cognito Racing's Justin Lambert dominated the Best in the Desert Polaris RZR UTV World Championship for the overall win to claim a brand new Polaris RZR XP Turbo for the win along with $1,000 from Method Wheels

With more than 200 total UTV entries, the most ever for a UTV racing competition, the field was strong on the 14-mile course laid out near the Colorado River. With a record crowd watching, the competitors took on the difficult and dusty course to run the 140-mile 10 lap racing event The UTVs took the start in rows of 15 in a land rush style start unlike the normal two at a time at other BITD events.

Dustin Jones - BITD UTV World Championship
S3 Racing's Dustin Jones grabbed the holeshot on the front row followed by Justin Lambert in the 2nd spot

With the overall win at the Parker 250, Lambert was one of a few non-turbo UTVs to start on the front row, and he got off to a great start in the second spot behind S3 Racing’s Dustin Jones. As a true sportsman, Jones let Lambert by after the first lap, since they weren’t competing against each other directly for the class win. Lambert did later find himself in a battle for the overall lead with Mitch Guthrie Jr before he suffered a mechanical issue, which allowed Lambert to score an impressive win with an 11-minute overall margin of victory, despite experiencing clutch slippage late in the race.

Justin Lambert - BITD UTV World Championship
ITP's Justin Lambert launched over the Polaris RZR ski jump

“We figured they (Guthrie Jr) were pushing pretty hard and that they would eventually break and that’s what happened,” said Lambert. “We stayed in it just enough to get here. This is the toughest race all year. It’s probably as tough as any BAJA race. It just keeps wearing you out. This was one of the toughest courses I’ve ever been on. My kidneys are beat up pretty bad. It was relentless. We pushed really hard for the first five laps, then backed it off on six and seven and eight, and then really backed it off on nine and ten. We knew that after Mitch broke and we had a good lead so we didn’t want to break.”

Justin Lambert - BITD UTV World Championship
Cognito Racing's 's Justin Lambert was able to run away from the competition late in the race to claim a dominate lead of over 11 minutes at the checkered flag

“During the last few laps, the clutch starting slipping a little bit,” explained Lambert. “We got back into the desert and it seemed to be OK. We feathered it during the last few laps and just kept our fingers crossed. Thank you to Polaris. This is the best car out there.”

Justin Lambert - BITD UTV World Championship
BITD UTV World Championship Production 1000 UTV Podium
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