| BEST
IN THE DESERT
UTV World Championship
February 20, 2016
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BITD UTV World Championship
Race Report
Cognito Racing's
Justin Lambert Takes UTVWC Overall Win
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BEST
IN THE DESERT
UTV World Championsihp |
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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.
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| 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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.”
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BITD
UTV World Championship Production 1000 UTV
Podium
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