BEST
IN THE DESERT
Silver State 150
September 23, 2017
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BITD Silver State 150 UTV Race
Report
::Continued::
After missing the Mint 400 due to surgery on
a torn wrist ligament, Piplic came into this round
pumped and ready for action. He ran a steady pace
early and caught the lead pack. At mile 50 the
turbocharger gave up on his ride and despite being
down on horsepower he came in third, his best
ever BITD finish.
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Polaris
/ Long Travel Industries' Ryan Piplic &
Larry Heidler secured a BITD career best
third place finish at the Silver State 150 |
“I didn’t get a good jump off the start, but
I had a mindset to be smart, be smooth, and let
the race come to me,” said Piplic. “It worked
out to where I was picking people off that were
breaking their cars. The next thing you know,
I was up in the front pack. Unfortunately, we
lost our turbocharger after mile 50 and I had
no boost. So I ran the remaining 100 miles naturally
aspirated.”
Fisher started on the third row and had difficulties
in the tight sections of the course. He caught
up with Piplic late in the race, but fell back
in a left-hand turn and held on for third in his
Can-Am X3. It equaled his best finish this year,
recorded the UTV World Championship.
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Lonestar
Racing's Dan Fisher secured a 4th place
finish |
“As soon as that flag waved, we jumped, got in
front of everyone in my row and didn’t see them
for some time,” said Fisher. “My car ran really
well, but it was too wide for some of the narrower
sections of the course. There were 60 miles of
tight stuff and I was fighting it; my tires were
rubbing trees on either side. Piplic was right
in front of me coming out of pit three. We got
right up on his rear bumper. The course went left
and we blew that corner. After that it was too
hard to catch up.”
Driving his familiar Cognito Polaris RZR, Lambert
teamed up with co-driver Mitchell Alsup again
to score the top five. The finish should help
his points position, which took a hit with a 20th-place
finish in the Vegas to Reno event.
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Cognito's
Justin Lambert rounded out the top five |
In Pro Production, Griffin, with co-driver Everette
Crofford, made the trip from Mississippi pay off
with his first BITD victory of the season. He
battled with Kaden Wells early in the event before
taking the lead at mile 30 and he then cruised
to victory. Robert Van Beekum finished second
in a Polaris, ahead of the Yamaha of Andrei Isac.
Wells finished fourth.
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Dragon
Fire Racing's Russell Griffin backed up
his 2nd place finish at the Vegas 2 Reno
with the Pro Productionwin at the Silver
State 150 |
“We decided to relax, hang back, and let the
race unfold for the first 25 miles,” said Griffin.
“That really worked out for us, because the second
place guy missed a turn and went out into the
trees and the bushes. That gave Kaden Wells some
room. He slowed down a little bit and we passed
him. A good friend of mine Cappy raced with me
here in 2015 and unfortunately he has passed,
so we wanted to dedicate this race to him. We
have a 28-hour trip back and the win will make
it much easier.”
Van Beekum started on the fifth and final row
in the Pro Production class and took the lead
after pit one. A failing axle slowed his pace,
but he recovered to finish second. The tight and
technical nature of the course took its toll on
the field and Van Beekum was happy to survive
to finish on the podium.
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Robert
VanBeekum claimed the 2nd spot in Pro Production
UTV Class |
“We replaced the CV cage, sped back up, and passed
almost everyone,” said Van Beekum. “There was
a lot of carnage out there. I saw over 12 cars
on their lids. It was really tight and we were
rubbing bushes the whole time. There were a lot
of rocks and sharp edges. I felt like we were
on the King of the Hammers course.”
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