Ontario, Calif. - Team ITP Tires & Wheels competed at the 8th annual Heartland Challenge endurance race over the weekend in Carlisle, IA, and came away with two class wins (UTV 1000 and 30+) and another second place finish.
"We couldn't be any happier with the victorious efforts put forth from the Pratt brothers and the Media Allstars team of Dale and Mark Batson," said Pat McGuire, ITP Public Relations/Race Support. "The Heartland Challenge is a unique and difficult course not only because it's a multi-hour endurance race format, but it runs at night and features both man-made and natural terrain obstacles. Our racers know ITP tires will continue to outperform other brands, especially when traction and puncture resistance are a necessity."
The Jack's Excavating/Can-Am/RacerTech/ITP team of brothers Marcus and Mouse Pratt came away with the UTV 1000 (Pro) class overall and victory at the annual off-road race. The four-hour UTV portion of the weekend event was held on Friday night and offered three classes for traditional SxS vehicles and another for single-seat vehicles. More than 60 entries competed in Iowa.
The Pratt brothers completed 20 laps in just more than four hours to secure the class overall and UTV overall at the Heartland Challenge. Their time was more than seven minutes ahead of second place overall (UTV 900 class winner) and more than 10 minutes over the runner-up in the UTV 1000 class.
"Our ITP tires hooked up great. We ran 26-inch ITP TerraCross tires because they are a great, versatile, all-around tire in the mud, dry sections and really hook up good everywhere," said Marcus Pratt. "They have little roll, which also means great stability on a challenging course like the Heartland Challenge with its telephone poles, rock sections and woods. We wouldn't have won had it not been for our team, sponsors and, more specifically, our fabricator and mechanic Tim Muilenburg."
ITP had two other ATV teams competing at the 2015 Heartland Challenge. The Media Allstars team of Mark and Dale Batson, who also race for the team in the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) series, competed on a No. 99 Yamaha YFZ outfitted with ITP Holeshot GNCC front tires and QuadCross XC rear tires. The tandem completed 22 laps in a time of7:37:38 to win the class by a minute. That time was also good enough for 10th overall among all 76 ATV teams that participated.
A trio of racers also scored an impressive second place finish in the A class riding the No. 133 JW Builders/Root River Racing Honda. Haedyn Mickelson, Dalton "Bubba" Hicks and Kyle Burman used ITP Holeshot GNCC tires, front and rear, on their ATV to record not only a podium finish in their class, but also a sixth-place finish in the overall ATV results. Their time of 7:38:26 was less than 30 seconds behind fourth place.
