Ontario, Calif. - ITP team member Justin Lambert and his Cognito Motorsports team piloted the No. 1918 Polaris RZR XP1K, dressed with 30-inch ITP UltraCross tires, to victory at the Best In the Desert Vegas To Reno off-road race in Nevada. The Can-Am/ITP/Murray Racing tandem of Derek and Jason Murray took second in Class 1900 behind Lambert to give ITP a 1-2 finish on the class podium.
"Our Best In The Desert racing teams continue to outgun the competition this year. We kicked off 2015 with an epic win in the series opener, won the Mint 400, took a podium sweep at the Silver State 300 and now a 1-2 finish from Justin Lambert and the Murrays at the very challenging Vegas To Reno race," said Pat McGuire, ITP Public Relations/Race Support. "Our highly talented drivers, when matched with good vehicles and the proven 8-ply, 30-inch ITP UltraCross tires, are hard to beat. Lambert's win was wonderful considering the challenges this year, but to have three teams finish in the top five at America's longest and most difficult desert race is huge."
The BITD Vegas To Reno race had more than 50 side-by-side vehicles (40+ Pros) spread out in three classes, but had to deal with deep silt, jagged rain/wash ruts from earlier storms, blinding dust clouds and, for the first time in series history, raced at the same time as the four-wheel, full-size buggies and trucks. The longest off-road race in America, kicked off in Beatty, NV, and ended 545 miles later at the finish line in Dayton, NV. It took Lambert, the Class 1900 winner, more than 13 hours to complete the course, averaging 41.8 mph. The Cognito Motorsports/Fox/ITP/Polaris took 59th in the category.
The Murrays finished just less than eight minutes behind Lambert to record yet another BITD Vegas To Reno podium. In fact, it was their fifth time on the 1900 Class box in the last six years. The second-place run in the Can-Am Maverick MAX X ds Turbo also extended Derek and Jason Murray's class finishing streak to 36 consecutive races.
ITP-backed racer Johnny Angal, who carried the class points lead into round five, competed with an all-new Polaris Turbo running UltraCross tires. Angal, whose racing career really began last year and put his name on the SxS map with a 2014 Baja 1000 win, had a good race, finishing fifth and 77th overall, which held his points lead heading into the next round.
ITP racing teams Dodge Poelman (No. 1962 Supercross.com/Polaris) and Logan Gastel (No. 1969 Rugged Radios/Can-Am) also finished the race—a feat in and of itself—in seventh and ninth place, respectively. Another ITP team, the S3 Powersports/Can-Am team of Dustin Jones and Shane Dowden, started 38th, but moved into the lead by the 100-mile marker. The team, which held the overall lead and had extended it to a 20+-mile advantage over the class, looked to be headed to another win, but eventually had to drop out with just 19 miles to go.
ITP scored another podium win in the Pro Unlimited class, as Lacrecia Beurrier drove her No. 2909 DragonFire/AZ West/Rockstar Racing/Polaris to victory in Nevada. The win also secured the class championship for Beurrier, who completed the race in just over 16 hours, took 100th overall and was the first woman to finish the challenging desert course.
The next BITD race, the BlueWater Desert Challenge, is slated for Oct. 8-11, in Parker, AZ.
