Reno, Nev. - Yesterday's Team KYMCO KEP (KYMCO Extended Protection) WARP Offroad Factory Racing run in the 2017 BITD Vegas to Reno off-road race kicked off with a good solid start, but unfortunately did not have the great ending that all involved had hoped for.
Team captain Alex Kollitz kicked off Team KYMCO KEP WARP Offroad Factory Racing’s start to the 2017 BITD Vegas to Reno race shortly after 6 a.m. Friday morning and handed off the KYMCO MXU700i race prepped ATV to teammate Justin Wood 40 miles into the race. Wood tackled the next 100 plus miles making passes and putting the team into second place before handing off the MXU700i to teammate and GNCC Pro racer Adam McGill. After running strong approximately 140 miles and at a good pace, overcoming a few issues along the way, McGill checked in to pit 7 just minutes behind the leader in his class.
At pit 7 a few repairs and adjustments were made to the machine and handed off the MXU700i back to team captain Kollitz. The team was in pretty good shape at this point in the race. Making it to pit 9 would have been about the halfway point of the 540-mile race, but this is when things went south. Kollitz never made it to pit 8 and communication with him went silent. It turns out that approximately 12 miles after he left pit 7, he unfortunately experienced a race-ending crash. At that time, the team had no information on the details of what caused the crash. Kollitz was air lifted via helicopter to the Reno trauma center where he is now recovering nicely from a few non life-threatening injuries.
KYMCO would like to wish Kollitz and his family a speedy recovery and thank him for his efforts. The company would also like to thank all of its sponsors and racers for helping it tackle the 2017 BITD Vegas to Reno off-road race. Lastly, the team would like to thank all of those who followed its race progress and supported its efforts.
The sponsors graciously supporting Team KYMCO KEP WARP Offroad Factory Racing include KEP (KYMCO Extended Protection), WARP Offroad, Elka Suspension, TrakMotive, TireBlocks, CST, Dynojet and MZM Performance.
