METHOD RACE WHEELS LAUGHLIN DESERT CLASSIC PRESENTED BY POLARIS DRAWS HUGE RACER TURNOUT AND CROWDS - UTV Night Race by Baja Designs and Fabtech Laughlin Leap Pack the House

 (LAUGHLIN, NV - October 17th, 2018)– Best in the Desert, the largest off-road race series in North America, just wrapped up four amazing days of off-road racing with the successful running of the Method Race Wheels Laughlin Desert Classic presented by Polaris.  Starting with the UTV Night Race Presented by Baja Designs on Thursday which drew 93 UTVs to BITD’s first ever 100% night race through Car and Truck Contingency and Tech on Friday and two solid days of back to back racing on Saturday and Sunday the weekend was jam packed with excitement and adrenaline. Autumn temperatures combined with rain on Friday night and Saturday morning added to the atmosphere.  All together 247 cars, trucks and UTVs including some of the biggest names in the sport showed up to throw down for bragging rights as to who would be fastest man or woman at the river and they didn’t disappoint the some 15,000 fans estimated in attendance.

“We are super excited about our final outcome at the 2018 Method Race Wheels Laughlin Desert Classic presented by Polaris,” said BITD Operations Manager Donald Jackson. “The UTV Night Race presented by Baja Designs was a complete homerun with a great turnout and many, many smiles to report at the finish line. The response to the return of the Laughlin Leap presented by Fabtech for the Car/Truck/UTV community couldn’t have gone better as well. We estimate almost 5000 spectators for that event alone.  Last but not least the car and truck racing was some of the best of the year. We watered much of the course and with the rain that fell as well the racers could really compete head to head due to the unlimited visibility. It made for some really close racing.”

Christian Sourapas Takes Overall Trick Truck

Christian Sourapas was the big winner taking home wins in both Trick Truck races with a total elapsed time of 2:06:36 easily taking home the overall. It was also his first ever overall win at a major off-road race and the emotion of the moment was clear to all. “I remember when I was little boy playing with my toy race trucks while my dad raced dreaming that someday I might win a big race overall as well”, said Christian on the podium. “This weekend was like a dream come true”. Tracy Graf followed Christian in second in Trick Trucks with a combined two heat race time of 2:10:52 for second overall. Ryan Poelman rounded out the Trick Truck podium with a combined time of 2:15:25.

Class 6000 Trophy Lites was won by Joshua Cobb

Ryan Hancock was the highly competitive Class 6100 winner with a total time of 2:13:20. Ryan was followed by Andrew Whitehead in 2nd place just a little over 2 minutes back at 2:15:22. Trophy Lites Class 6000 was won by Joshua Cobb in 2:42:55 followed by Ryan Winner at 2:46:44.

Tim Marques took the win in Class 6200

Other Class Winners include Brock Heger in Class 1000, Bill Wingerning in Class 1500 and Tim Marques in Class 6200.

Robert Van Beekum took home the overall win in the UTV Production Class in the first heat of the UTV Night Race by Baja Designs with Garrick Lastra taking the UTV Sportsman Class win.

Heat  2 and the UTV Turbo Production Class winner was Phil Burton followed by Brett Comiskey who won the UTV Unlimited class.

The Fabtech Laughlin Leap came down to a four way battle between Sam Berri, Justin Lofton, Pat Dean and Brandon Arthur with Sam Berri taking the win and the $10,000 first place prize money. Sam jumped 123 feet in his final attempt followed by Brandon Arthur at 116 feet, Pat Dean at 115 feet and Justin Lofton at 114 feet.

Former Army sniper and double amputee Brent Bretz competed thanks to Jeepspeed and Randall Racing. More info about Brent and the Vetdrenaline program can be found here:  www.vetdrenaline.com

“We could not be more pleased with how the long weekend of racing turned out”, said BITD co-owner Bryan Folks. “This is a very important race for our series and we see huge potential in its future. Judging from the spectator turnout and the support we received from the racing community we are already looking forward to next year’s event. A big thank you to all our sponsors and the Laughlin Tourism Commission for all their support”.

The next round in the Best in the Desert Series is the final round of the year the Pahrump Nugget “250” presented by Polaris. It takes place on November 29 through December 2nd, 2018 in Pahrump, Nevada. Series championships are up for grabs with a huge turnout expected.

FOR SERIES INFORMATION: Contact Liz Marshall at Best in the Desert at bitd@bitd.com or by calling 702-457-5775

FOR MARKETING/SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: Contact Scot Harden at scot.harden@harden-offroad.com or by calling 951-491-1819

Follow the action of the Lucas Oil Production Studios broadcasts of Best In The Desert events on the NBC Sports Network and MAVTV.

2018 Best In The Desert official sponsors: Ford Motor Company – Official Truck, General Tire – Official Tire, Lucas Oil Products – Official Oil, Sunoco Race Fuels – Official Fuel, Rugged Radios – Official Communications, Fabtech – Official Suspension, Polaris RZR – Official UTV, KC HiLiTES – Official Light, Beta Motorcycles – Official Motorcycle, Method Race Wheels, Tactical Recovery Equipment, Trophy Tractor, R-N-R Steel, Dicks Racing Suspension, Slime, McKenzies, Sportsman Cycle Sales, Fall Advertising and TrueTravel Dynamics.

Life is an Adventure.  Come Live Your Adventure with Best In The Desert...THE AMERICAN OFF-ROAD RACING SERIES

Further information is available at: www.bitd.com/email: bitd@bitd.com/phone: (702) 457-5775

Media Contact:www.fallads.com/bitd/email: mediabitd@fallads.com, russt@fallads.com, donaldf@fallads.com

Thanks to Harlen Foley and Door 54 for Images.

Important notice:  THE USE OF DRONES WILL NOT BE ALLOWED AT ANY BEST IN THE DESERT EVENT. Please be aware, Drones are VERY DANGEROUS to the safety of all concerned, both people in the air and on the ground.