Monster Energy Kawasaki's Mike
Lasher Podiums at Silver State 300
Best in the Desert
UTV Racing - Round 5 - Alamo, NV - April 30,
2011
|
Monster Energy
Kawasaki's Mike Lasher (left) & Rick
Wallace with their custom Kawasaki Teryx
UTV
|
Irvine,CA (5/3/2011) - Lasher Motorsports
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Mike Lasher blasted
across the Nevada desert in his Kawasaki Teryx™
to finish third in the Bilek Racing Silver State
300. Located 180-miles north of Las Vegas, Nev.,
near the town of Alamo, Round 2 for the UTV class
of the Best in the Desert series proved to be a
high-speed, action-packed race. The 305-mile course
consisted of tough desert terrain packed with every
type of obstacle imaginable. From wide-open fire
roads to tight rocky mountain-trails, this diverse
course even included two water crossings. Although
the sky was clear and sunny, the weather was freezing
cold the morning of race day, with temperatures
below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The demanding race’s
combination of speed and jagged terrain would take
out two of Lasher’s tires and a wheel, before
the end of the race. After almost eight hours speeding
through the desert, Lasher and his co-driver outran
13 other UTV teams to finish on the podium in third
place.
|
Monster Energy
Kawasaki Teryx with a Muzzy- built motor,
EPI tuned clutches, PRP podium seaat and
XMF long-travel kit with Walker Evans
shocks
|
Bringing a Gun to a Knife Fight
Since the last BITD event in Parker,
Ariz., Lasher made some significant upgrades to
his Kawasaki Teryx to ensure he would have the
edge over the competition coming into the Silver
State 300. Among the upgrades included a Muzzy-built
motor, Billett King’s new rear-brake kit,
EPI tuned clutches, PRP podium seats, and a fresh
tuned XMF long-travel kit with Walker Evans shocks.
The improvements paid off as Lasher finished the
race in less than eight hours, despite having
to repair two flats and a punctured wheel.
|
Monster Energy
Kawasaki's Mike Lasher & Rick Wallace
placed third in their Kawasaki Teryx UTV
|
“We had a great weekend,” said Lasher.
“This was the first race we ran the Muzzy’s
power-plant, and it was a monster. The Teryx was
so much fun to drive, the power it had coming out
of the corners was phenomenal. With the new engine
we felt like we were bringing a gun to a knife fight.
Because of the draw, we started out sixth in our
class. We were able to get though the course relatively
fast and powered our way into third place by the
end of the race. Everything worked out great, from
our overall race strategy to our pit-support. It
was really cold all day which worked to our advantage
as well. The temperature started out at 40 degrees
and never got over 65 degrees, so we didn’t
have to run any of our cooling fans the entire race.
The course was really challenging, with some serious
elevation changes, and loaded with really sharp
rocks, but overall it was a lot of fun to race.”
Wally World
At the half-way point of the race, Lasher handed
over the wheel to co-driver Rick “Wally
World” Wallace to finish out the race. Wallace
took over the wheel in third place and rode a
clean, fast race. He maintained the fast pace
set by Lasher, and was making up ground when a
rock punctured his wheel. After a quick wheel
change he got back up to speed and crossed the
finish in third place. Out of 220 total race entries,
the Lasher Motorsports Monster Energy Kawasaki
team finished the in the top 65.
Hot Pursuit
The UTV class blasted off the start at 7 a.m.,
followed by the trophy trucks who left the start
at 9:30 a.m. Since the trophy trucks are bigger
and faster than the vehicles in the UTV class,
the UTV pilots set a goal of getting across the
finish before being overtaken by the pack of thunderous
trophy trucks.
“Our goal was to finish ahead of the trophy
trucks,” said Lasher. “Monster Energy’s
BJ Baldwin started an hour and a half behind us
in his truck. We kept checking for Balwin’s
truck in our rear-view mirror throughout the race
because we knew he was moving through the field
pretty quickly. Those trucks can reach speeds
over 120 mph and we like to get off the course
before they catch up to us. Even though we popped
a couple tires, and punctured a wheel, we still
maintained a really fast pace and finished ahead
of the trophy trucks.”
The Super Star of Gran Prix
In two weeks, the Lasher Motorsports Monster Energy
Kawasaki team will travel to Parker, Ariz., for
Round 3 of the Best in the Desert series at the
Epic Racing Bluewater Gran Prix. Lasher and co-driver
Wallace will be looking to have a flat-free race
so they can climb to the top of the podium.
Best
In The Desert - Bilek Racing Silver State
300 - April 30, 2011 |
Place |
Driver |
1 |
Matt Parks |
2 |
Brandon Schueler |
3 |
MIKE LASHER
/ RICK WALLACE, LASHER MOTORSPORTS MONSTER
ENERGY KAWASAKI |
Monster
Energy
Discuss
this in ATVriders.com Forum
|