BEST IN THE DESERT Pahrump Nugget 250 December 3, 2016

Robert VanBeekum is finished out his first full season of BITD racing with a podium. His runner-up finish was a perfect finish to a tough season.

R-N-R Steel Racing's Robert VanBeekum secured a rookie season best 2nd place finish at the BITD Pahrump Nugget 250

“This was the roughest race of the whole season,” said VanBeekum. “There were a lot of rocks out there and the trucks really beat up the track. I ran a nice steady pace. I didn’t run as hard as I usually do and we brought it to the podium. We had a rough go all season. It was good to wrap up the season with a second place. We have four weeks to rebuild this car. We learned a lot this season and ready for next year.”

Keith Hughes and his son, Matth, finished third in the race and clinched third in the title chase, just behind Lacrecia Beurrier. Keith Hughes was named rookie of the year.

STI's Keith Hughes finished 3rd in the BITD Pro UTV Class & secured the Rookie of the Year Award

“It was a group effort,” said Matt Hughes, he handled the majority of driving duties this season. “It’s awesome because we went into this thing just wanting to have some fun in the desert, so it was good to be able to show our skill and hang with these big guys out there. We were hoping for a top 10 in points. Things started to get a lot more serious as the year went on, so I started putting a lot more work into the car. The battle was on with Lacrecia and Matt Burroughs. We came pretty close to second in points. Next year, we’ll get some four-seat turbos going. Hopefully we’ll be racing two turbo cars by the mid part of the year. We’ll at least have one turbo car running.”

Dragon Fire's Lacrecia Beurrier's finished the season 2nd in points behind Lambert by overcoming issues at the Pahrump 250 to make it to the finish line

Branden Sims had his own problems this season. Just before the Vegas-to-Reno race, Sims suffered serious burns in a boating accident. He tapped his father, Dale, to run the race and keep the season going. From there, he ran consistently and finished the season here with a victory. Brothers Jason and Derek Murray were second, followed by Jacob Carver, Tomas Sallvin, Brandon Schueler and Mitch Guthrie.

Polaris / LSR / ITP's Branden Sims secured the Pro Turbo UTV Championship with the BITD Pahrump Nugget 250 Win

“He did a great job,” said Sims of his father’s race. “He did exactly what I hoped he would do. It was an unfortunate accident leading into that race, but he was the first person I thought of to fill in for me and keep the season going. He did phenomenal.”