Perret Takes Checker Flag at BITD Terribles Grand Prix at Primm

| October 20, 2009 | 0 Comments

BITD Terribles Grand Prix at Primm was a great race from the green flag to the checker! An October Saturday morning in the Nevada desert started in the low 70’s and reached the 90’s by mid afternoon when the UTV’s were lined up to take on the course.

The BITD land rush Grand Prix starts the race off with all eight cars jockeying for position into the first turn. Brandon Schueler in the 1919 RZR took the hole shot with Jim Creagan 1947 Arctic Cat right behind. The eight lap, 6 ½ mile course was visible from the pits so there was plenty of race action to be seen, and there was a lot to talk about with Pierre Perret crossing the finish line as the Winner!

Land Rush for the Start

“We were just fast today, and we had a lot of fun,” said Pierre Perret. After two finishes so far including the epic Vegas to Reno race, they knew they had to step it up a notch to win and spent long hours on the car and got it all dialed in. It certainly paid off! Coming out of the land rush start they were in 6th place, and were determined to work up the field. By lap two they were already on the bumper of Schueler, but in a turn of events he flipped the car onto its side! They climbed out of the car like a cat chasing a mouse, flipped the car back over, buckled back in and jumped back on course in 5th place. Back to passing, they knocked one off at a time and by lap 6 were back in 2nd place wrangling 1919 for the win.

The next two laps were an action packed battle between Perret and Schueler. This turn, that straight away, and finally with only four miles to go Perret said “I just went for it” and it put him in first place. Bill Schuler commented on the Jagged X Polaris RZR S which had another flawless race. He said “we led from the flag to ½ way through the last lap, but Perret caught us and passed us totally clean, totally fair, he was just flat faster. It was an action packed ending for sure!”

Coming in third was Mike Lasher in the 1924 Kawasaki Teryx. Lasher and co-pilot Rick Wallace suffered a broken axle with two laps left in the race but were able to limp to the finish. Lasher was still running a slightly used stock motor that Jon Crowley lent him during the Vegas to Reno race. Two and a half races later it is still running strong! That is a testament to a factory engine.

The BiPolar team of Jim Creagan in the 1947 car came out of the first turn in 2nd place behind Schueler but in the first half of the first lap completely blew a corner and went to third place. “How we only lost one position with that pack of rats behind us was amazing,” said Creagan. But this was just not their day, on the 2nd lap they lost all power. The initial diagnosis is something internal in the motor broke loose. “We just got out of the way and let everyone else race. We kept going, but instead of roasting it, we backed out to finish to keep points alive for the championship,” explains Creagan. He was disappointed because they had an engine that they could have swapped to before the race, but had made the decision not to. Oh well, they can still say that this Arctic Cat has finished every lap since the Baja 1000 last year, and that is certainly something to brag about!

The Championship points are close…and should be updated later this week. The final BITD Henderson Fabtech Desert Classic Race is December 4-6 and will settle the score between these UTV teams that have embraced desert racing and owned it!

Race Results:

Perret – Polairs RZR S
Schueler – Polairs RZR S
Lasher – Kawasaki Teryx
Sappington – Yamaha Rhino
Cook – Polairs RZR S
Lucero – Yamaha Rhino
Furnell – Polaris RZR
Creagen – Arctic Cat Prowler

The top 5 UTVs completed all 8 laps.

Entry List

1902 Cory Sappington, Donovan Cain
Yamaha Rhino

1909 Pierre Perret, Daniel Fontes, Byron Price
Kwik Komponents, Perret Farms, Modern Finish, Fireball Racing, Microtouch Shocks, Bill
Polaris RZR S

1912 Mike Cook, Bill Fain, Joe Conchola, Tom Vaughn
Cooks Commercial Glazing, Mendoza’s Off-Road, 4th Matter
Polaris RZR S

1919 Brandon Schueler, Chad Riccio, Mike West
Jagged X, Polaris, CR Designs, Elka, OMF, Vision X, Simpson, S&S Off-Road, MTA West, Robby Gordon Offroad, Tire Balls, ATL, Trophy Engineering, Fullbore
Polaris RZR S

1924 Mike Lasher, Wally Wallace
Pro Armor, Side X Side Outfitter, OMF Performance, CST, Fox Shox, Beard Seats, ITP, Kawasaki, K&N, Muzzys
Kawasaki Teryx

1929 Jeff Furnell, Jeffrey Furnell
Makin Trax Suspension, Dragonfire Racing, Lakeview Dental Ceramics
Polaris RZR

1944 Josh Lucero, Nicolas Underwood
Tommy Gun Plastering, Lil Gun Fab-Works
Yamaha Rhino

1947 Jim Creagan, Tabor Cresap
Arctic Cat, Vision X Lighting, GBC Motorsports, King Shocks
Arctic Cat Prowler 1000