In support of sponsor Polaris, the UTVunderground, and a chance to get an up close look at desert racing Cody Rahders Racing attended the UTV World Championships in Laughlin NV to race the Production 1000 class in his Championship winning Cognito Motorsport RZR XP 1000. Unfortunately it didn’t go quite as planned.
Registration, contingency, tech, and even the start all went well but after Cody, starting on the 3rd row, had worked his way through a majority of the second row that started one minute ahead of him, had a clutch failure that ended his race and day near the end of lap three.
At dinner, it was discussed that this was the 3rd DNF in a row (Monster Jam-belt, Regionals-hub, UTVWC-clutch), and the team needed a good finish. It was decided that they would leave Laughlin at 2am the following morning and travel to District 38 at Plaster City West for what would be Codys first true desert race.
The team arrived in time for the 8:30 drivers meeting and while Cody attended the meeting the clutch was replaced, car got a quick prep, and he lined up for the bomb run.
At the start Cody lead for the first mile but was running out of top end due to fact he was still running a short course clutch tune. At the end of the run he was third out of 17 as they headed out into the desert.
End of lap one Cody was still 3rd and near 2 minutes behind the leader. End of lap two he was 2nd and 1 minute down. At the finish he was still 2nd and had closed to 30 seconds back of the winner.
"I could see his dust and could gain in the tight sections but once we hit the wide open stuff I would hit the rev limiter and back off. I'm happy. We showed up 45 minutes before the race, panic prepped, and came away 2nd overall after 90 miles, in my first desert race, in a short course car. I'm happy to have finally shaken the DNF's and looking forward to the Regional's at lake Elsinore."
Cody Rahders Racing would like to thank his sponsors for the 2015 season:
Polaris, Cognito Motorsports, Fox Shox, Black Rhino RacerX Motorsports for letting me use his 4 seater and trailer to get to Laughlin, Sparks Racing, GMZ Race Products tires #noflats, Method Wheels, PAC Racing Springs, K&N Filters, Superchips, Twisted Stitch seats, Streamline Performance, JDM Fotos, and the UTVunderground. My spotter Nick Novak, mechanics Kevin Sullivan, Jon Kelly, my parents, and my girl friend Regina.
Thank you!
Doug Rahders
R3motorsports
619-887-8070
Cody Rahders
#916 LORORS 2014 Production 1000 Champion
#716 LORORS 2014 XP Class Champion
#716 LORORS 2013 XP Class Champion
#816 WORCS 2012 Production 700 Champion
#16 LORORS 2012 SuperLite Champion
#16 M4SX 2009 AM Mod Champion
