The 2021 Maxxis Tires “Casey Folks” Vegas to Reno Presented by Fox featured a record entry of 406 highly-competitive teams who made the event the largest and most ambitious V2R race yet.
Course conditions were the first topic of conversation for each competitor as they crossed the finish line. Recent thunderstorms and the route selected, including the notoriously grueling final section, made this year’s Vegas to Reno course extremely challenging. With points towards Maxxis Triple Crown prize money at stake, Best In The Desert’s normal purse, and the title of Vegas to Reno champion, racers were throttling hard and fast to be first.
In the end, Dalton Shirey/Jacob Argubright riding a Factory Husqvarna were the first Open Pro Motorcycle team, staving off challenges from Dakar and reigning V2R champ Ricky Brabec and the Kilmartin Racing N1 Hayden Hintz/Trevor Hunter team to take not only the overall motorcycle victory but the outright overall victory in a time of 7:44:10. Shirey/Argubright broke the tie between motorcycles and cars/trucks and earning bragging rights for the record of most overall wins at V2R, now 13 for motorcycles and 12 for cars/trucks.
As for the Car/Truck Class, Ryan Arciero won with a brand new truck in 7:56:49 after his previous one burned to the ground at last year’s V2R. Arciero’s win did not come easy as two-time defending champion Bryce Menzies was hungry and leading overall until Pit 11 where a front differential issue caused him to drop out. Best In The Desert favorite and veteran Trick Truck racer Steve Olliges put in one of the best races of his career coming home second in 8:10:10 edging Black Rifle Coffee’s BJ Baldwin out by a mere 44 seconds who finished in third place, respectively.
Meanwhile, Brenthel Racing’s Kyle Jergensen was never out of the hunt for the overall, finishing fourth in Trick Trucks. The #1 Concrete Motorsports Thompson/Letner team’s phenomenal streak of overall wins finally came to an end after a rear-start position resulting from a crash in Time Trials put them at a severe disadvantage. However, they still came back to finish seventh in class with a time of 8:32:22; an impressive feat. The 2021 Trick Truck Class was made up of a who’s who of off-road racing, an example of what the off-road racing sport has become.
Results for all the classes can be found at: https://bitd.com/race-results/