Polaris Racing Dominates at the Endurance Championship
Last weekend saw the Polaris Racing Team with powerhouse driver Ben Thomasen take the overall win on both Saturday and Sunday at the latest round of the Off-Road Racing Association of NZ season being the bi-annual 2014 Total Lubricants New Zealand Endurance Championship held at Dovedale over the weekend.
Thomasen braved near zero temperatures over the two days racing and covered 504km being six by 42km laps each day. Thomasen qualified for pole position on Saturday after a short qualifying sprint and after his first day win qualified for pole position again on Sunday. By taking the checkered flag on both days the Polaris Racing Team now holds the NZ Off-Road Racing Enduro championship title.
“The RZR XP 1000 was in its element and worked perfectly. The track was technical with a great mix of terrain and the RZR handled everything faultlessly whilst being pushed hard through the cold for the entire 7 hours and 52 minutes. I on the other hand was very, very cold, the wind chill and the ice in the valleys decided it would hang around for the 7 hours and 52 minutes! With icy water splashes, creek crossings and wind chill some words were muttered whilst I was gasping for breath!” said Ben Thomasen.
Thomasen was the only driver to go under eight hours over the two days racing and it was also great to see nine Polaris RZR’s enter the race.
“A Polaris RZR is a great machine to race; we are giving much more powerful and far more expensive vehicles a run for their money. A race ready RZR following ORANZ specification guidelines can be race ready for under $35k. This makes motorsport very accessible with low costs involved compared to that of other classes of vehicles and not only is it cheaper you can win too!” said Ben Thomasen
The Polaris Racing Team now heads into the remaining two rounds with maximum points in the four round NZ Off-Road Championship series.
About Ben Thomasen:
Ben raced motocross for 15 years, left with significant injuries Ben looked into other forms of motorsport and was left using the catch phrase “with age get a cage!” He purchased a Subaru WRX which he now races in rally events around New Zealand and as of early 2013 started racing in a Polaris RZR XP 900. Ben loves driving the agile, fast and cheap to run Polaris RZR and looks forward to helping grow UTV racing in New Zealand and getting more SxS (side by side) owners involved in New Zealand Off Road Motorsport.
