KTM Places Third in Las Vegas to Reno Race

Las Vegas, NV- Red Bull KTM’s Factory Baja riders earned an impressive third overall in the popular TSCO Las Vegas to Reno race over the weekend. This race represents the fourth round of the Best in the Desert’s Silver State Series.   

The two-member Red Bull KTM Team consisted of National Hare and Hound Champion David Pearson and the newly signed Quinn Cody. The race was approximately 559 miles total with riders averaging speeds of 80-100 mph. The Red Bull KTM Team took the opportunity to test the brand new KTM 690 Baja bike for the second time in the U.S. and were very impressed with the results.

The KTM riders started out with a third place gate pick and never dropped lower than that throughout the race. The KTM riders stayed in second place for a stint in the beginning of the race within a minute and thirty seconds behind the lead American Honda team of Johnny Campbell and Kendall Norman. Eventually the KTM riders dropped back to third and were able to maintain that third place podium position to the end.

At the checkered flag the Red Bull KTM Team finished with a 9:30:12 behind the second place team of Steve Hengeveld and Robbie Bell with a 9:29:15. The first place team of Campbell and Norman came through a couple minutes ahead with a 9:24:02 finish.

Red Bull KTM Factory Mechanic John Turner stated, ‘The bike held up tremendously and didn’t give us one mechanical problem throughout the almost 10 hours it took to complete the event. We are happy with the progress so far and feel our bike and our team will be a threat for the championship in the Baja 1000 coming up in nine weeks.’

KTM’s Director of Racing Kurt Nicoll remarked, ‘Development wise this race helped us significantly, we now know we have a bike that has the speed and durability to compete in the front of the pack. The bike was practically flawless this weekend and we at KTM are very proud of the progress and results so far.’