The Polaris RZR entered 2009 with victories in two very different forms of UTV racing. Jagged X extended its Best in the Desert winning streak at the Parker 250, while Matt Lube and Todd Campbell drove a Polaris RZR S to an overall victory in the WORCS/PIAA eight-hour endurance race.
Together, the results demonstrated how quickly the early Polaris RZR had progressed from a recreational side-by-side into a competitive platform for desert and endurance racing.
Jagged X Wins the 2009 Parker 250
Jagged X opened the 2009 Best in the Desert season by winning the Epic Products Parker 250 in the No. 1919 Polaris RZR.
Driver Brandon Schueler and navigator Chad Riccio started eighth in the UTV field. They worked their way toward the front and battled for the lead through nearly 100 miles of racing. With approximately 40 miles remaining, the Jagged X team moved into first and held the position through the finish.
The victory was the team’s sixth consecutive Best in the Desert win. Jagged X had closed the previous season by winning the 2008 Henderson Fabtech Desert Classic and securing its second consecutive Best in the Desert UTV championship.
Jagged X’s early success was an important part of the RZR’s development as a race platform. The team began competing with the original RZR shortly after the vehicle reached the market and helped prove that the compact sport side-by-side could survive long desert races.
Polaris RZR S Wins Eight-Hour Endurance Race
Polaris also started the year with a victory at the WORCS/PIAA eight-hour UTV endurance race.
Polaris regional manager Matt Lube and co-driver Todd Campbell competed in a Polaris RZR S 800. The team won the Stock class and finished first overall, completing one more lap than the leading Modified-class entry.
The result was particularly notable because the RZR S was new for the 2009 model year. Polaris had widened the original RZR formula to approximately 60 inches and equipped the S with 12 inches of suspension travel and FOX Podium reservoir shocks. Those changes made it better suited to higher speeds and rough, open terrain than the original 50-inch RZR.
Winning an eight-hour event also required more than short-term speed. The RZR S had to withstand sustained racing, repeated impacts and the mechanical strain created by hours of continuous competition.
An Early Demonstration of the RZR’s Racing Potential
The Parker 250 and WORCS endurance victories showed the versatility of the developing RZR platform. Jagged X won a long desert race with the established No. 1919 program, while Lube and Campbell demonstrated the capability of the newly introduced RZR S in a closed-course endurance event.
These results arrived during a pivotal period for sport side-by-sides. As explored in our history of the UTV industry in 2008, the original RZR, wider RZR S and Kawasaki Teryx were pushing the market toward faster and increasingly specialized recreational machines.
The vehicles were modest by modern racing standards, but their success helped establish the RZR as one of the dominant platforms in UTV competition. Explore more early models, race results and firsthand reviews in the complete history of the Polaris RZR.
Browse additional Polaris UTV news, reviews and model history from UTVGuide.net.
