With an approximately 70% win rate in desert, rock, and short course racing in 2016, FOX has racked up an almost unbelievable number of wins, proving the superiority of their race suspension and technologies.
The year started out with a bang when Erik Miller won his second career King of the Hammers title.
Miller’s win was quickly followed up by Justin Lofton claiming back-to-back Mint 400 overall wins, both against arguably the most stacked fields in rock crawling and off-road racing history.
At the inaugural Best in the Desert Laughlin Desert Classic, Josh Daniel took overall in a dominant performance over 2 days of sprint racing through the harsh Nevada desert. At the challenging BITD Vegas to Reno, Andy McMillin outclassed the field for an overall victory after battling back and forth with teammates Bryce Menzies, Rob MacCachren, Josh Daniel and the three hundred plus field of competitors over two days of intense off-road action which finished with FOX equipped vehicles in the top 4 positions overall.
In the land down under, the 2016 AORC series saw three FOX-equipped winners with Matt Kittle in Mildura, Glen Owen at Tatts Finke and Jack Rhodes winning his third straight Riverland Enduro while clinching the outright championship title.
Juan Carlos Lopez secured FOX’s first 2016 Baja overall win at SCORE International’s Rosarito Beach Desert Challenge in his Trophy Truck that was freshly switched to FOX and perfectly tuned to win. Following up on a short course championship, Rob MacCachren defeated over 270 competitors, 850 miles of Baja’s toughest terrain and 17 hours of chaos to an astonishing three-peat overall victory at the infamous Baja 1000 to close out the SCORE season.
FOX 2016 Desert Racing Overall Win Highlights:
• AORC Sunraysia 600 – Matthew Kittle
• AORC Tatts Finke Desert Race – Glen Owen
• AORC Riverland Enduro – Jack Rhodes (2016 AORC Champion)
• BITD Mint 400 – Justin Lofton (Back-to-Back)
• BITD Laughlin Desert Classic – Josh Daniel
• BITD Vegas to Reno – Andy McMillin
• SCORE Baja 1000 – Rob MacCachren (3-Peat)
• SCORE Rosarito Beach Desert Challenge – Juan Carlos Lopez
• SCORE Overall Points Championship – Rafael Navarro IV (Class 10)
FOX’s Internal Bypass technology remains unrivaled in the fastest growing and most-competitive classes in desert racing–the UTV classes. FOX equipped UTV’s dominated the podium of nearly all BITD and SCORE races this season. Justin Lambert proved to be the man to beat in his naturally aspirated Cognito Hellraiser XP1K, sweeping the entire BITD series in the UTV Pro Production class while beating the faster turbo UTV’s in 5 of the 6 races, enough to earn him the championship. Branden Sims constantly battled Lambert through the season and was able to round out the season in Pahrump with a win and the Turbo class championship.
Also notable at the Baja 1000, In only his 4th race in his new Polaris RZR, rally and drifting sensation Rhys Millen took the Pro UTV Naturally Aspirated class win and overall UTV win beating 36 Pro UTV competitors. Kristin Matlock became the first Iron Woman to solo the Baja 1000 in a 4-wheel vehicle and claimed 3rd overall in the UTV field while her husband, Wayne Matlock, also soloed the race. Wayne lead the race until mile 840 where he suffered a part failure. With just 15 miles to go, Wayne and his co-driver managed to limp the RZR into the finish on 3 wheels, finishing 2nd in the Pro UTV FI class and solidifying the top 4 overall in the UTV classes for FOX Internal Bypass equipped Polaris RZR’s.
FOX 2016 UTV Desert Racing Win Highlights:
• SCORE San Felipe 250 Pro UTV FI / Overall – Marc Burnett
• SCORE Baja 500 Pro UTV FI / Overall – Wayne Matlock
• SCORE Rosarito Beach Desert Challenge Pro UTV FI / Overall – Marc Burnett
• SCORE Baja 1000
• Pro UTV NA / Overall – Rhys Millen
• Pro UTV FI – Branden Sims
• SCORE Pro UTV FI Championship – Derek Murray
• BITD 250
• UTV Pro Production / Overall – Justin Lambert
• UTV Pro Turbo – Dustin Jones
• BITD UTV World Championship
• UTV Pro Production / Overall – Justin Lambert
• UTV Pro Turbo – Ryan Laidlaw
• BITD Mint 400
• UTV Pro Turbo / Overall – Branden Sims
• UTV Pro Production – Justin Lambert
• BITD Laughlin Desert Classic
• UTV Pro Turbo / Overall – Marc Burnett
• UTV Pro Production – Justin Lambert
• BITD Vegas to Reno
• UTV Pro Production / Overall – Justin Lambert
• UTV Pro Turbo – Jason Murray
• Unlimited UTV – Derek Murray
• BITD Pahrump 250
• UTV Pro Production / Overall – Justin Lambert
• UTV Pro Turbo – Branden Sims
• BITD Champions
• UTV Pro Production – Justin Lambert
• UTV Pro Turbo – Branden Sims
Brutal doesn’t begin to explain rock racing and the dominant performance of FOX athletes and machines in Ultra4 was no different, winning 6 out of 8 races with 3 podium sweeps, and claiming the top 8 positions in the national points championship. While Erik Miller won his 2nd KOH and the Battle in Bluegrass, the remaining four FOX wins were earned by four different drivers, but it was Jason Scherer’s consistent performance that earned him the honors of 2016 Ultra4 Champion.
FOX 2016 Rock Racing Overall Win Highlights:
• Ultra4 King of the Hammers – Erik Miller
• Ultra4 Stampede – Shannon Campbell
• Ultra4 Hot Springs – Clay Gilstrap
• Ultra4 Badlands – Jason Shipman
• Ultra4 Sturgis – Erik Miller
• Ultra4 Fallon – Jason Scherer
• Ultra4 Championship – Jason Scherer
The dominance extended beyond the desert and rocks into short course off-road where FOX-backed drivers racked up more LOORRS PRO round wins than all other shock manufacturers combined. The 2016 season featured constant podium changes between Rob MacCachren and Bryce Menzies in Pro 2. Doing double duty Rob MacCachren won the Pro2 Championship, and took 3rd place in Pro4.
In the Midwest, FOX racers have continued to own the TORC series, winning 38 of 40 TORC Pro class races, a 95% win rate over the season. It was Kyle Hart who took the Pro Light championship while CJ Greaves locked up back-to-back championships in both Pro 2WD and Pro 4WD. The 2016 short course season culminated with Crandon’s World Championship Sunday, where FOX athletes stood atop the podium in 4 out of the 5 races. Keegan Kincaid beat the odds in the grande finale, the Amsoil Cup, with a perfect wire-to-wire run in his Pro 2WD, easily defeating the all-out battle of Pro 2WD and Pro 4WD competitors.
FOX 2016 Short Course Racing Highlights:
• 31 LOORRS Pro Class Wins
• LOORRS Pro 2 Championship – Rob MacCachren (back-to-back)
• 95% win rate in TORC Pro Classes (38/40 races)
• TORC Pro Light Championship – Kyle Hart
• TORC Pro 2WD Championship – CJ Greaves (back-to-back)
• TORC Pro 4WD Championship – CJ Greaves (back-to-back)
• Crandon Pro Light World Championship – Kyle Kleiman
• Crandon Pro 2WD World Championship – CJ Greaves
• Crandon Pro 4WD World Championship – CJ Greaves
• Crandon Amsoil Cup Champion – Keegan Kincaid (Pro 2WD)
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