Laughlin UTV race to get ESPN coverage
UTV World Championship TV show set for 1-hour show on ABC
UTVUnderground.com and Mad Media, led by the Martelli Brothers directing team, announced the premiere date for their one-hour documentary-style TV show on the Polaris RZR UTV World Championship powered by Monster Energy. The show will premiere on ESPN’s World of X Games on ABC on Oct. 15 at 3 p.m. EDT/2 p.m. PDT.
The world’s biggest UTV race takes place every year in Laughlin, Nevada, and draws the best UTV racers in the world to battle in both short course and desert races. The races feature exciting side-by-side land rush starts and intense door-to-door racing from the drop of the green flag all the way to the checkers.
“We are thrilled to be a part of ESPN’s World of X Games series. It puts us right in front of a younger skewing action sports based demographic,” said Mad Media CEO and co-director Matt Martelli. “They have an enormous television reach and have a massive digital and social media reach as well. We are already the biggest UTV race in the world with the biggest TV and social media following. Now with our new relationship with ESPN’s World of X Games, we are directly in front of the right demographic. We are looking forward to working with ESPN to grow the UTV market globally!”
The 2017 TV show will feature racing in three separate classes, including desert, short course and youth racing. The show will highlight world-class racers Rhys Millen, viral superstar and off-road champion RJ Anderson, and short course champion Cody Bradbury. The racing family of Randy (father), Claudia (mother) and Sierra (daughter) Romo, as well as 11-year-old racing phenom Dallas Gonzales, will also be featured as digital profiles leading into the program air date.
“When we came up with the idea for this race, we knew we could grow it into the biggest UTV race in the world. What we didn’t anticipate is becoming one of the biggest off-road races on the planet in three shorts years! The UTV World Championship has been exploding every year, and partnerships with global media groups like ESPN are key not only in exposing UTV racing to new people, but exposing UTV racing to the right people. We’re thoroughly stoked to be showcasing the most exciting UTV racing from around the globe on ESPN’s World of X Games!” said UTVUnderground founder Joey DiGiovanni.
“Our cinematic, documentary-style approach to covering this race and other marquee off-road events like The Mint 400 is a process that we’ve spent over 20 years perfecting — and we’re very proud of the work we produce. Action-based storytelling has always been the main focus of all the content we create. Our goal is to uncover the incredible stories that unfold at each race, and this year was full of them! There were exciting passes and lead changes, gut wrenching losses, crashes and everything in between this year,” said COO and co-director Joshua Martelli.