Yesterday, I drove to Frost, Texas to compete in another TORN series cross-country ATV race. Brandon also joined me at this race (he races in the Utility Class). Brandon arrived with his BF650i fully repaired from the last race (where he DNF'd from mechanical problems during the first lap) and upgraded with new "shoes." Below is my race write-up.


WHERE:
Frost, TX…it’s a tiny town about an hour south of Dallas and only 20 miles from the last race - which was held in Corsicana. Its ironic that this race was held in Frost b/c the temps were definitely "frosty" (44 degrees) when I arrived at the property in the morning.

Like the last race, this property also had a good mix of woods and open areas. The woods were filled with thorny mesquite trees and cactus plants, both of which pose a hazard for ATV tires. The wooded trails were wide and sometimes straight enough to get up to decent speeds (I hit 40mph on the longest stretch through the woods). The course through the woods was wide and fast with sufficient opportunity to pass slower riders (THIS IS MY KIND OF TRACK!). The open areas were sometimes bumpy and had several terraces that acted as small jumps. The course through the open areas was layed out with a series of zig-zag turns around small piles of dirt (no long straight-aways here).

TRACK CONDITIONS:
The weather was sunny and cool with temps in the mid 50's when my afternoon race started. My personal preference is 60 degrees and sunny, so this is nearly perfect racing weather in my humble opinion! The ATV track was only 3.2 miles in length according to my ATV's odometer...this is a bit shorter than most of the TORN races that I've competed in this year. The big challenges for this race included dust in the open areas and woods and keeping the tires away from the mesquite thorns.


OVER 40 B CLASS:
When we lined up at the starting line, I counted a total of 8 quads in the Over 40 B class. This line-up included the "usual suspects" that included mostly 450cc sport quads like the Can Am 450, Cannondale 440, Honda 450 and a few Yamaha 450s, plus a Polaris Scrambler 500 4wd and my KFX 700.


PRACTICE:
After making the 3 hour drive to Frost, I had sufficent time to get in 5 practice laps (usually only do 1 or 2). On one of my practice laps, I teamed up with Brandon and he followed me around the course. I had to slow up a little, but I must say I was impressed at how well he could keep up with me in the woods...I used to race in the utility class (ATVCCS), so I know how difficult it is to man-handle a 650lb utility beast through the woods.


THE START:
Like the last race, they started off each class in a 6' wide path cut into the ground and wetted down a little to make the start a bit slippery. Finally, the green flag when up and off we went. I eased into the throttle b/c I didn't want to spin too much/loose traction. I ended up in 5th place as we made the 1st turn and headed thru several zig-zags turns in the open grassy area. I was able to pass the rider ahead of me on the Polaris (Roger) shortly before leaving the open area and going into the first section of woods.


LAP 1:
I kept a decent pace through the woods that eventually take the racers around the perimeter of a pond with 5' high dirt built up around the outer edge. After you circle the pond, the trail takes you though a few tight sections of woods (more on this later) and then to wider trails through the woods. About half-way through my first lap, I caught up to another rider in my class (Matt) and followed closely with the hope that I could soon find a good opportunity to make a clean pass. The dust was very thick on this part of the course, but I didn't want to hang back too far and miss an opportunity to pass. After we came out of the last section of woods (which are sandy/dusty), we entered the same big open area where the race began...after a few zig zag turns in this open field, I finally made a pass around Matt and finished my first lap in 3rd place. Big thanks to Scott (aka Goggles) for signalling 3rd place to me as I exited the scoring shute each lap!


LAPS 2 - 7:
About half-way through my 2nd lap, I left the pond area and came upon the tight wooded section mentioned above...this is where I saw a utility quad just off the left side of the trail with a bent rear rack and a missing rear wheel. I didn't see the rider of this quad amongst the people standing near the quad, so I wasn't sure who it was. As I passed by, I looked back and recognized the race number on the front of the quad as that of my buddy Brandon. On my next lap, I saw Brandon standing next to his broken-down quad and asked him if he was ok. He said yes and told me to keep going. I was relieved to know he was not injured b/c his quad didn't look so good.

On my 4th lap, I had a bit of excitement as I climbed the dirt trail that goes around the pond perimeter. Immediately after you climb this dirt trail, you have to make a hard right turn while straddling some short stumps in the middle of the trail and then you continue along the top of the dirt pile for a short while. Unbeknownst to me, my front wheels were slightly off the ground as I ascended the top of this dirt hill and so I didn't turn as far to the right as I needed to when I reached the top. I quickly found myself speeding towards a big tree about 10' in front of me. So I let off the throttle and my front wheels finally got traction and narrowly escaped hitting the tree by mere inches. That was a close one!

On the 5th lap, I came to the sandy/dusty woods near the end of the lap and suddenly my front left tire bounced off a small tree as I tried to turn left around it. When the tire hit the tree, my left hand popped off the handlebar grip, but fortunately I was able to hold on with my right hand and regain control...that was a good wake-up call to stay focused and avoid the trees.

On one of the last few laps, I noticed my front end no longer handled well whenever I made sharp turns. I suspected that my tires lost air pressure due to the thorns (which were everywhere on this track), but I continued to press onward with the hope that I would have any additional problems (like having the tire come off the rim). After the race, I discovered my right front tire lost all air pressure due to thorn punctures. Luckily, that tire stayed on the rim and didn't cause any significant problems. I plan to install some Tire Slime in my tires before the next race so as to avoid a repeat of this problem.


RACE RESULTS:
According to the official results posted at the TORN trailer, I finished 3rd place out of 8 in our class. That makes the 5th race this season that I finished in 3rd...can't seem to catch the top 2 guys this year. That's ok, it is alway fun trying.

Without a doubt, this track had the MOST FUN COURSE that I've raced this year. I can't speak for others, but I wish all of our TORN races were this wide and fast! The only thing I would've done different would be to add some long straight-aways in the open field and make the track at least 5 miles long (assuming the property was big enough). Otherwise, this track was a perfect lay-out for my tastes, and I overheard several folks at the finish line say they had so much fun racing on this track. I couldn't agree more! As always, I have to say a big THANK YOU to TORN for putting on a fun event!


Hope you enjoyed my write-up!