Race Write-up from Endeavor Bridgeport (2016 TORN rd 2)
#1
04-11-2016, 11:32 PM
Race Write-up from Endeavor Bridgeport (2016 TORN rd 2)
On Sunday morning at 5:20am, I began a long road trip to Bridgeport, Texas to compete in Round 2 of the 2016 TORN season with the hope of keeping my short "win streak" alive. After the race, I quickly loaded up "Old Faithful" (my trusty RZR 900xp), hit the road again and made it to my driveway at 8:30pm. This makes for a long (15 hour) day, but well worth the effort to spend quality time on the track with my fellow TORN racers. Below is my race write-up.
WHERE:
Bridgeport, TX… it’s a tiny town about 50 minutes northwest of Ft. Worth. This rural property has a little bit of everything, including hills, loose sand, rocks, large pastures, thick wooded areas filled with thorny mesquite trees, cactus, ponds, etc. TORN raced on this same property twice near the end of 2015, so its still fresh on my mind.
TRACK CONDITIONS:
On race day (Sunday), we enjoyed nice spring weather with highs around 80 degrees and mostly sunny skies.
The UTV track length was about 3 and 1/2 miles in length and included lots of bumpy, challenging trails through a wide variety of interesting terrain. Specifically, the course took UTV racers through a large pasture with zig zag turns around power poles and mounds of dirt before leading racers up and down several hills, through tight, twisty wooded trails and over rocky sections. The course was lined with plenty of obstacles like rocks, cacti plants and thorny mesquite trees that challenged tires and also included sections of bumps, deep ruts and whoops that challenged your suspension.
PRACTICE:
With a 300 mile road trip (each way) to get to the race, I would have preferred to drive up the night before and stay in a local hotel. However, that was not an option this time because I had a HOT DATE with my beautiful wife on Saturday night (we saw Ron "Tater Salad" White perform standup in Houston ). When my alarm went off at 5am on Sunday morning, my wife rolled over and told me to wake up. I replied that I was already awake and unable to sleep at all that night. She tried to talk me out of going to the race due to the dangers of falling asleep on my long drive. Having more stubbornness than intelligence, I told her I'd be fine and dragged my tired butt out of bed.
Once I finally arrived at the track at 10:30am, I registered for the race and unloaded Old Faithful for practice laps beginning at 11am.
On my first lap, I saw something crazy. There was a Can Am Maverick pulled over to the side in a tight tree section. It looked like his car was missing a front tire, but no one was inside or near the car. I cautiously continued onward and then spotted the driver about 30' up the trail. He had retrieved his front tire in the woods and was rolling it back towards his Maverick. Now that sux!
During my practice laps, I noticed 4 things about this course.
First, this track was a mixture of the two different tracks that TORN created on this same property in late 2015, meaning it had several fun hill climbs and descents like the Endeavor Bridgeport 1 race in 2015 and it also had a large pasture area with several zig zag turns where we power slid at nice speeds like the Endeavor Bridgeport 2 race in 2015.
Second, the frequent hill climbs on this track were fairly steep and you could not see where the trail leads once you topped the hill. Luckily, TORN set up arrows next to each hill climb so racers knew where to turn once they reached the top. This was very helpful as several hills had sharp turns upon reaching the crescent and missing those turns could prove disastrous!
Third, the soil was powder dry in many places that created tons of dust as racers made their way around the track, especially in the woods section. PRO TIP: Thick dust + racer's adrenaline rush = a bad combination! (more on this later...)
Fourth, there were not many places to safely pass on this track except for the large open pasture area. Even if riders wanted to pull over in the wooded areas to let faster racers pass, they had to be very careful so as to avoid cacti and thorny mesquite trees. With so little passing opportunities, this meant getting a good start, avoiding the heavy dust and trees would be critical for a podium finish.
UTV INTERMEDIATE CLASS:
A total of 5 side by sides lined up on the starting line of the UTV 900cc class, including four RZR 900xp's (including mine) and one RZR 900s. I was very happy to see this class growing in size since our last race, so I introduced myself to most of the new racers in my class and told them thanks for racing with us. (didn't have a chance to meet the new guys in the RZR 900s...hopefully will do so at the next race)
THE START:
When we lined up for the start in the large pasture area, we had approximately 45 feet to the first left turn around a small mound of dirt. The green flag went up and off we went. My 900xp fired right up and left the line quickly. Everyone else seemed to take off in slow motion (not sure if they just weren't ready yet or what). I won the hole shot and continued power sliding around the turns in the large pasture area. The turns in the pasture were watered down just prior to our race, so they were a bit slippery during this first lap or two and I had to be careful not to blow past a turn or oversteer/spin out.
LAPS 1 THRU 3:
After the large pasture area, the course takes racers up a steep, sandy hill about 20' high that makes a sharp left turn at the very top. After a sweeping right turn on soft sand, the trail goes over a small drop off and then proceeds to weave in and out of a few trees before heading to short hill of dirt about 10' high with an open area lined with gravel/small rocks on the other side. The trail then takes racers next to a metal building where the trail dips down onto an old concrete slab (resembles old scales for trucks) and then climbs back out. There seemed to be no fast way to hit this drop off onto the concrete slab b/c if you hit it with speed, you might end up slamming into the embankment on the other side (where you climb out). Another quarter mile or so up the trail, the course goes through a tight section of trees. A little further up the trail, I ran into a bottleneck of racers from another UTV class on a left hand corner. I had to slam on my breaks to avoid a collision. With no where to go, I braced myself for a possible collision on my rear bumper. Within a few seconds, someone in my class slammed on their brakes and barely tapped the rear end of my RZR. I was relieved! A half second afterwards, I heard the next UTV in my class (Ethan) slam into the rear end of the UTV behind me. Apparently, Ethan was in mid-air off a small bump in the trail when he finally saw the bottleneck. Luckily, it wasn't a serious collision and all racers continued onward as soon as the bottleneck ahead broke free.
I continued pushing hard through the woods. Eventually, I was able to pass a slower racer from the UTV amateur class ahead of me when he pulled over to let me pass. I soon caught up to another UTV amateur racer and followed his tail closely while I tried hard to find a place to safely pass. After eating his dust for a while, we finally completed the woods section and re-entered the large pasture and headed to the scoring shute. After we made a few turns around some power poles and dirt mounds, the trail gets wide and crosses a dry ditch that was a few feet deep. I hit the ditch to the right side while the UTV amateur racer slowed down to hit it on the left. I didn't slow down and hit the ditch pretty hard...my front end bottomed out and I popped out of the ditch with a harsh thud. But I was able to maintain control and beat him to the next corner. I continued onward through the pasture and rode through the scoring shute with the leader position for my class. Ethan was only 10 seconds behind me at the end of lap 1 (and others in our class close behind him), so there was no time to slack off. I kept the pedal down as I power slid around the dozen or so sweeping turns in the pasture and then headed back into the hilly sections and wooded trails.
Somewhere around laps 2 or 3, I came to a section in the middle of the course that has several short, but steep hills that have sharp turns just past the crest of each hill. This section of the course sorta makes an S turn and its very easy to go off the trail if you are not careful to turn right when you hit the crest of each hill. Just past that area, the trail drops down and makes a 90 degree right turn before launching up a steep 30' or so hill climb. When I made my way around the S turn section and down to the 90 degree turn, I suddenly saw a UTV layed on its side and the driver was outside the car. I stopped and asked if he was ok. He said yes, so I hit the gas and continued towards the big hill climb. I guess he got his car back on all 4 wheels quickly b/c it was not there on the next lap.
LAPS 4 & 5:
In lap 4, I continued to hold the lead for my class and eventually caught up to Gordon from the UTV amateur class (white RZR Turbo) in the woods. I stayed close on Gordon's tail and looked hard for a place to pass, but it was very difficult to find a wide place in the woods where it was safe to pass. I quickly realized that unless he pulled over and let me go by or he made a mistake and ran off course/wrecked, there was very little chance of me getting around him until we got to the open pasture. It was not easy to follow Gordon so close as I was eating a ton of dust and roost. But I wanted to keep the pressure on him so he would possibly let me pass or make a mistake that would give me an opportunity to pass him easily.
Some of the trails were so dusty that I literally could not see my hand in front of my face...I was running all of the trails and luckly avoided most of the trees. At one point, I recall not seeing anything and I was literally guided by the sound of Gordon's exhaust in front of me.
When we finally got near the end of the woods section, the course takes racers over a few long sections of whooped out sandy trails. These whoops were harsh if I you hit them with speed, but I pushed hard on the GO PEDAL and tried to make a way around Gordon. He was quick to close any gaps on the outside. GRRRR. Right before we exited that section and entered the large pasture areas, there is a small mound of rocks that we climb over and Gordon nailed the throttle just as he crested it. Suddenly, his TURBO motor rev'd up and the rear tires slung out TONS of rocks and debri all into the cab of Old Faithful. At that point, all I could do was put my left arm over my face to stop the onslaught of roost from hitting my face/goggles. The inside of my cab was now littered with several white rocks the size of golf *****. Well, that was no fun, but I keep the pressure on anyway b/c I wanted to pass Gordon as soon as possible.
I was very excited to finally see the wide pasture area where I planned to finally find a way to pass Gordon. It was apparent that he was no interested in letting me pass him unchallenged (even tho we are not in the same class). Unfortunately for me, the fast and wide pasture portion is where the RZR TURBO shines! He seemed to gain ground on me in all of the straights, but then I could real him back in over the tight turns and bumpy sections. Unfortunately, I never found a way around Gordon in the large pasture area and we continued racing into the hilly section again with me on his tail. This game of cat and mouse continued for a few more laps and my adrenaline was pumping more and more as I grew anxious to finally get around him and avoid eating dust sandwiches the whole race. LOL
As the race continued, I started seeing more and more UTVs layed on their side and broken down on the side of the trails. It was a constant reminder to stay focused. One wrong move could mean my race was over, just like that.
MISTAKES HAPPEN:
After we climbed the first big hill following the pasture area, I was right on Gordon's tail and Ethan from my class was not far behind me. I continued to ride very close to Gordon with the hope of finding a way around him. Unfortunately, the dust was getting thicker and thicker on the trails. As we rode past the first big, sandy hill climb and made our way over a small drop off, the dust was so thick that I could no longer see Gordon at all. I caught a glimpse of the trail ahead (after the short drop off) and followed the trail to the left. However, I immediately saw that no one was ahead of me and knew something was wrong. A few more feet up the trail and then I saw a sign with a "W" facing me. Oh Crap!! The thick dust caused me to lose sight of the course, and I made a WRONG TURN after the small drop off. I looked back just in time to see Ethan and a few others passing me on the course. I doubled back and tried to catch up.
The only good news from my mistake was that I was no longer eating thick dust/roost from Gordon and I could finally see the track again. But that didn't last long b/c a faster racer from UTV expert class soon caught up to me. I pulled over and let him pass and then proceeded to eat his dust for another quarter mile or so up the trails. As I made a left turn in the tight woods and suddenly saw the UTV expert car stopped on the trail. It appeared that he had ran over someone's tire...or at least it looked like someone else's tire. He hit the throttle and drove his UTV off the track and it became apparent that the tire laying on the ground WAS HIS! Yikes. I was a little disappointed to see him break down b/c I lost precious time to pull over and let him go past me and then he broke down in front of me. Grrrr.
LAPS 6 & 7:
I continued pushing hard to see if I could somehow catch up to Ethan and Gordon. When I entered the large pasture at the end of lap 6, I could see Gordon not far ahead of me and Ethan just ahead of Gordon. Apparently, Gordon let Ethan pass after he followed him closely for a while. That meant I was going to have to find a way to catch and pass both Gordon and Ethan if I wanted to re-take the lead in my class, and I only had 1 more lap to do all of that. I pushed hard on that 7th and final lap and eventually got close to Gordon near the finish line. But alas, I was not able to pass him.
RACE RESULTS:
Congrats to Ethan for taking the win. He hung in there and pulled out the win on a challenging course. I finished in 2nd place thanks to my mistake when I made a wrong turn in the thick dust. You can bet I'll will be looking for a rematch at the next race.
As always, I have to say a big THANK YOU to TORN for putting on another FUN event!
I hope you enjoyed my write-up.
WHERE:
Bridgeport, TX… it’s a tiny town about 50 minutes northwest of Ft. Worth. This rural property has a little bit of everything, including hills, loose sand, rocks, large pastures, thick wooded areas filled with thorny mesquite trees, cactus, ponds, etc. TORN raced on this same property twice near the end of 2015, so its still fresh on my mind.
TRACK CONDITIONS:
On race day (Sunday), we enjoyed nice spring weather with highs around 80 degrees and mostly sunny skies.
The UTV track length was about 3 and 1/2 miles in length and included lots of bumpy, challenging trails through a wide variety of interesting terrain. Specifically, the course took UTV racers through a large pasture with zig zag turns around power poles and mounds of dirt before leading racers up and down several hills, through tight, twisty wooded trails and over rocky sections. The course was lined with plenty of obstacles like rocks, cacti plants and thorny mesquite trees that challenged tires and also included sections of bumps, deep ruts and whoops that challenged your suspension.
PRACTICE:
With a 300 mile road trip (each way) to get to the race, I would have preferred to drive up the night before and stay in a local hotel. However, that was not an option this time because I had a HOT DATE with my beautiful wife on Saturday night (we saw Ron "Tater Salad" White perform standup in Houston ). When my alarm went off at 5am on Sunday morning, my wife rolled over and told me to wake up. I replied that I was already awake and unable to sleep at all that night. She tried to talk me out of going to the race due to the dangers of falling asleep on my long drive. Having more stubbornness than intelligence, I told her I'd be fine and dragged my tired butt out of bed.
Once I finally arrived at the track at 10:30am, I registered for the race and unloaded Old Faithful for practice laps beginning at 11am.
On my first lap, I saw something crazy. There was a Can Am Maverick pulled over to the side in a tight tree section. It looked like his car was missing a front tire, but no one was inside or near the car. I cautiously continued onward and then spotted the driver about 30' up the trail. He had retrieved his front tire in the woods and was rolling it back towards his Maverick. Now that sux!
During my practice laps, I noticed 4 things about this course.
First, this track was a mixture of the two different tracks that TORN created on this same property in late 2015, meaning it had several fun hill climbs and descents like the Endeavor Bridgeport 1 race in 2015 and it also had a large pasture area with several zig zag turns where we power slid at nice speeds like the Endeavor Bridgeport 2 race in 2015.
Second, the frequent hill climbs on this track were fairly steep and you could not see where the trail leads once you topped the hill. Luckily, TORN set up arrows next to each hill climb so racers knew where to turn once they reached the top. This was very helpful as several hills had sharp turns upon reaching the crescent and missing those turns could prove disastrous!
Third, the soil was powder dry in many places that created tons of dust as racers made their way around the track, especially in the woods section. PRO TIP: Thick dust + racer's adrenaline rush = a bad combination! (more on this later...)
Fourth, there were not many places to safely pass on this track except for the large open pasture area. Even if riders wanted to pull over in the wooded areas to let faster racers pass, they had to be very careful so as to avoid cacti and thorny mesquite trees. With so little passing opportunities, this meant getting a good start, avoiding the heavy dust and trees would be critical for a podium finish.
UTV INTERMEDIATE CLASS:
A total of 5 side by sides lined up on the starting line of the UTV 900cc class, including four RZR 900xp's (including mine) and one RZR 900s. I was very happy to see this class growing in size since our last race, so I introduced myself to most of the new racers in my class and told them thanks for racing with us. (didn't have a chance to meet the new guys in the RZR 900s...hopefully will do so at the next race)
THE START:
When we lined up for the start in the large pasture area, we had approximately 45 feet to the first left turn around a small mound of dirt. The green flag went up and off we went. My 900xp fired right up and left the line quickly. Everyone else seemed to take off in slow motion (not sure if they just weren't ready yet or what). I won the hole shot and continued power sliding around the turns in the large pasture area. The turns in the pasture were watered down just prior to our race, so they were a bit slippery during this first lap or two and I had to be careful not to blow past a turn or oversteer/spin out.
LAPS 1 THRU 3:
After the large pasture area, the course takes racers up a steep, sandy hill about 20' high that makes a sharp left turn at the very top. After a sweeping right turn on soft sand, the trail goes over a small drop off and then proceeds to weave in and out of a few trees before heading to short hill of dirt about 10' high with an open area lined with gravel/small rocks on the other side. The trail then takes racers next to a metal building where the trail dips down onto an old concrete slab (resembles old scales for trucks) and then climbs back out. There seemed to be no fast way to hit this drop off onto the concrete slab b/c if you hit it with speed, you might end up slamming into the embankment on the other side (where you climb out). Another quarter mile or so up the trail, the course goes through a tight section of trees. A little further up the trail, I ran into a bottleneck of racers from another UTV class on a left hand corner. I had to slam on my breaks to avoid a collision. With no where to go, I braced myself for a possible collision on my rear bumper. Within a few seconds, someone in my class slammed on their brakes and barely tapped the rear end of my RZR. I was relieved! A half second afterwards, I heard the next UTV in my class (Ethan) slam into the rear end of the UTV behind me. Apparently, Ethan was in mid-air off a small bump in the trail when he finally saw the bottleneck. Luckily, it wasn't a serious collision and all racers continued onward as soon as the bottleneck ahead broke free.
I continued pushing hard through the woods. Eventually, I was able to pass a slower racer from the UTV amateur class ahead of me when he pulled over to let me pass. I soon caught up to another UTV amateur racer and followed his tail closely while I tried hard to find a place to safely pass. After eating his dust for a while, we finally completed the woods section and re-entered the large pasture and headed to the scoring shute. After we made a few turns around some power poles and dirt mounds, the trail gets wide and crosses a dry ditch that was a few feet deep. I hit the ditch to the right side while the UTV amateur racer slowed down to hit it on the left. I didn't slow down and hit the ditch pretty hard...my front end bottomed out and I popped out of the ditch with a harsh thud. But I was able to maintain control and beat him to the next corner. I continued onward through the pasture and rode through the scoring shute with the leader position for my class. Ethan was only 10 seconds behind me at the end of lap 1 (and others in our class close behind him), so there was no time to slack off. I kept the pedal down as I power slid around the dozen or so sweeping turns in the pasture and then headed back into the hilly sections and wooded trails.
Somewhere around laps 2 or 3, I came to a section in the middle of the course that has several short, but steep hills that have sharp turns just past the crest of each hill. This section of the course sorta makes an S turn and its very easy to go off the trail if you are not careful to turn right when you hit the crest of each hill. Just past that area, the trail drops down and makes a 90 degree right turn before launching up a steep 30' or so hill climb. When I made my way around the S turn section and down to the 90 degree turn, I suddenly saw a UTV layed on its side and the driver was outside the car. I stopped and asked if he was ok. He said yes, so I hit the gas and continued towards the big hill climb. I guess he got his car back on all 4 wheels quickly b/c it was not there on the next lap.
LAPS 4 & 5:
In lap 4, I continued to hold the lead for my class and eventually caught up to Gordon from the UTV amateur class (white RZR Turbo) in the woods. I stayed close on Gordon's tail and looked hard for a place to pass, but it was very difficult to find a wide place in the woods where it was safe to pass. I quickly realized that unless he pulled over and let me go by or he made a mistake and ran off course/wrecked, there was very little chance of me getting around him until we got to the open pasture. It was not easy to follow Gordon so close as I was eating a ton of dust and roost. But I wanted to keep the pressure on him so he would possibly let me pass or make a mistake that would give me an opportunity to pass him easily.
Some of the trails were so dusty that I literally could not see my hand in front of my face...I was running all of the trails and luckly avoided most of the trees. At one point, I recall not seeing anything and I was literally guided by the sound of Gordon's exhaust in front of me.
When we finally got near the end of the woods section, the course takes racers over a few long sections of whooped out sandy trails. These whoops were harsh if I you hit them with speed, but I pushed hard on the GO PEDAL and tried to make a way around Gordon. He was quick to close any gaps on the outside. GRRRR. Right before we exited that section and entered the large pasture areas, there is a small mound of rocks that we climb over and Gordon nailed the throttle just as he crested it. Suddenly, his TURBO motor rev'd up and the rear tires slung out TONS of rocks and debri all into the cab of Old Faithful. At that point, all I could do was put my left arm over my face to stop the onslaught of roost from hitting my face/goggles. The inside of my cab was now littered with several white rocks the size of golf *****. Well, that was no fun, but I keep the pressure on anyway b/c I wanted to pass Gordon as soon as possible.
I was very excited to finally see the wide pasture area where I planned to finally find a way to pass Gordon. It was apparent that he was no interested in letting me pass him unchallenged (even tho we are not in the same class). Unfortunately for me, the fast and wide pasture portion is where the RZR TURBO shines! He seemed to gain ground on me in all of the straights, but then I could real him back in over the tight turns and bumpy sections. Unfortunately, I never found a way around Gordon in the large pasture area and we continued racing into the hilly section again with me on his tail. This game of cat and mouse continued for a few more laps and my adrenaline was pumping more and more as I grew anxious to finally get around him and avoid eating dust sandwiches the whole race. LOL
As the race continued, I started seeing more and more UTVs layed on their side and broken down on the side of the trails. It was a constant reminder to stay focused. One wrong move could mean my race was over, just like that.
MISTAKES HAPPEN:
After we climbed the first big hill following the pasture area, I was right on Gordon's tail and Ethan from my class was not far behind me. I continued to ride very close to Gordon with the hope of finding a way around him. Unfortunately, the dust was getting thicker and thicker on the trails. As we rode past the first big, sandy hill climb and made our way over a small drop off, the dust was so thick that I could no longer see Gordon at all. I caught a glimpse of the trail ahead (after the short drop off) and followed the trail to the left. However, I immediately saw that no one was ahead of me and knew something was wrong. A few more feet up the trail and then I saw a sign with a "W" facing me. Oh Crap!! The thick dust caused me to lose sight of the course, and I made a WRONG TURN after the small drop off. I looked back just in time to see Ethan and a few others passing me on the course. I doubled back and tried to catch up.
The only good news from my mistake was that I was no longer eating thick dust/roost from Gordon and I could finally see the track again. But that didn't last long b/c a faster racer from UTV expert class soon caught up to me. I pulled over and let him pass and then proceeded to eat his dust for another quarter mile or so up the trails. As I made a left turn in the tight woods and suddenly saw the UTV expert car stopped on the trail. It appeared that he had ran over someone's tire...or at least it looked like someone else's tire. He hit the throttle and drove his UTV off the track and it became apparent that the tire laying on the ground WAS HIS! Yikes. I was a little disappointed to see him break down b/c I lost precious time to pull over and let him go past me and then he broke down in front of me. Grrrr.
LAPS 6 & 7:
I continued pushing hard to see if I could somehow catch up to Ethan and Gordon. When I entered the large pasture at the end of lap 6, I could see Gordon not far ahead of me and Ethan just ahead of Gordon. Apparently, Gordon let Ethan pass after he followed him closely for a while. That meant I was going to have to find a way to catch and pass both Gordon and Ethan if I wanted to re-take the lead in my class, and I only had 1 more lap to do all of that. I pushed hard on that 7th and final lap and eventually got close to Gordon near the finish line. But alas, I was not able to pass him.
RACE RESULTS:
Congrats to Ethan for taking the win. He hung in there and pulled out the win on a challenging course. I finished in 2nd place thanks to my mistake when I made a wrong turn in the thick dust. You can bet I'll will be looking for a rematch at the next race.
As always, I have to say a big THANK YOU to TORN for putting on another FUN event!
I hope you enjoyed my write-up.