Just got a '03 and took it to the desert for the first time. After a little put around for about an hour to get used to the bike I went over to see the drags, I was riding with a couple 400ex's. They wanted to race, I had the factory tires on in the soft sand where thay had paddles. Off the start they would get me for a short way then I'd pull 6 or 7 bike lengths on them. I was the only DS out there at the time so here came the Banshees and Raptors and the like. All I can say is that the DS gained the respect of of lot of people in a very short amount of time. Mind you, my bike is (for now) stock. Excellent handling of woops and jumps, cornering was also pretty imppressive for me anyway. I hope this helps.