Was a fun, but very EXPENSIVE weekend of racing for me in Texas. I didn't take home any trophys this weekend, but I had a lot of fun and I finally got to meet several good folks on this or other atv forums that I had not met before.

GNCC
On Saturday, I raced in the GNCC in the Util. Mod class where there were 8 entries. My goal was to get 5th place (or better) so that I could take home a plaque. Unfortunately, I ended up in 6th place... I finished the race with 4 laps completed in just 3 minutes behind the 5th place rider. My total time was 2 hours and 31 minutes and this was the longest race I've entered to date. I was very pleased with how well my quad and my old body held up during this race. I didn't have any real problems at all during this race except that my quad didn't fire up on the first try (so I got a lousy holeshot) and then I rolled my quad down a hill on the 3rd lap. When I tried to climb a hill, there were 2 ways to go...straight up a muddy and rutted trail or off to the right side which looked less treacherous...but was a little more offcamber. As I tried to go up on the right, I noticed 2 sport quads stalled at the top of that trail, so I stopped so that I could back down and try the other route. Unfortunately when I stopped, I was very off camber and my quad just rolled over on its side and continued to roll down the hill. I immediately jumped off my quad and ran down the hill and jumped behind a tree. My quad finally stopped when it hit a tree just 2 feet to the left of me! Ken Robey was there b/c he broke down (tie rod problems I think) and he helped me get my quad right side up. I was very thankful for his help. Frankly, I was lucky I only rolled my quad once in this race b/c it had LOTS of offcamber situations and plenty of very steep hill climbs and descents (with tricky bolders/rocks to navigate too).

I think Jerrod Sheets (FD Racing) took home 1st in this race in the util mod class and Michael Swift took home 1st in the util stock class...congrats to both of them on a fine race!

This year's GNCC course was 11 miles long (it was only 9 miles last year) and it was run in reverse direction as compared to last year's GNCC in Texas...so the tricky hill climbs in last year's race were the tricky hill descents this year! IMO, I think this year's course was actually a little easier b/c it had more straight-aways and more smoother sections overall as compared to last year where there was only 1 or 2 stright-aways and very few smooths sections. I noticed this year that in the straight-aways I had NO problems keep up with the sport quads... but once we got to the tight woods section, they could usually leave me in my tracks.

On a positive note, I did manage to beat last year's util. mod champion Scott Kilby (he came in 7th place) by 8 minutes. Of course, the only reason for this result was b/c Scott had some minor motor problems (he told me it was a radiator hose leak or something like that). Like I told Scott on Sunday, I was lucky I beat him and I'm sure that will never happen again! hehe I also beat my new buddy from Kentucky (Anthony aka "Traindog" on other forums), but that was only b/c his quad got "friendly" with a tree on lap 1 and he ended up with a DNF for the day (he came in 8th place). By the way, I got to see and hear Traindog's modded BF750 and it was ever better than I had imagined! That machine will be tough to beat this year for those who are lucky enuf to get to race against Traindog this year.

DAMAGE REPORT
None! I was very shocked that the roll-over didn't bend my handlebars and racks.


6 HOURS OF TX
Here's where things got interesting!!! Because Traindog was unfortunately not able to race with me and my team-mate Daniel (a fellow Texan) as originally planned, we only had 2 people on my team (Redneck Mafia Racing) and it also meant that we were going to have to use my quad as the back-up b/c Traindog's BF750 was wrecked in the GNCC race. That was not all bad b/c my team-mate (Daniel) is only 20 years old and full of energy and my quad seemed undamaged from the GNCC. When we signed up on Sunday morning, they asked where our 3rd team member was and we said we didn't one...they looked as us funny and said not many teams are running only 2 guys, but good luck to us.

We had only 4 quads in the utility class...we had 3 Prairies and one little yellow Honda (400cc Rancher I think). The Honda was run by a group of local guys from TX who raced in the 6 hours race of TX last year on a Yam YFZ 450 and they chose the Honda Rancher this year b/c it had 4x4. When my team-mate and me first saw the Honda, we laughed and my team-mate told me...well, at least we know we won't finish last today (hehe...famous last words!!! ).

I elected to do the (LeMans style) start for my team and the first few laps was VERY muddy...had 3 inches of mud caked on to everything on my quad and me! The course was 2 miles of open pasture areas followed by 3 miles of woods and MX section. The MX section was nuthin' but mud and slippery clay the first few laps! The woods sections and its creek crossings got pretty treacherous as the day wore on.

After only 1.5 hours of racing, my quad started overheating. The temp light kept coming on so I pulled into the pitts and we tried to remove some of the heavy mud caked into the radiator...Thanx to who ever it was that came to our aid with a pump-up garden sprayer! Unfortunately, it wasn't enuf to get all of the mud out. I wish I had thought to bring a portable pressure washer as that would have worked much better. Anyway, the temp light kept coming back a few times during each lap and finally I started pulling off into various creeks and splashing lots of water into the radiator to try to get the mud washed out of it and cool down my motor. We were able to nurse my quad along doing this for another 2 hours and finally called it quits at the 3.5 hour mark (we finished 11 laps). At that point, I determined that my radiator fan had finally stopped working altogether and I did not want to risk ruining the motor. So I got a tow back to the pitts and called it a day. Oddly enuf, PBR's Prairie (Mike P) was towed into the pits (after completely 14 laps) with overheating problems shortly before we were towed in... and just a few minutes after my quad was towed in, I saw FD Racing's Prairie getting towed in (I think he had completed 14 laps at that time)....but I later saw that they got their quad going again. In the meantime, the little Honda kept on going...slowly, but surely. When I left for the day, FD racing was about 40 minutes behind the lil Honda and I later saw the results where the Honda took 1st in our class (25 laps), FD racing took 2nd with 19 laps, PBR 3rd with 14 laps and my team was last with 11 laps. Congrats to the local TX boys on the lil Honda for their win! Really, who would have thought that lil quad would take out 3 fast Prairies???

DAMAGE REPORT
After washing off the 50 lbs or more of mud on Monday morning (took 4 hours), it now appears that my radiator fan motor is broke, my rear plastic fenders are completely destroyed (I think hitting the jumps on the MX track with all that heavy mud on top of the fenders is what caused them to break) and my front differential housing is broke into 2 pieces near the 2wd/4wd actuator. I'm guessing the front diff. is going to be very expensive to replace!

Even with the poor finishes and the expensive repeairs needed as a result of this weekend, I had a blast and am very happy that I got to race these 2 races and meet lots of nice folks on this forum!

Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Thanks for the report; made some dead time at work go by nicely. Man, I've ridden the Rancher AT and that thing is gutless. I mean really gutless....atleast compared to my 700. That's cool it won though. Anyway, good luck in the future. Wish I had races around here.

 

You do PADZZ. We have USRA sanctioned desert racing. The first desert race of the year is Feb 26th in St. George, but that is only for bikes, and not quads. I am going down to St. George next Monday afternoon to ride the course, so you could come with me if you want to check out a race course. The first race of this year that will have a quad class will be on March 5th in Delta, UT. I will be racing the DS on that race, so if an old fat guy like me can do it so can you. PM me if you are interested in finding out more about it.

Phil.

[edit] Sorry to get off topic Mickeyboy, sounds like you had a good time.

 

Too bad someone couldn't come up with a way of reinforcing the front diff housing. A number of these have broken in racing/jumping situations.

 

great report!! I really need to get out and ride again...I am going crazy without my quads!