Write-up of local XC race on my P650
#1
01-30-2006, 03:24 PM
Write-up of local XC race on my P650
On Sunday, I raced in a local XC race (ATVCCS series) held in Jacksonville, TX at a park called Mud Creek...the same place where Mud Nats was held last year. Just thought I'd share a few my story for anyone out there interested in XC racing...
THE TRACK
The XC course was laid out on 7 miles of mostly open fields with a little bit of tight woods and a few bridge crossings thrown in for interest. This is the same course that I raced on back in early December when it was EXTREMELY rutted up. With the exception of about 1 mile that was changed, we raced on the exact same course this time around but in reverse direction. So instead of coming out of a corner and hitting all the bad whoops...we were hitting all the whoops right BEFORE coming into a corner. While the course was still very rutted, it was not quite as rough as it was back in December.
THE WEATHER
Despite heavy rain on Saturday, the soil soaked it up overnite unbelievably well and by Sunday it seemed as if it had not rained at all (except for the nice benefit of NOT having dust on the course!). Sunday was a PERFECT day to have a XC race b/c it was Sunny and highs around mid 70s.
THE COMPETITION
We had 12 utes line up in the Ute Class on Sunday. This is the biggest turn-out in the Ute Class that I've ever seen in this local series. There were at least 4 P700s, my P650 (aka the "Killer Bee"), an AC 650 V2, 2 Yam. Grizzlies, a few Eigers, 1 Honda 450 Foreman and a few other mid-size quads that I don't recall.
Of all the line-up, I was most worried about the camo P700 that won 1st place back in December (I took 2nd place that day). He was lined up again for this race and seemed to take it very seriously (he was concentrating hard when I stopped by to wish him good luck). I think he cross trains for these races...which is not a bad idea! The other guy I was worried about was one of my best buddies...have known him since I was in 4th grade and he has some XC experience in the sport quad classes where he did quite well. He is a more agressive driver than me and I knew he'd be a strong competitor even tho this was his first race in the Ute class and that he was riding on a Grizzly (which are not that popular in the GNCC races).
THE HOLESHOT
After watching the 5 sport quad classes take-off in front of the Ute Class racers, we finally got the green flag and off we went. At least that is how its supposed to go...but the Killer Bee had other ideas! I hit the green start button and it turned over, but did not fire up immediately. So I tried again and it started up (I just need a fresh battery)...unfortunately, the rest of the line was nearly 10 feet ahead of me when I got going. So off I went for the first turn and I somehow managed 5th place out of 12 coming out of the first turn or two. At this point, the leader was the guy on the camo P700, followed by my buddy's Grizz, 2 P700s and then myself on the Killer Bee.
LAPS 1 & 2
I passed the first guy on a P700 pretty quickly and then came up behind a P700. He was throwing some nice roost at me with his 27" 589 tires. Then suddenly he waived me to go around (he later said he didn't want to hold me up, but I thought he was doing just fine at his pace). Once I passed this P700, I tried my best to catch my buddy on the Grizz. About 1/2 way into this lap, the Grizz was starting to pull away a little from me when I noticed he was suddenly slowed down while trying to go around a tree near a rough whoops section just before the turn...so I hammered on the gas until I could get close behind him a few hundred yards up the trail. Then I waited until I could pass him on an open area...which I did and then we came to an open field with a long (1/4 mile or more) straight away. I knew I could lose the Griz on the top-end, so I hammered the gas and kept an eye on him...it worked! I kept pulling away from the Griz big time (the Griz later told me he had it pegged, but could only watch me pull away further and further). With a little distance between us, I felt more confident and relaxed. Then after a short run thru some woods we came out on a smooth open field with 4 or 5 small jumps (approx. 1 foot high)...basically, you can run 35 or 40 mph in this field while launching off each small jump. I hit them flawlessly and just assumed the Griz was long gone behind me at this point...then I made a turn and came upon a sport quad...just when I was about to pass, my buddy on the Griz suddenly pulled up RIGHT BESIDE ME! I was like WTF??? Where did he come from? Anyway, we battled for another lap while swapping positions a few more times and once time when I had the lead in the middle of lap 2 he seemed to disappear behind me (later found out his Griz was overheating, so he backed off the throttle a bit to let it cool).
LAPS 3-5
I hung on to this position for the rest of the race and the most thrilling part was passing some sport quads along the way...in particular, I recall passing KFX400 in the open field while hauling butt. Man, that is a SWEET feeling to pass those sport quads!
THE FINISH
On the 5th and final lap, I finally caught up to the leader on the Camo P700...he was within eye sight and I got excited again b/c I hadn't seen him since the holeshot. As much as I wanted to beat him, I knew it was not meant to be on this day b/c we had less than a mile or two until the checkered flag. I made up some ground, but ultimate lost by approximately 15 seconds (I lost to the same camo P700 in December by about 1 minute). The top 5 quads to finish in our class was the camo P700, my P650, my buddy's Grizzly, and 2 P700s. Out of the 12 Ute Class riders, only me and the camo P700 got to race a full 5 laps (our total time was 97 minutes of racing) with the others in our class going 4 laps or less.
Hope you enjoyed this write-up as much as I enjoyed this race...was a good time, great weather and even better company. Hope to do it again soon!
Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
THE TRACK
The XC course was laid out on 7 miles of mostly open fields with a little bit of tight woods and a few bridge crossings thrown in for interest. This is the same course that I raced on back in early December when it was EXTREMELY rutted up. With the exception of about 1 mile that was changed, we raced on the exact same course this time around but in reverse direction. So instead of coming out of a corner and hitting all the bad whoops...we were hitting all the whoops right BEFORE coming into a corner. While the course was still very rutted, it was not quite as rough as it was back in December.
THE WEATHER
Despite heavy rain on Saturday, the soil soaked it up overnite unbelievably well and by Sunday it seemed as if it had not rained at all (except for the nice benefit of NOT having dust on the course!). Sunday was a PERFECT day to have a XC race b/c it was Sunny and highs around mid 70s.
THE COMPETITION
We had 12 utes line up in the Ute Class on Sunday. This is the biggest turn-out in the Ute Class that I've ever seen in this local series. There were at least 4 P700s, my P650 (aka the "Killer Bee"), an AC 650 V2, 2 Yam. Grizzlies, a few Eigers, 1 Honda 450 Foreman and a few other mid-size quads that I don't recall.
Of all the line-up, I was most worried about the camo P700 that won 1st place back in December (I took 2nd place that day). He was lined up again for this race and seemed to take it very seriously (he was concentrating hard when I stopped by to wish him good luck). I think he cross trains for these races...which is not a bad idea! The other guy I was worried about was one of my best buddies...have known him since I was in 4th grade and he has some XC experience in the sport quad classes where he did quite well. He is a more agressive driver than me and I knew he'd be a strong competitor even tho this was his first race in the Ute class and that he was riding on a Grizzly (which are not that popular in the GNCC races).
THE HOLESHOT
After watching the 5 sport quad classes take-off in front of the Ute Class racers, we finally got the green flag and off we went. At least that is how its supposed to go...but the Killer Bee had other ideas! I hit the green start button and it turned over, but did not fire up immediately. So I tried again and it started up (I just need a fresh battery)...unfortunately, the rest of the line was nearly 10 feet ahead of me when I got going. So off I went for the first turn and I somehow managed 5th place out of 12 coming out of the first turn or two. At this point, the leader was the guy on the camo P700, followed by my buddy's Grizz, 2 P700s and then myself on the Killer Bee.
LAPS 1 & 2
I passed the first guy on a P700 pretty quickly and then came up behind a P700. He was throwing some nice roost at me with his 27" 589 tires. Then suddenly he waived me to go around (he later said he didn't want to hold me up, but I thought he was doing just fine at his pace). Once I passed this P700, I tried my best to catch my buddy on the Grizz. About 1/2 way into this lap, the Grizz was starting to pull away a little from me when I noticed he was suddenly slowed down while trying to go around a tree near a rough whoops section just before the turn...so I hammered on the gas until I could get close behind him a few hundred yards up the trail. Then I waited until I could pass him on an open area...which I did and then we came to an open field with a long (1/4 mile or more) straight away. I knew I could lose the Griz on the top-end, so I hammered the gas and kept an eye on him...it worked! I kept pulling away from the Griz big time (the Griz later told me he had it pegged, but could only watch me pull away further and further). With a little distance between us, I felt more confident and relaxed. Then after a short run thru some woods we came out on a smooth open field with 4 or 5 small jumps (approx. 1 foot high)...basically, you can run 35 or 40 mph in this field while launching off each small jump. I hit them flawlessly and just assumed the Griz was long gone behind me at this point...then I made a turn and came upon a sport quad...just when I was about to pass, my buddy on the Griz suddenly pulled up RIGHT BESIDE ME! I was like WTF??? Where did he come from? Anyway, we battled for another lap while swapping positions a few more times and once time when I had the lead in the middle of lap 2 he seemed to disappear behind me (later found out his Griz was overheating, so he backed off the throttle a bit to let it cool).
LAPS 3-5
I hung on to this position for the rest of the race and the most thrilling part was passing some sport quads along the way...in particular, I recall passing KFX400 in the open field while hauling butt. Man, that is a SWEET feeling to pass those sport quads!
THE FINISH
On the 5th and final lap, I finally caught up to the leader on the Camo P700...he was within eye sight and I got excited again b/c I hadn't seen him since the holeshot. As much as I wanted to beat him, I knew it was not meant to be on this day b/c we had less than a mile or two until the checkered flag. I made up some ground, but ultimate lost by approximately 15 seconds (I lost to the same camo P700 in December by about 1 minute). The top 5 quads to finish in our class was the camo P700, my P650, my buddy's Grizzly, and 2 P700s. Out of the 12 Ute Class riders, only me and the camo P700 got to race a full 5 laps (our total time was 97 minutes of racing) with the others in our class going 4 laps or less.
Hope you enjoyed this write-up as much as I enjoyed this race...was a good time, great weather and even better company. Hope to do it again soon!
Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
#3
01-31-2006, 10:41 AM
Write-up of local XC race on my P650
Thanx for the kind words Corba. Here's a few race pics (sorry they are not high quality).
Me and the Killer Bee...
http://www.atvccs.net/gallery/album20/1JJ0649
http://www.atvccs.net/gallery/album20/1JJ0725
V10KLZZ71S (aka Daryl) and his P700
http://www.atvccs.net/gallery/album20/1JJ0662
If you look closely at Daryl's pic, it appears to show steam coming off the motor...he had overheating problems during the race when his coolant filter melted and blew out.
Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
Me and the Killer Bee...
http://www.atvccs.net/gallery/album20/1JJ0649
http://www.atvccs.net/gallery/album20/1JJ0725
V10KLZZ71S (aka Daryl) and his P700
http://www.atvccs.net/gallery/album20/1JJ0662
If you look closely at Daryl's pic, it appears to show steam coming off the motor...he had overheating problems during the race when his coolant filter melted and blew out.
Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
#5
01-31-2006, 01:06 PM
Write-up of local XC race on my P650
Thanx again and yes, those are yellow TP plastics that I put on my 02 P650. I personally like the look of the yellow TP fenders combined with the black bedliner spray on my racks, floorboards, front bumper and hand guards. Its definitely not your avg looking P650.
Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
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