I'm happy to report that I spent my Labor Day with my 2 kids plus a few friends [including FASTFATBOY (aka Jay) and his buddy Mikey] at the ATV drag races held at Rural Shade ATV Ranch. Here's my write-up of the day:


WHERE:
Rural Shade is an 1800 acre ATV park located near Corsicana, TX. Lucky for me, its only a 2 hour and 15 minute drive from my house.


TRACK CONDITIONS:
The weather was sunny and a bit warm (in the mid 90s). They didn't have a working water truck, so the dirt drag strip got a bit dusty with each pass. But that's no problem as long as you stayed out in front! LOL

The dirt drag strip is 300' long and the 2 lanes are plenty wide. There were no lights, timers or rails, but the track was prepped nice and smooth for these races. The strip has a hardpack bottom with a very thin layer of loose dirt/rocks on top. Thankfully, this track was much smoother for these Labor Day races than it was the last time I visited this ATV park in late May.


THE COMPETITION:
Only 7 quads signed up for the 800cc open class drag race. Due to the low turn-out, they lumped the utes and sport quads together for this class. As I recall, the line-up included a drag Raptor 734cc, FastFatBoy's V-force (sharp looking quad with sharp graphics, a few bolt-on goodies and some GREAT REAR TIRES), my Twin Peaks 800, a heavily modded mud bog Prairie (Kale), a brand new Outlander 800R with a glass pack exhaust pipe (only had 3 hours on it), another Outlander 800R XT (bone stock), and a yellow Outlander 800 (a few years old).

You may be asking "WHY DIDN'T FASTFATBOY BRING HIS DRAG PRAIRIE 730?" Good question. It appears that Jay was just SKEERED of getting whooped by my Twin Peaks again as the last time we raced on this particular track, I beat him good! LOL j/k J Actually, Jay tried hard to get his Prairie ready for this race, but he had some mechanical problems while assembling the motor (I'll let Jay explain it further if he wants to).


THE RACES
It was set-up as double elimination and they drew names for the order of races and flipped a coin for lane choices.


FIRST PASS
Me and the drag Raptor were up first. The owner of this quad told me he just put it together about 3 weeks ago and had it clocked at 101 mph on an asphault drag strip. It was clearly the fastest quad entered in the drag races, but it had trouble hooking up during warm-ups/practice. Not sure, but the rear tires looked like Razr 2's or something like that. Much to my surprise, I beat this Raptor twice during warm-ups/practice due to his tire-spin issues off the line.

We lined up, they signalled the start and then I pulled away from him. About ½ way down, I thought I had a good lead on him...next thing I know, I was 50 feet from the finish line and I looked back...he must have hit 3rd gear b/c he was coming up FAST!!! He caught up to me right at the finish line. It was a VERY close race...I think he only beat me by a foot or two. (of course, it would've been much worse if he had good traction off the starting line...lol).


FINAL ROUND
After that, I proceeded to win all of my remaining races until I met the same Raptor in the final round. In this final race, I again pulled away from him right off the starting line (while the Raptor was spinning) and then he blew my doors off near the end...this time, he beat me by a wider margin (perhaps ¾ or 1 quad length). So I ended up taking home 2nd place out of 7 quads. Considering the competition I had, it was not a bad day.


SIDE NOTES ABOUT OTHER QUADS
1) OUTY 800Rs
I was VERY IMPRESSED with the piped 800R Outlander...bone stock except for a glass pack pipe, it was just as strong as my quad off the line and I only pulled away about 1/2 way down the track. I'm not exactly sure, but I think I was only able to beat him by 1 quad length or so. Remember that this 800R only had 3 hours on it, so it was still breaking in. Every time that I saw this 800R (with a pipe) race the other 800R XT (bone stock I think?), this 800R (piped) won by maybe a quad length...so apparently the glass pack exhaust pipe helped it.

2) V-Force
The Rear tires on FastFatBoy's V-force hooked up very hard on this track. I wish I had them on my quad. The first time Mikey drove the V-force during warm-ups/practice, he stood it straight up! lol I don't recall the brand of these tires, but they hooked up great!

3) Other Prairie
This quad was set-up for deep mud bogs (relocated radiator, snorkels above airbox, etc.), but it ran very quick for a mud bog quad! I raced it when he had 28" EDLs and I was able to pull away and beat him pretty badly (4 quad lengths or so). He later swapped out the tires to stock Outy tires and it ran much faster...I only beat him by 1 quad length that time.


AFTERWARDS
It was a fun day of drag racing, but the best was yet to come. I got to take my kids trail riding in the park. This was my 2 kids very first time to go trail riding at an ATV park. I recently bought them some small Chinese ATVs and before this day, they had only been able to ride in my backyard. Obviously, riding ATVs at an 1800 acre ATV park was much more fun. Although I've ridden at this park a few times before, I quickly realized this park seems SOOO MUCH BIGGER when only riding at 10 mph! LOL

We had a blast except when the throttle un-expectantly got stuck at WIDE OPEN on my son's 50cc quad and it launched off the side of a semi-dry pond! I was very glad that my son fell off well before the ATV became an airplane. He was a bit scared, but unharmed. In any case, my kids were wearing all of their safety gear...and now they better understand why its important to always wear their safety gear! We had a fun day that I'm sure won't be forgotten for a long time. I hope you enjoyed the write-up.

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