I totally agree, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Why not get a used 250r or banshee or Cdale. I just figured Id draw my line at 350 so I can be competetive with the other 350s and under without breaking my wallet. The more you start with the more it costs to keep up with your own class. I mean how many warriors ans 300exs am I going to come across with more than 28 or 30 hp? That puts me toward the head of low cc pack (I know there are some 500+ warrios and 396exs but not going to see them much [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] i hope) whereas if I had a banshee I would have to spend out the **** to even be low in the pack. 400ex aint so bad since the case cant hold all the much hp but the z400s are going to spank it.

Not saying I am fast, just saying im slightly competetive in my cc range for not much money.

 

Jakal, That pretty much the reason my son races our Utility in the 499cc and smaller Ute class. If i stepped him up to the high performance class there are around 50 quads in that class that have lots of money spent on them. He is just starting out so we let him race the Ozark with the Utes. In the Sport class at our track it is mainly made up of Blasters, Warriors and a few 300ex's but the Blasters pretty much rule this class. I would rather not buy him a Blaster as he would grow out of it and I don't really care for them anyway do to their lack of features. 400EX's have sold for as little as 2500.00 in this area with the high being around 3600.00 and I can buy left over 2002's for 4599.00 so I decided to buy him a used 400EX for his trail riding machine and start setting it up for harescrambles and cross country racing. And let him continue racing the Ozark in the Ute classes although I have added a cam,pipe and airbox mods to the Ozark along with a set of front axle spacers for flat track events. He may end up with my Z400 since it hasn't sold and I will have to buy myself a Prairie 650 outright. Oh and the Cannondale has crossed my mine but I have yet to attend a race where all of the Dales got off the starting line at the same time. I love their power but they still have some issues. I've rode 2 stroke bikes since the mid 70s and I'm not interested in owning another 2 stroke.

 

Oh well, whatever you buy it will be fun. Sucks how the "big dogs" have so much money to throw into it huh? hard to be able to do that and do anything else like have kids or goto school.