Sorry this is soo long. Welp here we go. Just got done sunday with my harescramble over in galion. At sunset ramblers. It was very very muddy. The 700 grizz did absolutely great. Wish id have had the clutch kit in it. But it still did great. I missed some power that im used to on my 03 grizz. But it has several mods. Any how. I entered the utility class. There were 7 of us. And lots of sport quads in the other classes.. Heres where it gets good. There were 2 or 3 can ams. Had the big twin rotax. One polaris 500 sportsman. One arctic cat. And the rest appeared to be yamaha. grizzly. bigbear kodiak. somewhere along those lines. When the green flag dropped. I lead the utility class from the start. I passed several sport quads in the start. They all dove for the inside of the first turn. So as they piled up. I went around the outside. As they proceeded to get stuck. I just kept going. I rode very hard at first. Wanted to put space between me and them. At the first lap my buddy gave me the hands apart sign, letting me know i was ahead of my class. It was 1 1/2 hours. The mud was unreal. The grizz's power steering is amazing. It worked as a steering dampner. And the power was awsome. I did not get the arm pump i get with my 03. The bottom end was great. Only the clutch gears up a bit too fast. But still ok. I did smack my face on the bars once hard. Down a big hill. Shook that off and kept going. Went thru 2 pairs of gloves and goggles. The last part of the race. With no goggles. eeekk. It sucked. I was lapping utes. And just kept passing more and more. After about 45 min. I had to start pacing my self. My buddy kept trying to get me to back down.. I needed to save my strength. I was getting worn. I made time where it was easier. And took care and used my head in the rough stuff that beat u up bad. You cant finish a race if your hurt or broke. Any how. The race ended. Here i had won my class. And the over all. I had passed them all. Mother nature was on my side. The mud was quite bad for sport quads. Now on a dry track. And a good rider on a sport quad. I would not be able to hang with that. Im glad i did not run my 450. It was just too deep.and sticky. So the grizz did really well. I was not near as tired on it. As i would have been on the 03. The swamp lites did well. But a smaller tire would be better for cornering. Like a 25 inch. The handling was still really great. Better then the 03. Not once did the rear come up and try to buck me off. Like the 03 at times would do. It soaked up the rough stuff really well. The camera gy could not believe a 40 year old gy on a ute won overall. I worked my butt off for this. And my grizz worked its butt off. I really love this one. I really like the handling and pwr. steering. You do however have to use alot of body english in turns. But you have to do this on any ute to go fast. So the big power of the can ams did not win over the under powered grizz. And most these riders are much younger then i am. And some of them ride pretty good. You really have to use your head. And ride smart and hard to win. I put as much lead on them as i felt nescessary. And from my pit gy letting me know where i was. Then i paced my self. And at the end i picked it back up again. So like ive said before. Its not always the most powerful and fastest top speed that wins races. So the big power of these rotaxes did not conquer me in this race. In a field doing a drag race. Yes im sure they would blow me off. But when it comes to corners, jumps, rough stuff etc., that makes the difference. So here rider and a descent powered ute. Won over bigger powered and faster utes. So any of you interested in this new Yamaha. I dont think you could go wrong. Im going to do more with this in the way of racing as time goes on. So the moral of this long story is. ITS NOT ALL ABOUT TOP SPEED AND POWER. Power is nice. And i love it. But dont buy a quad just because it has the biggest and fastest engine. It will not gaurentee you to win races. Or outrun your buddies thru the woods. You have to look at the overall package at times. And now i do believe that other manufactures need to step up with handling and steering. To keep up with the times. Im not the fastest gy by no means. But for my age. I hold my own. And have fun doing it. Now if i can keep from braking myself :') Here are some pics. And results.. P.S. im not bashing any other quad here either.
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] by the way. my name is really Bill. and thats me at the top. i blacked out everyones last name. thought that would not be a bad idea. u know, privacy






results

trophy

grizz run

grizz run

 

Thanks for sharing Fits, very impressive. Glad you're happy with the Yamaha. That sounds like a good (and sore) time! How often do you race? Placed that well with the 03? Instigater congratulate you? LOL!

 

Thats really cool. Congrats. Its good to see another old guy out there smacking the kids around. By the way I'm also 40.

 

thanks gys. yea 40 aint old. they say.. age is in your head. ive got alot of living to do. and im going to do it. i did a overall about two years ago on my 03. mother nature was really on my side. it was deep snow in parts of the track. and then ice. and some mud. but mostly snow. i had itp 589's on the 03. i busted everybody from the start.. the sport quads went no where in the snow. i used 4x4 all the way. that was fun.. only 1 hour on that one. and i did some others on my 03 where id get between 1st and 3rd. youth got me on a couple. at one place. one lap was over 5 miles. lotsa fun. but i was out of shape. and had to really pace my self. and a 16 year old beat me. so now im back to running. and going to get up some better shape. i want to do more this summer. and i want to run my 450 alot more. im really starting to live again. after my divorce.. yee haaaaa[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Congrats! Way to go! I bet that was fun.

40 is not old. I didn't start riding until I was 40.

 

Attah Boy!, Now if Yamaha would only throw some cheese your way..........well maybe at least some McBucks [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Fits.....
Hey man congrats......Sounds like you showed them who was the man that day huh?......I gotta agree 100% with everything you said too........Too many guys think they gotta have the biggest, baddest machine out there when really there's so much more to it........Gotta love kicking those young kids butts, humbles them really quick.......

John

 

Congratulations FITSofRAGE! I know what that Grizzly can do, it's a great handler compared to the old Grizzly. BTW, you are still young. You can be fast at 50+ too [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] !...

 

Wow - great read! Thanks for the report, and bigtime congrats on the win. Sounds like SO much fun... hugh challenge, yes.. but FUN!

 

Good job fits!! One question, it says "other" for the other finishers, except Polaris, and Yamaha. Do you remember the winning order by brand?