Pro Rock Racing Pro UTV Racing Survival racing series round two from Knott County Mine Made Adventure Park.
We made it down to Leburn, KY Thursday evening to set up shop for the weekend. Mine Made is in the heart of southeastern Kentucky and has 45,000+ acres of mixed use trails officially and judging by all the trails we passed outside the main park entrance, there were tons of unofficial trails that are known to the local wheeling groups.
Rain (a lot of rain) was forecast for the weekend, which normally I’m not a fan of mud, but as dry and dusty as conditions were on the main trails, a little downpour would be a welcome relief. The rain managed to hold off all weekend though and it was hot and dust was going to be a factor. Early afternoon Friday, went and did pre-running for the woods course and qualifying course. The course was set up to be fast with a definite advantage to the turbos in the field in the higher speed sections.
Later Friday, went ahead and ran the qualifying run. After seeing the times being put in by other competitors I was confident we were going to have a solid qualifying run based on previous pre-running. Unfortunately, driver error caused a really bad qualifying time. Got the flag to start and was making a clean run until the last hill on the course when I noticed my front end wasn’t grabbing. After fixing multiple issues that created this problem after the last race, I wondered what else could be wrong until I noticed I wasn’t in 4WD. Very dumb and costly mistake. The lost time made for a bad run and qualified a very disappointing 22nd.
Saturday morning was race day and the race was set to one car per start every 30 seconds with the race finishing time corrected. First lap was relatively fast and smooth, but soon learned the 4973 missed the extra quickness of the gear reduction I previously had and the way I was going to have to approach the race was different than planned. Game plan changed to keep it moving as fast as possible and hope for as mistake free of a run as I could come up with. After getting passed by one car, soon started to make a pass here and there myself. Made quick work of the course until I came to the rock garden and saw two other cars stuck in there that were being recovered. Waited for a bit until they were close to the top and then proceeded to pick my way through and exited out the top quickly making two passes. Ran the rest of the course and completed the lap physically in 15th without time correction.
Second lap was pretty much a repeat of the first with going back and forth with passing and getting passed with other competitors. More waiting at the rock garden until I saw an opening and making a pass near the top. The car held together and took the checked flag without drama. No idea where we ended up in placement since official results haven’t been announced yet. Will also be posting pictures of the race later in the week as well.
Huge shot out to those that continue to support HunkerDown Racing.
RT Pro makes the best suspension products on the market and their bumpers, cage and various plates and gussets can always be counted on.
Nitro Racing Parts and the gated shifter gives the confidence to hit the hills and constant smooth shifting performance.
PRP Seats for making the most comfortable seats out there. Close as you can be feeling like driving in a Cadillac when you’re offroad and feeling secure with their bolstering.
MC2 – Metal Conditioner Squared for protecting my engine when I’m pushing it as hard as I can.
Raceline Wheels for continuing to take the punishment in the rocks.
Maxxis Tires for making the big rocks as easy pea gravel. Traction was amazing.
Vision X for lighting up the night on our night runs.
