Hot, dry and dusty is the best way to describe the weekend. We arrived on Thursday night, driving half way across the country to Oklahoma and seeing 100+ degree temperatures.
Friday was dedicated to pre-running the course. It was set up into three different sections. First, a 1.5 mile short course with tight turns and small jumps. Second, the A Loop, a longer go fast desert-like section littered with some larger rocks that could destroy tires or your rig if they were hit at the high speeds seen in that part of the course. Last, the B Loop was a tight, long and technical and very rocky lap with rock face climbs, rock gardens and creek crossings. The B Loop was an absolute blast and totally different terrain than anywhere I had ever seen in Oklahoma.
Friday afternoon was qualifying. Had done some adjustments since the last Pro UTV race and it was the best the RzR had ever felt and I had reached the mechanical limitations of the machine in its current form. My qualifying lap was going at a good pace, but missing a turn and having to go on the wide loop hurt my time.
Race itself started bright and early at 7 AM CST, so lined up and we were off single start in 30 second increments. The 4973 was dialed in better than I’ve ever raced it and soon was hitting 80-85 MPH in the faster sections. Started passing other people in the class with no one closing in on me as far as I could tell. One hiccup during the lap, something got lodged between the gas pedal and the floor and was limited to 35 MPH in some sections I should have been going faster, but finally got it out of the way after figuring out why I couldn’t go faster after five minutes of dealing with it and I was off hitting 70 MPH+ again. I was making good time and pit says I moved up at least nine places on the A Loop lap when I crossed the start/finish line. According to official times, I had moved up to 10th place after the first lap. Everything felt great on the RzR as I took off for the B Loop. This is where I felt I was going to do the best and make up the most time and make the most passes.
Unfortunately, as I was making my way to the B Loop, disaster struck and suddenly the rig felt very loose and was hard to control. I skipped the Loop B entrance and made my way around the short course again and into the pits. A quick check showed no issues with the steering and everything was tight. Inspection of the rest of the rig lead to the discovery of a broken driver rear axle that had let go for no apparent reason. I asked what time it was, figured up how long it would take to change it out and based on what I came up with in my head, I decided to retire from the race. HUGE mistake because the timing I figured was incorrect based on the actual start time of the race. Dumb rookie mistake on my part and just a no excuses poor decision. What had started out as the best race I had ever run turned into not being able to finish. The rig is going to undergo lots of changes over the next month that is going to make it much more competitive.
Next race at the KMC Battle in Bluegrass – Ultra 4 at Dirty Turtle Offroad Park in Bedford, KY the weekend of 7/21.
Huge shout of to those that make things possible for HunkerDown Racing.
RT Pro front bumper took a nice hit in the Loop B rock section in pre-running. The springs were soaking up everything in the rocks and at 80+ MPH in the go fast sections.
PRP Seats and harnesses were ready to keep me comfortable for a long weekend of race prep and racing, along with containing me nicely in place when I bicycled coming hot into a curve.
Nitro Racing Parts for making the best shifter on the market.
Maxxis Tires and Raceline Wheels for taking serious abuse over the weekend. Hit a rock at 25 MPH during pre-running which brought the RzR to a dead stop and didn’t hurt the tires or wheel at all. Tire and wheel problems were a problem for a lot of guys during the race.
Metal Conditioner Squared for always protecting my engine.
Factor 55 for making the best closed loop recovery products on the market.
Vision X for those fun runs at night.
