WHERE:
Crafton, TX… it’s a tiny town about an hour northwest of Ft. Worth. This property is way out in the country and has a mixture of large grassy pastures and thick wooded areas containing lots of thorny mesquite trees, rocky creek beds and cactus. If this race sounds like deja vu, its because we just raced at this same property 2 weeks ago. Luckily, TORN relocated the UTV race course to a different part of the property, so it was a completely different track.
TRACK CONDITIONS:
Unlike the last several races which were hot and dusty, this race was neither. With the fall-like weather finally upon us, this race day felt heavenly and racers enjoyed comfortable outside temps in the low 80’s and partly cloudy skies. Thanks to a 1/2 inch of rain falling the day before, dust was almost non-existent.
The UTV track length was 3.5 miles long and the course included a nice variety of obstacles. Most of the course was tight, twisty trails through the trees. But it also included trails with deep sandy ruts, jagged rocks, a few muddy spots, a zig-zag trail through a grassy pasture, one long whoops section and a hill climb with multiple routes to the top.
NIGHT BEFORE:
We decided to try something new for this race. Instead of making the long drive to and from Crafton on the same day (11 hours round trip), we decided to drive up the evening before the race and stay at a hotel in Bridgeport. This plan worked great, except that I couldn’t fall asleep on the hard hotel mattress… felt like I was sleeping on a picnic table. Also, my son pointed out that the beds looked short. I thought he was just kidding, but sure enough… my feet actually hung off the edge of the bed when my legs were straight. LOL Well, at least my son slept well. Despite my lack of sleep, it did feel nice to roll out of bed at 7am instead of 3:40am. In any case, we’ll probably try a different hotel next time.
PRACTICE:
We got to the track at 8:45am and quickly unloaded the RZR to do some practice laps. On the first practice lap, I noticed how tight the wooded trails were. I also noticed a few muddy sections that we had to cross, so I was glad I brought my tear-off goggles to this race.
After 4 practice laps, I went back to the truck to drop off Cash and let him rest. Then I headed out for one last practice lap. Near the end of the lap, I came around a corner a little too fast and nailed a tree on the passenger side of my front bumper. Luckily, I hit the brakes before impact, but it still hit hard enough to bend the front bumper towards the headlight. I tried to pull back the bumper into shape as much as possible and then continued on with my last practice lap. That incident was a good reminder that the trees were going to be the toughest obstacles on this track.
UTV INTERMEDIATE CLASS:
A total of 8 side by sides lined up on the starting line of the UTV Intermediate class, including a few Can Am Maverick 1ks, a few RZR XP1ks, a few RZR 900XPs (including mine), and a 2015 RZR 900S.
THE START:
When we lined up for the start, we had approximately 35 feet to the first right hand turn around a large tree, followed by a few turns that took racers onto a small section that resembled an MX track with a few small jumps and turns with berms. After the MX section, we passed the scoring chute and headed into the woods.
On the starting line, I was lined up in the middle. There were 4 UTVs to my right and 3 to my left. As we were waiting for the green flag, I gave my son a fist bump and told him good luck. He looked puzzled and said, "Good luck? What do you mean good luck??? I’m riding with you." LOL I told him if he has good luck, then that must mean I will have good luck too b/c we are riding together.
The green flag went up and off we went. My 900xp fired right up and left the line quickly. I immediately looked to my right and saw 3 other UTVs reach the right hand turn just ahead of me. As the class fought our way around the first turn, I stayed on the outside and came out of the turn in 5th position (I think).
LAPS 1 – 3:
Just as we came onto the small MX section and made a sharp right hand turn, I noticed my RZR suddenly started to slow down and the engine stalled. I quickly grabbed the ignition key and restarted the motor. Luckily, the guy behind me didn’t pass in the brief moment it took for me to restart and get going again. It never stalled again during the race, so apparently it was just due to the engine being cold at the start of this race.
After we passed the small MX section and scoring chute area, the line of UTVs in my class made a sweeping left turn towards a tight section of woods. You could either go straight through the small opening of trees or else take the longer, wider alternative trail to the left side of the trees and it soon rejoins the main trail. During practice laps, I made the decision that I would take the wider, longer route to the left during the race because I could better maintain my pace and have a better chance of avoiding the trees.
As luck would have it, I saw 2 UTVs from my class (I think Cash F. and JW) hung up in the tight trees straight ahead. I later heard that Cash nailed a tree and JW was following close behind Cash and accidentally ran into the back of Cash. Anyway, I took the trail to the left (as I had previously planned) and rejoined the main trail immediately behind a red UTV (Zack) and black UTV (Serento). And just like that, my son and I were now in 3rd position… Sweet!
As lap 1 continued, I followed closely behind the red and black UTVs in front of me. As we came to the first trail around a pond, the red UTV stuck to the left (outside) edge of the trail and the black UTV took the more bumpy right (inside) edge of the trail. They ran side by side along the edge of the pond and then the trail makes a hard, 90 degree turn to the right with the left lane (outside) edge being the smoothest. The right (inside) edge makes a steep climb. I expected the black UTV to drop back when he came to the steep climb, but he hit it hard and shot onto the trail just in front of the red UTV. We were right behind both and it was exciting to watch this pass just in front of us.
Next, we ran through more tight woods and then crossed a small mud hole and hit the long, straight whoops section. During practice laps, I discovered that if I hit this whoops section at 25mph and stayed to my left, I could bounce across it fairly quickly without getting out of control. If I ran any slower than 25, it was extremely rough and difficult to stay straight.
Further down the trail, it makes a right hand turn and runs along a large pond on our left. There were a few boulders on the trail, but otherwise you could hit this short section fast. Then you make a hairpin turn to the right through some deep ruts.
Next, the course takes you through a large mud hole that was filled with dirty water. The mud hole is on the edge of a large pasture area and the sides of the mud hole were built up with dirt as if it was intended to be holding pond. During the morning practice laps, Cash and I were nervous crossing this spot for the first time because we had no idea how deep the water was or how soft the bottom would be. Luckily, it was fairly shallow with a hard bottom and we had no problem crossing it. After racers exit the mud hole, the course takes racers through a short zig-zag section in the open pasture area and then back into the tight woods. As the race continued, I noticed that the far side of the pond where racers exit the mud hole was becoming very wet and slippery. In fact, the first few turns in the pasture area following this mud hole were also getting wet and slippery thanks to all the water dragged out of the pond by the racers. By the last few laps, the first few turns in this pasture area were like sliding on ice and you had to be careful not to spin out or over shoot the turns.
Following the pasture area, racers re-entered the woods and tackled a 20′ hill climb with multiple trails leading straight to the top. There were 2 trails that were easy to see and both went straight up with large boulders at the very top to climb over. Upon reaching the top, both trails made a hard right turn towards more wooded trails. However, there was also a 3rd trail on the far right side that starts at the very bottom of the hill and runs a little off camber to the right towards the top. It was kind of hidden. In fact, I didn’t notice this right trail until my last practice lap and even then I didn’t bother to try it because it didn’t look like it was any faster than the other 2 trails going straight up. Later, I was told by a friend at the starting line that the right trail was in fact the quickest and most direct route (thanks for the tip Rut!). This tip saved some time and made a big difference in my finish b/c not all racers found this trail.
As the course continues through the woods, the trail formed deep ruts in the loose, sandy soil. At one point, there was a sharp left hand turn through some tight trees. Whenever I hit this corner, I always chose the alternative route on the outside which was wider so as to avoid the tighter trees and keep up a good pace. During the last few laps, the ruts were so deep on this turn that you could hit this turn at a fast pace and it felt like you were riding on rails!
After more tight woods, the course takes you around a right hand turn with several large, flat boulders to climb over. After more wooded trails near the front of the property, the course ends up near the starting line and begins another lap.
LAPS 4 – 6:
Around lap 4, I was slowed down when I came upon a stuck Can Am Maverick (Ron) in the middle of the trail just past a dry, bumpy creek crossing. I was later told that Ron ran up the side of the tree and when his UTV came back down, the tree was somehow lodged between the UTV and his front bumper. After the race, they used a chainsaw to free him. With several small trees on both sides of the stuck Maverick, there was no apparent way around. The first time I approached, tried to go to right, but was stopped by a tree (which dented my front bumper again). Then I backed up and went left of the Maverick and was finally able to maneuver through the trees with a 3 point turn.
On lap 5 or 6, I stopped again at this point to ask Ron where is the best place to get around his stuck Maverick. Ron told me to go right and to hurry. That is when I saw JW (blue RZR 1k) caught up to me and he tried to go around the Maverick on the left side. I made a new path to the right through bushes and small trees and pressed onward as quickly as possible. I later found out that JW had trouble getting around the Maverick on the left side, and had trouble getting his RZR into Reverse gear. From that point on, I was pushing my RZR hard b/c I knew JW was not far behind us. My only hope was to reach the finish line before he caught up again.
RACE RESULTS:
Cash and I were both excited to cross the finish line and earn 3rd place. This is my best finish all season, so obviously my son is a good luck charm. I’m ok if it was just luck that got us in a top 3 finish. As they say, even a blind hog finds an acorn every once in a while.
As always, I have to say a big THANK YOU to TORN for putting on another FUN event! :clap:
PICS:
I hope you enjoyed my write-up. 😎
