There were 43 quads in my class, and I didn??????????????????t have the best starting spot, but there was a about a hundred yards to the first set of double green arrows (double green means that you must go between them or risk DQ)I figured with all the room I should have a decent start with the power of the dale.
Unlike a GNCC we do not start the race sitting on the quad, we stand about 10 feet from it with engines off. The horn sounds and everyone runs to their quad hops on fires it up and takes off, well everything was great except that sitting on the line, I forgot to put it in gear, so when I dumped the clutch all it did was bounce off the limiter, ????????????????Da**??????????????? I pull the clutch back in drop it in gear dump it again and off I go, ( it only takes but a sec to do that but that is a sec that I lost on the start) I am all over the throttle hauling the mail to the first turn, my starting position places my to the inside of the turn, but with all the dust (about 5 ft visibility) I was very afraid of getting hammered from that back, well it was clean through the first turn, my wife said I was in about 12th going into the first turn, I knew I was kinda near the front.
After that first turn there were a series of ????????????????S??????????????? turns, and since I was on the inside in the first turn, I would be on the outside in the next one, that wasn??????????????????t a bad thing, I missed the log jam on the inside and passed several people on the outside, and passed one or two more right before heading into the woods
I didn??????????????????t know what place I was in, but I know I was towards the front.
I followed the guy in front of me for a few min hoping for him to make a mistake for an easy pass but that didn??????????????????t happen, and this was a very, very tight track, 90% of the passing will be out in the open fields, with that in mind, I just hung on his bumper till an opening, and when I got it I stepped out of the dust and got along side but couldn??????????????????t get around until right before going back into a wood section and I out broke him.
The next guy in line wasn??????????????????t that far ahead and after a few more open sections, I was on his bumper, and there was a line of guys in front of him, so I was thinking this was the lead pack.
I followed him down into this little dry creek bed but he stalled it coming up on the other side, well I was to close and be rolled back down into me and then he couldn??????????????????t get it started, I am blocked in and getting passed by several riders, now I am afraid that when I take off that since I am already headed up the other side that I might just bury the rear tires, so I have to be careful, I get out of that jam ok except for losing a few positions, so now I am hard on it to catch back up, I pass one more guy then there is this little down hill, then an uphill left hand turn, on the up hill I am all over the gas, and it is very thick deep sand, this is were the problems start, the front is very light and it doesn??????????????????t want to make the turn but by the time I get to the top of this little uphill I am buried in palmetto bushes??????????????? and stuck. My front tires were hung up on the tree roots and my back tires are buried. I hop off lift the back tires out of the ruts and hopefully get out of this mess only losing a few more spots, jump back on fire it up and I just dig another hole, I lose a few more spots, I lift the front up and over some roots move the back hop on, fire it up and dig another hole. The front tires were so hung up the a course worker had to help me get it unstuck, but by this time everyone has passed, the class behind me has passed me, the womens class has passed me, FINALLY I am off again.
I pass a lot of people back but they aren??????????????????t in my class, finally a very long straight that I can haul butt and get a breather, tooling along in 5th gear and the quad shuts off, WTF??????????????? like I turned the key off, I hop off, look under the front, no oil, get back on, fires right up and I take off. I go into wood section and there are a couple of quads hung up inside of some trees( did I mention this was a very tight track?) a couple of the women got tangled up so I helped them out ( what a sport) da** those v-force??????????????????s are heavy, at this point I am just hanging on, trying to finish, and I haven even done one lap yet, I get to another open section give her the gas and it shuts off. it starts right back up but this seems to becoming a problem. I pass a few guys that WERE in my class when they got stuck in a water hole. I finally make it around to the scoring tent and I look up and I am in 40th, but there are a lot of riders not that far in front of me, so I am on the gas, through a very fast section right by the starting area, I am going through the ????????????????S??????????????? turns again, and it shuts off again, at that point I decide that since this wasn??????????????????t my quad, and that at this point it must be an electrical problem I better quit while the quiting is good, I don??????????????????t want to tear up someone else??????????????????s ride.
Needless to say I was very disappointed in the way the race went, what started out as a promising finish turned into a disaster, but at least the motor isn??????????????????t blown and I will look for some loose connections get it figured out and get mine back together and try it again.
Ftr H/s
i was waiting for some cams from Doug so i could put the original motor back in my quad, but i have another running motor that just needs updates, i am going to do the updates and put that motor in mine, then i will wait for the cams and put that motor in the "project" quad i got from haydug in palatka.
i couldve kept going but i really didnt want to tear up someone else's machine
i couldve kept going but i really didnt want to tear up someone else's machine