Well I will start by saying a big thank you goes out to Timbomoose for the use of his quad for the 12hr cause. Tim donated a motor last year and this year really stepped up and donated his whole chassis. With some minor changes like Flexx bars, Hipers with Tire Balls, HREATV +1 Longtravel front end with Elka Elite shocks, and Pro Pilot rebuilt rears Ohlins. Also, I would like to thank RAB Offroad for all his work every year we go. This is the 3rd year we have piloted a Cannondale at the 12hr event and Randy has been the back bone. I want to keep this report focused on our experience and team report as how we ran our race. There were issues we had with scoring which nothing can be done about so I won't go into the class report.
Well this being the 4th year in a row that I have ran this event things kind become 2nd hand. Randy picked up Tim's quad and went over it and swapped front end and shocks. We were all ready to prove again how a Cannondale could run in an endurance event especially after last year when Kenny Campbell and myself ran the final 6hrs by ourselves on one quad. Randy was especially motivated as his back was out for the last 6hrs. He wanted to make up for last year. Our machines motor was Timbo built and ready to race. Our back up machines were Randy's personal Cannondale and our third Rider's Honda 450r.
The race was broken down into 2 6hr segments with a Lemans style start. Basically a shotgun goes off and the rider runs across the starting line and jumps on the quad and goes. The new wrinkle which I personally am not fond of, but was nice, is the 3 quad rule. Basically you race one quad and 2 more sit in an impound section. Our team was myself (this would be my 4th race with my best finish being last year 4th in class), Randy Brandt (His 3rd year and my team mate for several 6hrs too), and Mike Kyte (GNCC Senior class rider and member of the past 3 12hr winning 30+ team). We definitely had the speed to compete. The real question is could we win?
The trip would take us from PA to Greenville Texas roughly 22-23 hrs straight driving. We left Thursday morning and arrived at the track around 11 am friday. We arrived to meet alot of friends from previous races. C&D Racing who is always there to lend a hand whenever needed, Team Blackwidow which was running a Cannondale also, and others. Team Blackwidow helped us out alot last year giving us a place to stay and pitting for us. This year they would be entering the B class and competing on a Blackwidow built motor. This was definitely interesting as for the last 2 years we were the only Cannondale in attendance at the 12hr.
Here is a pic of Our team on the Pre Race Podium. I am thanking all our sponsors. including the members of this site for their help.
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Team Blackwidow ATV
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Timbo moose Cannondale hungry!
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12hr Race Report .....Finally
Well the day before the race we to sign up which cost more and wasn't relayed at all. Basically on line it was $300, at the track it was $330 never mentioned before. We then went over the quad and made dinner. The whole time they were running the Miss ATVScene 12hr. Kinda interesting. Well it was nice to not have to go anywhere. Thanks to Speed450mx and his family for putting Mike, Randy, Colby, and Dusty up for the night.
Next morning we took the Timbo machine to the line and it was decided the night before that we would try and run only this machine for the whole 12 hrs. We figured after looking at the pits it would be too time consuming to keep switching machines as it turned out it took about 45 secs to run through the impound. Randy would start then Mike and I would run last. I am sure you guys are wondering about the order. Well we treat it like baseball put the heavy hitters up front and the weaker ones in the back. This way the faster guys get more time on the machine even if everyone runs the same number of laps per turn.
Randy lines up we go through our pre start ritual. Randy warms the quad up shuts it down and 10 secs before the start I reach out and turn the key on. The shot gun goes off and Randy does well getting over to the machine and off. Then the waiting game begins as the start went into a small woods section then out to an open area then to the mx section. Randy got stuck behind a guy who wedged himself between some trees. He quickly got out and went after the leaders. This put him down about 1 min. We were doing fine as Randy cranked out steady lap times and were waiting for Randy to come through for his fourth lap when we notice the quad limping to the impound missing a wheel. I won't go into it much other than to say we are pretty sure it was tampered with. Well, he quickly switched to his Cannondale and ran the 4th lap all over. This put us down a lap to the first 2 teams and way behind everyone else. Something similar happened last year. We lost a shock on the first lap last year and never made up the time. Well we weren't letting this happen this year.
Next morning we took the Timbo machine to the line and it was decided the night before that we would try and run only this machine for the whole 12 hrs. We figured after looking at the pits it would be too time consuming to keep switching machines as it turned out it took about 45 secs to run through the impound. Randy would start then Mike and I would run last. I am sure you guys are wondering about the order. Well we treat it like baseball put the heavy hitters up front and the weaker ones in the back. This way the faster guys get more time on the machine even if everyone runs the same number of laps per turn.
Randy lines up we go through our pre start ritual. Randy warms the quad up shuts it down and 10 secs before the start I reach out and turn the key on. The shot gun goes off and Randy does well getting over to the machine and off. Then the waiting game begins as the start went into a small woods section then out to an open area then to the mx section. Randy got stuck behind a guy who wedged himself between some trees. He quickly got out and went after the leaders. This put him down about 1 min. We were doing fine as Randy cranked out steady lap times and were waiting for Randy to come through for his fourth lap when we notice the quad limping to the impound missing a wheel. I won't go into it much other than to say we are pretty sure it was tampered with. Well, he quickly switched to his Cannondale and ran the 4th lap all over. This put us down a lap to the first 2 teams and way behind everyone else. Something similar happened last year. We lost a shock on the first lap last year and never made up the time. Well we weren't letting this happen this year.
Some more pics
Your truly eating some of Borich's dust. Man can he fly!!!
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Chasing down a 450r on Randy's Cannondale
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Another
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After the tire debacle we spent some extra time on each quad tightening lugs
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Team Blackwidow negotiating the woods.
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The MX section
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Couple more pics
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Your truly eating some of Borich's dust. Man can he fly!!!
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Chasing down a 450r on Randy's Cannondale
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Another
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After the tire debacle we spent some extra time on each quad tightening lugs
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Team Blackwidow negotiating the woods.
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The MX section
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Couple more pics
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cannondale27
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 10:41 pm
QUOTE (NRath @ Jan 11 2008, 12:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I'm thinking we've only gotten a few laps in here!! Come on, Derno!
I am sorry I stopped on this. Been kinda hectic. I will finish this shortly.
As for the quad the scavenge pump was siezed so I heard from Randy. Now why that happened he hasn't gone into it yet.
Well where was I? Randy was on his quad now and Mike was waiting his turn to get on and ride. Randy switched machines which we found out later cost about 30 secs each switch and brought it to Mike. Mike was going to ride the 12hr machine, but after the wheel fell off he decided to run his own quad a Honda 450r. Mike ran his laps with a quick pace trying to make up the lap we gave to the entire 30+ field. We were doing well and we switched back to Randy's quad and I took off. The track was definitely interesting from last year to this year. They added more gimmick sections like the hay maze and off camber woods section. Otherwise it was wide open fast. Took me a lap or two to get the track down. I went in after 4 laps and switched with Randy. Randy took his quad and was running laps when Mike asked if we should wave him in to fuel him up. Let's just say he must have been psychic as Randy started sputtering at the start of lap 4. After Randy switched to the Honda and gave the quad to Mike we discussed it and figured it out quick enough as 8 laps on a stock motor should not have done this. We figured that no one topped his quad off due to the thought being this quad was an emergency quad. Goes to show in an endurance event you always make sure all quads are ready to go. Oh well. Now we were down to just Mike's Honda even though we could have just grabbed one of the other machines to fuel it or replace a tire we decided to plug ahead with just Mike's Honda to make up time. It was working as we worked our way back into 4th place with Randy hoppping on to go to the end of the first 6hrs.
A smart move on our part at the time was pulling Randy in and having him hop on the 12hr quad to replace the tire on the white flag lap. He hopped on the quad drove it down pit lane and they slapped a tire on it. Now we had 2 quads to use again. At the end of the first 6hrs we went and relaxed while atvscene ran their Miss ATVscene pagent. We ate a brief meal and worked on strategy as we still needed to make up time if we were going to make the podium. We finished in 4th place and about 36th overall.
The second session was about to start and Randy wasn't going to start instead Mike was going to start and only run 2 laps due to the dust. Then I was going to take over. We were now on the 12hr machine and we figured all the worst was behind us. Guess what we were wrong. As I went to take over Randy noticed oil all over the motor and quickly said go get the other quad. I grabbed Mike's Honda and that was the last switch we would make. We ran the Honda for the rest of the race. We moved into 3rd place with what we though was only a marginal lead by the 1st and second place team. Only to find out later that somehow the leader had put us down 2 laps. I won't get into it, but suffice to say I didn't agree.
A smart move on our part at the time was pulling Randy in and having him hop on the 12hr quad to replace the tire on the white flag lap. He hopped on the quad drove it down pit lane and they slapped a tire on it. Now we had 2 quads to use again. At the end of the first 6hrs we went and relaxed while atvscene ran their Miss ATVscene pagent. We ate a brief meal and worked on strategy as we still needed to make up time if we were going to make the podium. We finished in 4th place and about 36th overall.
The second session was about to start and Randy wasn't going to start instead Mike was going to start and only run 2 laps due to the dust. Then I was going to take over. We were now on the 12hr machine and we figured all the worst was behind us. Guess what we were wrong. As I went to take over Randy noticed oil all over the motor and quickly said go get the other quad. I grabbed Mike's Honda and that was the last switch we would make. We ran the Honda for the rest of the race. We moved into 3rd place with what we though was only a marginal lead by the 1st and second place team. Only to find out later that somehow the leader had put us down 2 laps. I won't get into it, but suffice to say I didn't agree.
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Mike on His Honda 450r. This machine won last years 30+ class at the 12hr.
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Mike running some of the mx section.
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Randy hitting the last part of the track short cut. Those tires ate some people up.
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Another pic
Mike on His Honda 450r. This machine won last years 30+ class at the 12hr.
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Mike running some of the mx section.
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Randy hitting the last part of the track short cut. Those tires ate some people up.
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Another pic
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Just some more pics from the race. I want to thank my friends who recently moved to Texas for helping us out all race Jess and Jeremy were quick to lend a hand even though they didn't know too much about ATV's. Thanks guys!!
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Just some more pics from the race. I want to thank my friends who recently moved to Texas for helping us out all race Jess and Jeremy were quick to lend a hand even though they didn't know too much about ATV's. Thanks guys!!