Race Write-up from Ott Ranch (2020 TORCS Rd 2)
Last Sunday, I loaded up “Big Blue” (my trusty 2018 RZR Turbo) and drove 2 and 1/2 hours to Ott Ranch for Round 2 of the 2020 TORCS cross-country series. Going back to last season, my current winning streak stands at 4 races in a row for the Turbo SxS class. Will my luck hold out for a 5th straight win? Find out in my race write-up below.
WHERE:
Rosanky,
TX… it’s a blip on the map about 20 miles south of Bastrop. This picturesque property has a nice mix of
trees and open pastures.
TRACK CONDITIONS:
When I pulled into the entrance at 1:30 p.m., the temps were mild and the skies
were partly cloudy. Whenever we race this time of the year, I try to remind
myself how lucky we are to compete in these conditions. In just a few months, we’ll
be sweating our butts off as we battle both our fellow competitors and heat
exhaustion. But on a day like last Sunday, we can relax and focus on the
racing.
This track was 3.1 miles long according my speedo, and the course was laid out over a 50/50 mix of wooded trails and open pasture areas. The TORCS crew removed the super tight section of woods that we raced through last season. Just my opinion, but I welcomed this change because it made this course more racer-friendly (meaning less chance of racers getting hung up on trees and/or creating bottlenecks in the tight woods). However, the track still had a few places with semi-tight turns that gave the Can Am UTVs a bit of trouble (especially on the practice laps when at least one had to back up when making a turn). Otherwise, it was wide and fast with nothing too technical to worry about.
PARADE LAP & HOT LAP:
At 2:30 p.m., Terry D. and Cory W. held a quick riders meeting with approximately 19 side-by-sides gathered ’round the starting area. Then they proceeded with the parade lap and (optional) hot lap. Once we got rolling, I followed the crowd near the back of the pack.
As we made our way around the course, four observations stood out in my mind.
First, I was eating dust in certain parts of the course. Ugh. Fortunately, it wasn’t nearly as blinding as the “dust bowl” races we endured several times last season. In any case, I was grateful for the chase lights that I recently installed on Big Blue b/c these lights might prevent rear-end collisions in the dusty areas. After looking around, I also noticed most (but not all) of the other UTVs have them installed now too, which is a good thing for everyone’s safety.
Second, I noticed that the handling and ride comfort of Big Blue were awful. For one thing, it was sliding all over the track, especially when I pushed it hard around turns (almost as if I was running in 2wd). Also, it felt bone jarring over a few of the rough sections in the open fields. To improve the handling and ride comfort, I decided to wait til I returned to the starting line area to adjust my front shocks and reduce the air pressure in all 4 tires. While these adjustments improved things significantly, the tire pressure adjustment may have been a mistake (more on this later).
Third, I got a big confused when racing through the zig-zag turns in the open pastures. During the hot lap, I turned too early (before the white ribbons in the middle of a large field) and ended up running off the course. Luckily, Gil and other race officials were standing right there and guided me back to the correct path. They marked this turn better before the race started, and I didn’t have any more problems finding the marked course.
The last thing I noticed was the soft, sandy loam covering this property. Soft soil often leads to deep ruts developing by the end of our 1-hour race. Last season, the deep ruts on this property eventually resulted in high-centering problems for some UTVs and bottlenecks in the tight woods to get around those folks. To avoid high-centering, I reminded myself to keep my speed up or try to avoid the deep ruts whenever possible.
CLASSES:
Excluding a new guy who showed up at the last minute in sharp-looking orange
and black Can-Am X3 and decided not to race with us (hopefully he returns next
time with shorter tires), there were a total of 5 UTVs competing in the Turbo
class. One of the five included my buddy Collin (RZR Turbo) who hasn’t raced
with us in over 6 months. He’s a good competitor, which makes for a fun race
whenever he is on the starting line with us. Also, I like seeing Collin on line
so that I’m not the only Polaris in the game. As usual, the other competitors
in our class are Canned Hams.
In addition to the Turbo class, there were 7 competing in the Pro SxS class and another 7 the Nonturbo/Open class.
THE START:
The starting area was in a large pasture and located about 200 yards from the
scoring schute/finish line. From the
starting line, we had approximately 50 feet to the first right turn around a flag
pole. Then the trail snaked left and right a few times before dumping into the
woods on the left side.
On the starting line, I was in the middle with Collin to my right and the 3 Canned Hams to my left. At this point, “Plan A” was for me to get a strong start and get ahead of the crowd as quickly as possible so as to avoid problems with the dust.
Finally, the green flag went up, and off we went. Big Blue started on the first try, but was a bit slower getting off the line compared to the others. I believe Greg (Can Am #12) won the holeshot, followed closely by Collin (Polaris #8), and then Jimmie (Can Am #37) in third position. Next, I made the first turn in 4th position with Dwayne (Can Am #21) right on my tail.
Not a great start, so I had to switch to “Plan B,” which is to be patient and pick off each racer one at a time til I reach the front of the pack.
LAP 1:
Our Turbo class zig-zagged quickly through the first set of turns past the flag pole, turned left into the woods, and soon reached the first open field with several zig-zag turns. At this point, I was right on Jimmie’s heals and looking for an opportunity to make a clean pass. A quick peek at my rear view mirror, and I could see Dwayne right behind me.
Near the back of this open field, the course makes a wide left turn along some white ribbons, then runs straight for about 100 feet and makes a hard left turn between a few trees. I could see just ahead that Collin was stalled out/standing still next to one of the trees. Jimmie quickly went around Collin on the outside of the turn, and I was hoping to do the same. Just as I pulled behind Collin, his RZR suddenly fired up and his back tires threw roost all over me and my RZR. All I could do was laugh… this was just like old times! LOL
Next, we entered a short section of woods where the ruts were already starting to form. After a few hundred yards, the squiggly trail made a 180-degree left turn through a line of trees and brought racers into another open pasture. This field was larger than the previous one and contained an old farm house on the far side. As we zig-zagged back and forth through this pasture, Collin was all over Jimmie’s rear bumper and I knew it was just a matter of time before Collin passed him. Finally, we circled the old farm house and headed back into another wooded section. A few S turns later, the course takes racers over a 3’ hill, then comes down and immediately turns right. After a short straight-away section, the trail pops out into another open pasture where racers could put their foot to the floor and easily hit 60 MPH.
About half-way through this open field, we came to a chicane that slowed the riders down. Collin almost passed Jimmie right before reaching the chicane. Immediately afterwards, the trail goes straight about 100 yards and then makes a 90-degree right turn near some trees followed by a left turn. As Jimmie and Collin reached the right turn, Jimmie ran a bit too wide and Collin passed him on the inside. I later found out that Jimmie bumped Collin’s nerf bar in the process and temporarily disabled Collin’s power steering. From there, Collin kept the hammer down until he finished the lap. Just past the scoring shute, he pulled over, restarted the engine/reset the power steering and off he went.
After Collin’s pass, I was now riding Jimmie’s rear bumper and still held 4th position. At this point, my plan was to continue putting pressure on Jimmie with the hope that perhaps he might make a mistake and I could safely pass.
The course continued through more woods until we eventually reached the straight trail along a barbed wire fence bordering the parking lot area. After running a few hundred yards along this fence line, the trail suddenly dips down and comes back up the other side. A short while later, the wooded trail pops out into the last open field and circles back around to the left again. From there, the course drops down into a dry creek bed and runs along the bottom of that creek for a hundred yards or so. Eventually, the course climbs out of the creek bed, maneuvers over a short section of woods, and goes through the scoring schute to end this lap and begin the next.
LAPS 2 through 6:
For next several laps, the “three amigos” of Jimmie, myself, and Dwayne continued
to ride together bumper to bumper like a train rolling down the track. As the laps flew by, I stayed right on Jimmie’s
rear bumper and waited for him to make an error so I could get around him
cleanly. In the process, I was pounded
with lots of roost and fine dust. As the
race wore on, I started to feel a little impatient and desperately wanted to finally
pass Jimmie and pick up the pace again to catch up to Collin. Following Jimmie
for those laps, I felt like I was on the brake more than I was on the gas. Ugh.
Two things happened somewhere around lap 5 that were interesting.
One was finding Collin stuck on the same turn where he previously passed Jimmie. I found out later that he came upon a yammie that was turned over on that turn. When Collin tried to get by him, he accidentally got stuck. Then he had to help that racer get his Yammie right side up and moved before he could get his own RZR Turbo unstuck with the help of someone with a winch on their four-wheeler. When the three amigos approached this bottleneck (Collin and the overturned Yammie), we were waived around them. That put Jimmie in 2nd position, me in third, and Dwayne in fourth. I was feeling a little better about my performance in the race at this point, but still wanted desperately to pass Jimmie and pick up the pace.
Another interesting turn of events came as the three amigos entered a section of woods with dark, soft dirt everywhere. In this section, the track made a sweeping right turn and then made a 90-degree turn around some small trees. I was right on Jimmie’s rear bumper as he slowed down to make this turn. Instead of making the turn right in front of the small tree, he slide straight into it. I slammed on my brakes just before making contact with Jimmie. Then I checked my mirror to see if I was clear to back up. Whoa… wait. Dwayne had stopped just behind me. Now I’m waiting on Dwayne. Suddenly, I feel a thud. Jimmie had reversed too soon and backed into my front bumper (not hard thank goodness). I yelled, “WHOA” and he stopped. Dwayne backed up quickly and then I backed up a few feet too.
That’s when I saw my chance! The trail was marked such that you could turn immediately in front of the small tree or after. So all I had to do was go around the outside of the tree and pass Jimmie before he straightened up. So I through it into High gear and floored the go fast pedal. As I got close to the turn, Jimmie nailed the throttle too and jumped back onto the trail just before I could get to it on the outside. Grrr! So now I’m back to eating his roost as he plows his way through that wooded section over thick, soft dirt.
LAP 7:
At the start of Lap 7, the three amigos were still running close together. As we entered the first open field, we zig-zagged around the turns like we always had. But something felt different. I was sliding around uncontrollably. Something was definitely wrong! Was it a flat tire, bent suspension components, or something else?
At the back end of this field (just past the turn where Collin stalled out on lap 1), I saw a TORCS spotter standing next to the course where the trail enters the woods. I slowed down and asked him if I had a flat tire. He just looked at me and pointed to where the course enters the woods. I hit the throttle again and off I went… still unsure if I had a flat tire or something more serious. This twisty section of woods had developed super deep ruts and it was all I could do to keep the pace up and avoid being high-centered. As we exited that section and approached the 180-degree left turn through the line of trees, I pulled off the course to survey the damage to Big Blue.
Just as I suspected, my left rear tire lost all of its air… the tire had come off the outside bead and that meant my day was done. Apparently, I took a little too much tire pressure out of the tires before the race started and that left my (non-beadlock) wheels susceptible to having the tires break loose from the rim. I’ll be sure to run the full tire pressure from now on to ensure I don’t have this problem again. If it does happen again, I’ll consider upgrading to beadlocks.
A few minutes after I pulled off the course, the spotter that I saw a few minutes earlier (Dale) approached me on his dirt bike to check on me and my UTV. He said he didn’t realize what I had asked him (flat tire?) until right after I sped off. Oh well, it didn’t matter at this point.
Now that my race was done, all I could do is watch the rest of the Turbo class continue making laps and cheer them on as they passed by. The race finally ended about 15 minutes later, and I limped Big Blue back to the trailer.
RACE RESULTS:
Mucho CONGRATS to Greg for taking the win in our Turbo SxS class (not bad for only his second time to race with us!), Jimmie for finishing second, and Dwayne for taking third place. Collin finished fourth, and I ended up dead last. So my lucky win streak is over, but it was a fun ride while it lasted. Despite the disappointing finish, I had a blast racing with my fellow TORCS brothers. In the grand scheme of things, a bad day on the race course still beats a good day at the office!
SHAMELESS PLUG:
In case you haven’t heard, my brand new book about off-road racing with Cash entitled TEXAS OFF-ROAD RACING: A Father-Son Journey to a Side-by-Side Championship is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other retailers.
As always, I have to say a BIG THANK YOU to TORCS for hosting a FUN event and for building such an awesome course. I hope you enjoyed my race write-up.
