RACE WRITE-UP FROM SPOAKS MX
Last
Sunday, I loaded up “Big Blue” (my 2018 RZR Turbo) and drove to Spoaks MX in Lockhart,
TX for Round 5 of the 2019 TORCS cross-country series. I was excited to attend
this race b/c I brought my SECRET WEAPON this time… my teenage son and
co-pilot, Cash. Below is my race write-up.
WHERE:
Lockhart, TX… it’s a small town (known as the “BBQ capital of TX”) located 30
miles south of Austin. This race was held on a MX track that is surrounded by mesquite
trees and cow pastures.
TRACK CONDITIONS:
When we raced on this property last year, the ground was extremely muddy. This
year’s race was the exact opposite, meaning the conditions were hot and dry (and
we ran the track in the opposite direction of last year). The bone dry and
sandy soil meant that racers would have to battle through thick dust clouds to
see their way to the finish line. The other big challenge was to stay hydrated in
the summer-time temps, which were in the mid 90s for this race. For that
reason, I’m glad we stopped on the way to the track to pick up a new camelback for
my son (to replace his old leaky one).
The track was 4.5 miles long and contained a nice mixture of terrain. The first mile and a half ran through twisty, wooded trails. Next, the course took racers into a large open field that alternated between fast straights and either sharp or sweeping turns. When racers exited the pasture area through an open gate, the course made a 180 degree left turn and then proceeded through another mile of woods. Finally the course popped onto the MX track, which included a small whoops section, a table top jump, and lots of left and right turns before reaching the scoring schute.
PARADE LAP & HOT LAP:
When the parade lap started at 2:30pm, approximately 20 side-by-sides gathered
near the starting line.
Once the parade lap got underway, Cash and I jumped in line behind the lead car as it headed into the first woods section. Even at a slow pace, thick dust made it a challenge to see where we were going. So we tried to keep a little distance between the lead car and us so we could see the course.
My initial impression was that this course was wide and fast (my favorite kind of race!). If it wasn’t so darn dusty, it would be super fast!
In the first section of woods, there was a smooth section that felt like a roller coaster. Basically, the trail comes over a small hill and then drops down a few feet before coming back up again. When you hit it at a good clip, your tires felt like they came off the ground. Cash later told me this was his favorite part of the course, and I’d have to agree.
My other impression was that the MX track was very confusing. The course skipped some MX jumps/obstacles, but included others. At one point during the parade lap, the lead car and I took the outside line around a tree and quickly discovered that we both ran off the course. A few cars behind us took the correct route (inside the tree) and we jumped back in line behind them. Near the end of the MX section, the course is supposed to take racers between 2 trees adjacent to a medium-sized jump. I wasn’t sure where to go and decided to roll over the jump at a slow pace. Cash immediately pointed out my error and had to remind me to avoid that jump every lap thereafter.
CLASSES:
For this race, a pair of Textron Wildcat XX UTVs (naturally aspirated) driven by experienced UTV racers (Blake G. and Michael D.) showed up to join the fun. For some strange reason, the TORCS officials put them in the Turbo class. So the Turbo class had a total of 6 UTVs, including the two Textron Wildcats, a pair of RZR Turbos, plus a pair of Can Am X3s. In addition, 10 UTVs showed up for the non-turbo class and 3 buggies ran in the 800 class.
STRATEGY:
With
so much dust on this course, taking an early lead in the race would be a huge
advantage. So that was my strategy. However, I was very concerned about getting Big
Blue started quickly. At the last race,
my RZR’s engine turned over and over and over before it finally fired up, leaving
me in last position around turn one. Unfortunately,
Big Blue was acting up again before this race. Sometimes, it would not turn over
at all when I hit the key and other times it turned over, but didn’t fire up instantly. I suspected a weak battery, but wasn’t really
sure (or perhaps I forgot to push on the brake pedal again!).
THE START:
The starting area was located between the MX track and the first woods section.
From the starting line, racers headed straight towards a few large trees before
making a slight right turn onto a dirt trail that led into the woods. As I
recall, I was in the middle of the starting line with Collin H. (black RZR
Turbo) to my immediate left and a Can Am to his left. The rest of the Turbo class was on my right.
When the green flag finally went up, I hit the key and… NOTHING HAPPENED! Ugh. I turned the key all the way off and then tried it again. This time if came to life like normal and off I went. This split second delay was just enough to give everyone else the jump off the line. As we all raced towards the big trees ahead of us, I noticed that I was near the back of the pack next to the Can Am on my left. When we reached the trail that leads racers into the woods, Cash and I were in 5th position (I think).
It was so dusty at this point, that I almost took the wrong trail that went to the right of the woods. Doh! For the first quarter mile or so, I repeatedly sped up, get totally lost in the dust clouds, slowed to a crawl until I could see the course again, and then sped up again. This pattern was frustrating, but soon we had enough distance between us and the racer immediately ahead to see the track and keep a steady pace.
LAP 1:
As our class zig-zagged our way through the first section of woods, I maintained as much speed as I could safely go. As we left the woods towards the open pasture area, the course became very wide and super dusty. Suddenly, the thick dust cleared and I could see that the trail made a hard 90 degree turn to the right. Straight ahead was white ribbon to keep racers on the course, but it appeared that someone had already blown through it and went straight. That would be an easy mistake given the clouds of dust everywhere.
After we made the right turn, the trail heads towards a large tree about 200 yards up the trail. I looked down and saw my speedo at 66mph at the end of this little stretch. Then it made a hard left turn and another right where we hit the longest straight section on the course (where I later hit 71mph) before slamming on the brakes and making a hard left turn.
With so much dust to slow us down, Cash and I completed the lap 1 with a sluggish lap time (8 minutes, 9 seconds – which turned out to be our slowest lap of the race). Despite being a good 45 seconds behind the leader, we somehow found ourselves in 4th position with a lot of race remaining.
LAPS 2 through 8:
Lap 2 was considerably faster as we knocked 30 seconds off our lap time and we
continued to race at about a 7 and a half minute pace for the rest of the day.
Around lap 4, Collin broke an axle and pulled out of the race (unbeknownst to Cash and me). On this same lap, Cash handed me the nozzle for my camelback so I could wash down a mouthful of dust that I had just ingested while blazing through the pasture area. As I bit down to draw water, the nozzle fell off the end of the hose and hit the floor. At that point, my camelback no longer worked (couldn’t draw water directly from the hose for some reason). Thank goodness Cash raced with me on this day so that I could share his water for the rest of the race. Otherwise, I would have had to head back to the trailer along with Collin. No way I could continue racing in 95 degree heat without drinking water.
Around the 5th lap, I could occasionally hear the annoying, high-pitched sound of one of the Textron Wildcats behind me. But I couldn’t see him until we hit the large pasture area. At this point, I’m guessing he was about 10 seconds behind us. So Cash and I pressed onward as fast as possible. As we started lap 7, the Textron was only a few seconds behind. So I decided to pull over and let him (safely) pass us before we entered the woods. I could have tried to hold him off a little while longer, but didn’t want to put him in a situation where he had to work to pass us in the thick dust and potentially cause a wreck.
As the race progressed, Cash and I passed a few UTVs from the 800 class and we let Ken A. (non-turbo class) pass us as soon as he caught up to us. Near the end of the race, I was guessing that Cash and I were in 4th or 5th position.
RACE RESULTS:
When Cash and I finally reached the checkered flag, we finished in 3rd
place behind both of the Textron Wildcats. Congrats to the Textron racers for
taking home 1st and 2nd. They ran a solid race in tough
conditions. Next time, I hope to get my starting problem resolved and maybe
we’ll have better results.
FUN FACTS:
The day after this race, my company hosted a meeting with 100+ employees from the finance department. To kick off this annual event, they selected 2 employees to speak about their “fun facts” or something interesting that we do outside of work. I was one of the chosen employees and my fun fact was that I compete in off-road racing. I was limited to a few minutes, but I could have easily talked for an hour about how much Cash and I enjoy racing with our TORCS brothers and sisters. I hope we can continue to race with this motley group for many years to come.
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.
