RACE WRITE-UP FROM RUSTY’S WALNUT CREEK
Last Sunday, I loaded up “Big Blue” (my 2018 RZR Turbo) and drove to Rusty’s Walnut Creek for Round 6 of the 2019 TORCS cross-country series. This was our last race before the summer break, so I was hoping to finish strong and keep my momentum going. Unfortunately, my teenage son couldn’t join me as co-pilot this time b/c he was home recovering from wisdom teeth removal. Below is my race write-up.
WHERE:
Rockne, TX… it’s a small town 30 miles southeast of Austin. The front of this property has a large grassy pasture for the parking area and lots of woods in the back for the track. I recall racing on this property a few years ago in TORCS’s first ever UTV race. I’ll never forget that day b/c it was held on Super Bowl Sunday and I was worried no one would show up. Fortunately, we had a decent turnout and my son and I had a blast in the race! We’ve been hooked on this series ever since then.
TRACK CONDITIONS:
Our last race in early June was scorching hot and the course was blanketed with thick dust clouds. Luckily, Mother Nature brought us a gift last Saturday night… a few inches of rain to knock down the heat and dust. Sunday was warm (mid 80s) and partly cloudy, but much more bearable than our last race. The much needed rain soaked the ground and then some. The UTV course had several places with slippery mud or standing water.
The track was laid out on 3.7 miles of twisty trails through the woods. Much of the course ran through soft, sandy dirt that turned into deep ruts by the end of the race. The low-lying areas had lots of slippery trails that zig-zagged through the trees.
PARADE LAP & HOT LAP:
When the parade lap started at 2:30pm, 17 side-by-sides gathered near the
starting line in a small open area near the scoring schute.
As we made our way around the track for the first time, my initial impression was that it was fast and wide except for one small section of tight trees about mid-way through the course. Also, there were some seriously slippery sections in the low-lying areas that made it tricky to stay on course, even at moderate speeds. Another notable observation was that the last hundred yards or so of the lap ran along a fence line and the trail was completely covered with 1 foot of water for much of it. Hitting this section at moderate speed quickly made a mess of my goggles. And 1 second after the fresh spray of muddy water hit my helmet, the musty scent of manure overwhelmed my senses. Ugh. Only a few obvious places to pass, so getting a good start was critical.
CLASSES:
The turn-out for this race was a little less than last time with only 3 UTVs in
my (Turbo) class. The good news was that everyone in this class gets on the
podium as long as we finish the race. The bad news is that anything can happen
and no one is guaranteed to finish the race. In addition, a dozen side-by-sides
showed up for the non-turbo class and two buggies ran in the 800 class.
STRATEGY:
With plenty of mud and standing water on the track, I used two things to prepare myself for this race. First, I put several tear offs on my googles… a must for any race with mud. Second, I tried something new to protect my radiator. In past races, mud packed into the fins of my radiator (in the stock location) and caused overheating. Many UTV racers relocate their radiator to avoid this problem, but I’m still not convinced that it is necessary. Instead, I decided to tape up my front bumper with duct tape to keep most of the mud out of the grill. This was my first time trying this trick on my RZR.
THE START:
I was lined up in the middle of the starting line with a black Can Am X3
(Dwayne) on my far left and a red and yellow X3 on my far right (Donovan). When the green flag appeared, I hit the key
and nothing happened. Nooooooooo… not again! Same problem happened during the
last 2 races and I haven’t yet replaced the battery… Doh! All I could do was
watch as Donovan pulled away from the line and left me standing still. I turned
the key off and on again and it roared to life this time. I mashed the go pedal
and fell in line behind Donovan as we made our way around the first turn to the
left. Next time, I’m be ready with a new battery. Grrr.
LAP 1:
As our class zig-zagged our way through the first section of woods, I tried to keep Donovan in my sights. I could still see him when we reached the muddy, low lying area about mid-way through the lap. So I felt good about that.
As I hit the zig-zag trails in that area, Big Blue was sliding from one side of the track to the other. It was all I could do to avoid the large trees and still maintain a decent pace.
Near the end of the low-lying area, the trail takes a hard right turn to go around a watery section of the course. Next, the trail takes racers through a wide grassy area that descends to a dry, shallow gully at the bottom. I hit this little dip hard in an effort to keep up with Donovan and my stock front shocks let me know that was not kosher! LOL Mental note: slow down on that dip for the next lap.
Soon thereafter, the trail eventually goes through a narrow section of trees. This area was the only tight wooded section and it wasn’t too bad as long as you paid close attention.
Not far up the trail, the racers make a hard right turn into the woods where they cross a short, narrow platform/bridge. This section was slicker than greased owl poop, so I had to be careful to get my RZR pointed straight before I hit the little platform so as not to fall off the edge. A few feet up the trail was another narrow platform/bridge, but this one bowed down. When I hit it at moderate speeds during the parade lap/hot lap, it was smooth and fun. But during the race, I picked up the pace and it launched my back end skyward. As I landed, Big Blue bounced all over the track and I tried my best to stay on course and avoid the trees. These stock shocks are killing me, but I hope to remedy that soon.
Near the back half of the course, the track dumps racers into a small open area and eventually makes a few hard left turns through deep ruts and bumps. Afterwards, the trail runs straight about 50 yards and then goes makes a hard right into the woods again. As soon as you hit that section, the trail makes an awkward 90 degree right hand turn over a sizeable bump and onto a trail that is barely wide enough for my tires. There is thick underbrush on both sides. It was hard to make this awkward turn at speed with the large bump immediately before it. I did my best and kept on trucking.
LAPS 2 through 8:
Near the end of my 3rd lap, I hit the water covered trail near the
fence line a little too fast and the stinky water splashed onto my goggles
again. The messy water blurred the view from my left eye, so I started going
through the tear-offs until I could see clearly. Turns out that the nasty water
got behind all of the tearoffs, so I had to lose all of them to see again. Ugh.
With several laps to go, this was not ideal.
About a mile into lap 4, I started to hear “Ken and company” (what I call the non-turbo class) catching up to my rear bumper. Suddenly, I lost power and saw the overheating light display on my dash. Oh crap! I pulled over and let the non-turbo racers pass me. Unlike past mud races when overheating strikes, I had a plan this time and remained calm. I jumped out of the car and grabbed my utility knife. With a few slashes, I removed the duct tape from my front bumper and dashed back into the RZR. 10 minutes later, I was strapped in and ready to go! Okay, this detour only cost me about 90 seconds, but it sure felt like 10 minutes when you see other UTVs passing me! Luckily, I never had another overheating problem for the rest of the race, so this tactic seemed to work out (at least in these conditions).
Turns out, I wasn’t the only person who made an emergency pit stop. I later talked to Dwayne at the finish line and he told me that his lug nuts backed off during the race and his rear wheel got wobbly. So he had to pull over and tighten them. Good thing he noticed that before it became a 3-wheeler!
As the race continued, the ground started to dry up and get tacky. Soon, my tires started getting more traction. At one point, I made a hard left turn around a tree that I had previously slid around. This time, my right tires grabbed causing my RZR suddenly popped up on the right 2 wheels. This would not have been so scary if there was not a big tree directly in front of me. Yikes! At the last second, Big Blue came back down on all fours and I steered hard to the left to avoid hitting the tree in my path. What a relief! I dodged a bullet that time.
On the last few laps, I lapped the buggies in the 800 class. I was following one of them (driven by Howard I think) around a right hand turn and I noticed he took the turned extra wide. As I made my way around that turn, I discovered why. The ruts got so deep on the corner that he had to go wide and avoid getting high-centered. Just after the turn, he pulled off to the side and let me by. Thanks, buddy!
RACE RESULTS:
When I finally reached the checkered flag, I took home 2rd place in my class and 4th overall. Congrats to Donovan for taking the win in our Turbo class! He ran a solid race. I’m planning a few upgrades over summer and hope to be more competitive in the future.
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 another FUN event and for building such an awesome course! I hope you enjoyed my race write-up.
