Spangs Heartland Challenge race report

spangs

IlliNOISE - UTVUnderground Approved
May 25, 2009
176
15
18
illinois
www.spangsfab.com
Heartland Challenge race report.

This was my first Heartland Challenge behind the wheel of my Polaris RZR Turbo. We ran in the Open class with some of the best drivers in cross country woods racing. From the dead engine start We took off and was in 5th place into the woods. After a few laps and fighting dust we ended up towards the back of our class keeping a steady pace with a goal of keeping the wheels down and the RZR in one piece we had a long race to go. On lap 3 we ended up taking a turn a little late. With all the dust and very low visibility found ourselves in a ditch. We were able to back up and found our way back on course. Our Baja Designs Squadron Pros made the dark woods light up and navigating the wooded area a lot easier. Half way through the race we were getting comfortable with the course and started to pick up speed in the woods. We started to gain on the some of the others in our class and moved up into 6th place with 5th not to far in front of us. The RT Pro suspension socked up the quickly rutted up track in the woods with the Dual rate springs socking up every bump and jump we hit. With about 30 minuets left in the race and just completing our 13th lap we stopped at the check point as I hit the gas to go there was a loud pop sound from the machine. We pulled over, jumped out and started to check axles and the rest of the drive line. We couldn't find anything out of the normal. I jumped back in and took it for a couple circles in th grass off the side of the course. Hearing no noise or anything unusual I decided to go back out on course and see how things ran. As I started to move back to the race line there was another big clunk sound. I decided to call it and ended our race. Without running for the last 30 min we lost one spot to land us in 7th place and still 2 laps up on 8th place.


Thanks to our sponsors and the volunteers that helped in the pits.
Spangs Fab RT Pro Rugged Radios Pro Armor Action Powersports IllinoisCW Motorsports

Thanks Side By Side Stuff for the photos

startopen.jpg spangs 1.jpg jason.jpg steve challene.jpg jump1.jpg
 

brokennosescotty

New Member
Nov 25, 2009
21
1
3
70
midwest USA
Not to steal the thread, BUT, it should be mentioned that history was made at the 2017 Heartland Challenge, a Kawasaki Teryx WON the 800 class! Only 7 machines in the 800 class, it's definitely shrinking, but it is impressive that a Teryx finished 15th overall out of the 48 machines that finished at least the first lap. Another observation, open class and overall winner Kyle Chaney can really drive!
 

brokennosescotty

New Member
Nov 25, 2009
21
1
3
70
midwest USA
I finally found the results online this morning. 57 UTV entries in 4 classes, and it looks like 41 cars completed 4 hours. Chaney completed 21 laps, #53 Teryx 17 laps and #96 Teryx 15 laps. I wonder how many laps Chaney could have made in our Teryx, he probably wouldn't have been doubling any jumps, or going 70+mph on the pit road section of the track.
 

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