Peak Powersports – Parker 250 Race Recap
Decent first race with a few challenges but overall we were happy to finish and learn valuable lessons in this new form of racing for Peak Powersports.
Lonestar Racing finished our RZR Turbo build on Wednesday before Parker 250 and it went right to Wolf Design for graphics. We picked it up Thursday at 6PM and headed to Parker, AZ race site. Being a little nervous about zero miles on the new build, we found a dark road outside of town and unloaded to run the car a little. Five miles into it the cops arrived and flashed their lights as a warning. We loaded quickly and went to the hotel. So much for getting some seat time to build confidence!
Tech went well on Friday and we met a bunch new people both stopping at the Peak Powersports trailer for parts support and some just to say hello. We assisted a few racers with the Polaris Digital Wrench software which allows vehicle diagnostics, etc. We will have this same capability at all 2016 BITD races and are glad to help Polaris racers however we can.
Saturday morning went as planned with the last minute race nerves (and need to evacuate my bladder) not setting in until we pulled to the starting line. We started at the back of the turbo class of 19 cars which left two at a time / side by side in 30 second intervals. Being last and an odd number I let the starting line alone which was probably best for my first BITD race and first time in a long travel RZR. We felt out the car for the first five miles and were happy with the chassis and suspension set up from Lonestar Racing. The Sedona Rockabilly tires gripped well in the heavy wet sand and by the time we reached the sand wash we felt we were at a respectable speed and soon caught the #991 RZR XPT that started ahead of us. We chased him through the turns for a few miles but could not get around despite being heavy on the siren. Rocks were flying inside the cab and a 3” stone hit my co-driver. He complained about it hurting but since he was my son I told him to suck it up and keep on the siren. I later learned that the rock hit him in the chin and cracked his new helmet. So much for sympathetic father of the year award! It was not long before Cognito caught us (#1 starter in the non-turbo class which started 30 seconds behind us) and watched us fight to pass #991. He was more patient than his reputation suggested but after a few more corners of me not pushing #991 out of the way Cognito pull up on us and sounded the siren. We gladly pulled aside and waited for the lesson in nerfing from the master. Cognito gave the #991 a few more corners to respect the siren/request to step aside and then the War Hammer was put to use and #991 was “tapped” in a corner with deep whoops exiting. The RZR rodeo that followed was enough for us to pass #991 and we settled into pace with Cognito. I do not think the “tap” was excessive but was necessary to allow the faster cars to pass. We maintained our distance with Cognito from about RM 15 to RM35 where we blew a belt due to driver error – hard on the rev limiter. Both out of the car to make the change and at least 10 minutes in repair without quick detach pin on the cover (that is fixed now). We resumed the chase and were a little aggressive in the rocks cutting a tire at about RM 55. We stopped and the co-driver (my son) exited to make the change. He became frantic and ran to the driver side to tell me the tire and jack (that held the tire down) were gone. The jack had loosened and allowed both to exit the vehicle somewhere after the belt change at RM 35. This too has been remedied already for the next race. Determined to finish and out of radio range from the Main Pit, we decided to continue on the flat. We tried to be cautious but could only average 35 mph with the flat and 50 mph on the pavement by the river. The Raceline wheel made some cool noises from high speed contact with the road and held up very well considering the abuse it took. Note that the Raceline rep gave us some new lug nuts for this race that allow for small lug hole wheels to have a 19mm head (and avoids the spline tool chaos in car and pits). This is a new product for them and it worked well to simplify the rim/lug nut dilemma. It was not fun to limp it in but was comical to see spectators pointing to the tire trying to get my attention…as if I was unaware of the situation. The Python was less exciting than I had hoped as we could not enjoy the jumps on three wheels.
We had radioed our situation to our pit crew (also their first race) and they were prepared. I was pleasantly surprised to see a whole family of Lonestar racers rushing to our pit when we arrived. At one point there were twelve people assisting which reassured me that we chose the right builder in Lonestar. A BIG thank you to Todd, Verle, Garrick and Tammy as well as the LSR teams who helped us get back in the race in short order. In the time it took to change co-drivers, they replaced the tire on RR and the spare, threw a spare jack in the car, cleaned visors and gave us a splash of water and fuel. It is a good thing they were fast as we posted a miserable first lap of 1 hour and 51 minutes (vs. leader at 1 hour 24 minutes). We had LOTS of ground to make up on lap two.
With Robert Johnston (team owner) now in as co-driver, we were determined to recoup some of our pride by running a fast/smooth/clean second lap. His experience in the #54 Peak Powersports/Geiser trophy truck was extremely valuable as he called out the turns from the GPS. We were much smoother and faster while less demanding on the car. We ran a trouble free lap and finished 9th in class with a second lap of 1 hour and 19 minutes. That is a little deceiving as lap two is a few miles shorter than lap one, etc, etc,…point being, we ran an average mph that put us competitive with the top five cars. Now we just have to figure out how to run their pace without durability issues. I suspect there are lots of fast teams out there but few who can do both...and the difference is experience. We do not expect it will come easy but we had a great time at the Parker 250 and anxious to try our luck at the next event.
Much appreciation goes to our sponsors – Peak Powersports, Southside Racing, Lonestar Racing, Western Power Sports, Sedona tires, Open Trail lighting, Wolf designs, Rugged Radios and Wasatch Trailers.
And a big thank you is in order for BITD as well. Lots of coordination required to make these events happen and it is done with relatively few issues. Good work Casey and crew!
See you all in Laughlin!
Decent first race with a few challenges but overall we were happy to finish and learn valuable lessons in this new form of racing for Peak Powersports.
Lonestar Racing finished our RZR Turbo build on Wednesday before Parker 250 and it went right to Wolf Design for graphics. We picked it up Thursday at 6PM and headed to Parker, AZ race site. Being a little nervous about zero miles on the new build, we found a dark road outside of town and unloaded to run the car a little. Five miles into it the cops arrived and flashed their lights as a warning. We loaded quickly and went to the hotel. So much for getting some seat time to build confidence!
Tech went well on Friday and we met a bunch new people both stopping at the Peak Powersports trailer for parts support and some just to say hello. We assisted a few racers with the Polaris Digital Wrench software which allows vehicle diagnostics, etc. We will have this same capability at all 2016 BITD races and are glad to help Polaris racers however we can.
Saturday morning went as planned with the last minute race nerves (and need to evacuate my bladder) not setting in until we pulled to the starting line. We started at the back of the turbo class of 19 cars which left two at a time / side by side in 30 second intervals. Being last and an odd number I let the starting line alone which was probably best for my first BITD race and first time in a long travel RZR. We felt out the car for the first five miles and were happy with the chassis and suspension set up from Lonestar Racing. The Sedona Rockabilly tires gripped well in the heavy wet sand and by the time we reached the sand wash we felt we were at a respectable speed and soon caught the #991 RZR XPT that started ahead of us. We chased him through the turns for a few miles but could not get around despite being heavy on the siren. Rocks were flying inside the cab and a 3” stone hit my co-driver. He complained about it hurting but since he was my son I told him to suck it up and keep on the siren. I later learned that the rock hit him in the chin and cracked his new helmet. So much for sympathetic father of the year award! It was not long before Cognito caught us (#1 starter in the non-turbo class which started 30 seconds behind us) and watched us fight to pass #991. He was more patient than his reputation suggested but after a few more corners of me not pushing #991 out of the way Cognito pull up on us and sounded the siren. We gladly pulled aside and waited for the lesson in nerfing from the master. Cognito gave the #991 a few more corners to respect the siren/request to step aside and then the War Hammer was put to use and #991 was “tapped” in a corner with deep whoops exiting. The RZR rodeo that followed was enough for us to pass #991 and we settled into pace with Cognito. I do not think the “tap” was excessive but was necessary to allow the faster cars to pass. We maintained our distance with Cognito from about RM 15 to RM35 where we blew a belt due to driver error – hard on the rev limiter. Both out of the car to make the change and at least 10 minutes in repair without quick detach pin on the cover (that is fixed now). We resumed the chase and were a little aggressive in the rocks cutting a tire at about RM 55. We stopped and the co-driver (my son) exited to make the change. He became frantic and ran to the driver side to tell me the tire and jack (that held the tire down) were gone. The jack had loosened and allowed both to exit the vehicle somewhere after the belt change at RM 35. This too has been remedied already for the next race. Determined to finish and out of radio range from the Main Pit, we decided to continue on the flat. We tried to be cautious but could only average 35 mph with the flat and 50 mph on the pavement by the river. The Raceline wheel made some cool noises from high speed contact with the road and held up very well considering the abuse it took. Note that the Raceline rep gave us some new lug nuts for this race that allow for small lug hole wheels to have a 19mm head (and avoids the spline tool chaos in car and pits). This is a new product for them and it worked well to simplify the rim/lug nut dilemma. It was not fun to limp it in but was comical to see spectators pointing to the tire trying to get my attention…as if I was unaware of the situation. The Python was less exciting than I had hoped as we could not enjoy the jumps on three wheels.
We had radioed our situation to our pit crew (also their first race) and they were prepared. I was pleasantly surprised to see a whole family of Lonestar racers rushing to our pit when we arrived. At one point there were twelve people assisting which reassured me that we chose the right builder in Lonestar. A BIG thank you to Todd, Verle, Garrick and Tammy as well as the LSR teams who helped us get back in the race in short order. In the time it took to change co-drivers, they replaced the tire on RR and the spare, threw a spare jack in the car, cleaned visors and gave us a splash of water and fuel. It is a good thing they were fast as we posted a miserable first lap of 1 hour and 51 minutes (vs. leader at 1 hour 24 minutes). We had LOTS of ground to make up on lap two.
With Robert Johnston (team owner) now in as co-driver, we were determined to recoup some of our pride by running a fast/smooth/clean second lap. His experience in the #54 Peak Powersports/Geiser trophy truck was extremely valuable as he called out the turns from the GPS. We were much smoother and faster while less demanding on the car. We ran a trouble free lap and finished 9th in class with a second lap of 1 hour and 19 minutes. That is a little deceiving as lap two is a few miles shorter than lap one, etc, etc,…point being, we ran an average mph that put us competitive with the top five cars. Now we just have to figure out how to run their pace without durability issues. I suspect there are lots of fast teams out there but few who can do both...and the difference is experience. We do not expect it will come easy but we had a great time at the Parker 250 and anxious to try our luck at the next event.
Much appreciation goes to our sponsors – Peak Powersports, Southside Racing, Lonestar Racing, Western Power Sports, Sedona tires, Open Trail lighting, Wolf designs, Rugged Radios and Wasatch Trailers.
And a big thank you is in order for BITD as well. Lots of coordination required to make these events happen and it is done with relatively few issues. Good work Casey and crew!
See you all in Laughlin!
