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Ryan Piplic took the win and $10,000 in the SxS Race at the 2012 Fall Fuel Fest piloting his Polaris RZR XP 900 SxS
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Minneapolis, MN (9/28/2012) - I had mixed emotions about the Fall Fuel Festival held at the St. George MX
in St. George, Utah. I arrived at the track Friday morning and saw a great
mx track layout, then off in the distance there it was! The most grueling
Endurocross section I have seen in a long time! It had everything but the
kitchen sink thrown in as obstacles. It had huge concrete and plastic
culverts, big tires, large logs, cars, a log pyramid and water crossings.
All built with someone's crazy imagination.
Once I convinced myself I could make it through the Endurocross portion of the track I began walking the
offroad. The off road section had it all fast high speed sections, sand
washes, sand whoops and the two rock sections that had rocks the size of
beach balls everywhere with the occasional Volkswagen sized one. I knew my
Polaris RZR 900 XP was capable but it was going to get some abuse. With a
10,000 dollar purse up for grabs I said I'm going for it win or lose! The
race started at 1:30 with 20 SxS on the line split up into 3 different rows
at random selection I got a lucky draw to be on the front row. We had an
unusual dead engine start to kick off the 60 minute race.
The green flag dropped and my RZR started right up and I grabbed the hole
shot from the inside line and stayed out front until the second lap when I
broke my sway bar and second place made a pass on me on the mx track, in
the same corner the driver went wide and off the track, I went back into
the lead in the same corner. From there I stayed in the lead until the next
lap coming through the roughest Endurocross I got pressured from second
again but when we entered the plastic culvert section his front end broke
off so from there I had to play it smart and just finish the race. With 20
mins to go I came to some lap traffic and I couldn't get around in the rock
sections so I just had to be patient and wait until the two cars were un
stuck.
From there it was smooth sailing I was given the white flag and I
passed the pits and the pit board said "$$$" I knew I had to be smart and
roll everything. Shortly there after the worst thing that could happen
happened once I got to the long 1/2 mile straight away. I hit the gas and
broke my rear axle. My heart sank because I knew I couldn't make it thought
the rock sections without 4 wheel drive but I wasn't going to quit, so I
was going for broke.
I got to the first and second rock field and I tip
toed through it and magically made my way to the finish. I had forgotten I
had to go through the Endurocross one more time! I had made it this far I
wasn't going to quit now. I needed more momentum than any other lap because
I only had my front wheels pulling me through everything. Half way through
I started hearing a loud clunk from my front end thinking another axle was
going out I just stayed with it and next thing I new I was out and a few
more turns and I was 10,000 dollars richer! I crossed the finish line first
on corrected time. At that point I had to wait to see who would come next.
With a near heart attack on the last lap end I was exstatic to find out I
had won by two plus minutes.
I couldn't have done it without the help and
support of my family, Maxxis tires, Fox Shocks, DWT Wheels, and a big
thanks to Kenny at Tire Blocks for no flat tires. I couldn't have finished
without them!
