2005 6 Hours, Rausch Creek - Team Stories

[Admin]

I would like every team to share their experience from the race including any problems they might have run into throughout the day, and I can't wait to hear what you all have to say.

[jlhughes750]

#750 Team ATVRiders - 30plus class

We had a little surprise early, warming up the quad a few hours before the start and the water pump started leaking!!!! Heres when you have to love the atmosphere at the ATV races..I went looking for parts and found the seal I needed from Mike Lucas GNCC Pro AM racer. He had it at home and had his dad run it up. We quickly rebuilt the water pump and were back in business with time to spare. Thanks Mike you really saved our day, we owe you!

I started the race. the bike did not fire like it usually does, and I got off the line a few seconds late. I went for the right side along the fence and started trying to pass the B class riders......I saw a wall of mud, a few posts, and a bunch of track marking ribbon, saw a quad facing the wrong way and went around, then had to take both hands off to unwrap the ribbon from my bike!!! That was all before the first turn.......

By the end of the 2nd lap I was just out of the top 10 overall and leading our class, I think I got by Team RAB racing rider Chad Kirby during an option??? I got off the bike after completing 4 laps and handed off to Mark Carman.. I was told I was in the top 10 overall and leading the 30 plus class!!! Mark held his own, but Randy Brandt hopped on the RAB racing cannondale and chased Mark down to regain the lead. Our 3rd rider Dan Ketterer jumped on next and got us back up to within a few seconds of RAB.. Once we got the lead back I was up for my second turn.. I tried to let it all hang out as I suspected the other team (RAB) was having a problem, I put down some of my best laps of the race and pulled a decent gap....unfortunatly for my team, I pushed a lil to hard and got a flat right rear.... We had a jambing lugnut and turned a 20 seconds stop into a 1 minute stop!!! We hit the track again with the lead, but did not realize that another team (Dirtfirst had been keeping our pace the entire race, the were just back a few minutes.... Well the tire change did not help our cause.. We got passed for the lead and did not realize it until we sent someone to check out the board.....we held the lead or battled for it for what seemed to be 5 hours of the race!! With one hour to go we knew Dirt first was only a minute or so ahead but the fog was killing us. I noticed on the last ride that the subframe felt loose and the back was bottoming out real easy... Dan finished out the race and with the back half ready to fall of, we did not want to risk making a charge to catch the leaders!!!
After the race was finished I went over to inspect the loose rear end, thats when my teammate informed me he had rolled it earlier and thought he may have broken the frame!! He didn't want to tell me during the race!! probably a smart decision!

[Jamie@Cardiostack]

Cardio Stack A Team
jamie bougher
jim stack
todd rothermel

This is a good idea Harlan, nice Job! As far as our race it went pretty well except for a few minor things. I had problems getting the bike started on the line and was last to get going.. Stack just bought the bike the night before off of borich and the three of us never had a chance to ride it so i had problems starting it.. Once it got going it was good until the handlerbars fell down about a mile into the first lap when i was stuck in a bottleneck... I thought then it was going to be a long day.. I finally made it out to the pits about 1/2 to 3/4 of a lap down already.. We had a gameplan right from the beginning and we were going to switch and put a dry rider on after the first lap no matter what... Todd Rothermel was in the pits ready to go so i pulled up we tightened the bars and he was off.. the bars came loose again that lap so he pulled in and we had to remove the mounting bracket for the hid`s on the stem and replace a stripped bolt ... we also had some sputtering problems like everyone else so we drained airbox and cleaned filter and we were off again, now down a full lap or so..bike ran good from there on and we would pull in every two laps just to blow out radiator with the powerwasher.. then came the darkness where we were missing our best lights now and the bike overheated on todd in the woods where he was stuck for twenty minutes.. me and stack thought it was over but kept our hopes up and todd finally emerged from the woods after the bike cooled down... we blew out the radiator, gave the bike a minutes rest, then I hopped on and we just hammered down from there... in the last 2hrs we went from 19th to 6th overall and we wanted to go another six hours...

[kc 300EX]

I'd love to participate.....

I'm Casey Botbyl. I raced in the B class with my 2 cousins Greg Botbyl and Butch Pinand on Gregs Honda 450R.

Our other cousin PJ Pinand was our pit crew/mechanic. Gregs father, Glenn, showed up and surprised us and was a big help in the pits.

We showed up Friday afternoon and pitted our bus (yeah we came in a bus.... maybe you saw it, little red tart cart) in the dirt instead of the stones... thinking it would be better for sleeping on. That was the biggest mistake of the weekend....

Friday night it POURED. We all woke up floating.... except for Butch, cuz he slept on the ground, so he woke up under water. I was very thankful for my air mattress....

The race started before we knew it... we didn't come up with a team name until last minute. We have no sponsors, soo the team name came from the back of a propane bottle we had lying in camp. Hazardous. And the Hazardous Racing team was born.

Greg and Butch laughed at my orange rain suit friday night.. but both ended up wearing one for the race saturday. I started the race wearing mine, if you look at any of the pics I'm pretty easy to pick out. Cut out the sleaves for ventilation, worked great.

We ended up being the first quad lined up in the B class. It was a big advantage and I felt I got a great start on the 450 which started first kick no problems and took off like a bat outta hell.

I think I used all my tear offs before we even got to the woods.

The track was very muddy and I did all I could to hang on for one lap, after that I handed the quad off to Butch for laps 2 and 3. He said 2 laps took too much out of him so Greg did one and we rotated each lap for most of the race.

Our pit times were in the seconds so it didn't hurt us too bad.

They had to make changes to the track during the race b/c so many riders were getting stuck out there. Apparently after walking the track friday some riders complained the track was too easy (not I) so they added some crazy sections to make it more challenging..... Well these were the sections that ended up getting cut out (thank god) after the firt few laps because there was just so many people getting stuck there.

We fueled every 4 laps or so. Power washed the radiator every pit stop and had PJ reloading tear offs like it was his Job.

By the 3 1/2 hour mark I had given up on goggles all together. By that time a good line had formed in the track and the mud wasn't really an issue as long as you watched out for low hanging branches and other riders roost.

Nobody on my team turned in any amazing lap times, we were all in the 13-15 minute range, however nobody turned in any really high lap times either and that really helped us out.

We didn't suffer a single flat amazingly, our Razr 2's held up flawlessly, as did our Hipers... Well worth the investmest.

I got severe arm pump the first couple times out, but as the race went on and I stretched it got better and better as did my lap times.

I started doing 2 laps at a time which in turn gave Greg and Butch more time to rest which helped their lap times as well. We ran 7th in B for most of the beginning of the race but as time wore on we worked our way up to 3rd in B and thats where we finished, with a 13th overall.

The end of the race was very exciting. Our Trail Tech lights worked great on most of the track, EXCEPT in the fog where sight distance was very limited. We were all forced to run about 3rd gear in one of the fastest straights because we just couldn't see well enough.

We were very pleased, no mechanical failures other than a handguard falling off, and no injuries!!! (unlike last year when I was sent to the hospital in the ambulance with a broken collar bone and broken shoulder blade) ((We have the fence post I hit last year as a souvenir))

We got our plaques after they figured out the scoring and all shook hands and congratulated each other and talked about the race.

We couldnt really stay in camp because it was under water!!... soo we all had to strip down to our boxers and get into Glenn's leather seated Acura and go to a Hotel.

We all had a great time and are very sore now!!

We spent a good 2 hours power washing all of our stuff when we got home and we still aren't done.

All in all we had a blast and can't wait til next year.

team hreatv.com. A class. warren draper, tyson thomas, and lee dickerson. warren started the race on his yfz. we started out 10 th overall. the first lap. then warren stopped because he could nt see. then tyson got on. tyson took us up to 6th overall and 4 th in class. then i got on and we went to 2 nd in class 3rd overall. warren was next up and he held our spot. tyson was back out and we went to 1st in class and 2 nd overall. i went next and traci cecco got by me back on the hill climb. i got stuck on the first path. so i backed down and went up the second trail. on my 4 th lap i put a stick in my eye and it hurt like hell. so i stopped. at that time we were in 2 nd overall and 2nd in class. warren was out and held that spot. then tyson was up we were 3 min behind the leader traci . then tyson stopped on lap 19 the coil was cracked and acting up. so we fixed in about 15 min. we were still 2 nd in class and 3 rd overall after all that. so tyson went back out on a mission. but he did nt get far. the yfz blew a head gasket and we were done.with only 8 more laps to go. it sucked to walk over there to watch the score go down the chitter. but thats racing.so we finished 6 th in A class and 21 overall. the bike ran perfect the whole race till then. we had a good time and real happy to run up front for most of the race.

[cdrookie]

Team Lonestar ---> Ironman class
#17 Bryan Braughler


it was actually suppose to be Team Lonerider, but registration apparently couldn't read my chicken scratch...


anyways,
knowing i wasn't gonna win the race on the first lap, i decided to wait till everyone else left before i did. my plan was to spend hardly any time in the pits and keep a steady pace on the track. didn't take long to catch the tail end of the pack but at least i wasn't completely covered with mud. in fact, i went 3 hours before i needed to change my goggles!

i was feeling great at the half way point but as soon as it started getting dark(around 9) i started beating myself mentally. the trail tech lights i ordered 8-9 days before didn't show up and i was forced to use my stockers, which are worthless. i was cursing my spare set of goggles cause they kept fogging up, but after ditching them in favor of a pair of safety glasses, i realized the track was what was getting foggy. i stopped to check the race stats and they said i was 2nd in class and 24th overall and on the same lap as the guy in 1st. i tried to make ground on the next lap but i could literally out run my headlights in 1st gear.

on what i figured was gonna be my last lap, i pulled over to let some faster guys around but ended up getting stuck. i used all the strength i didn't know i had to get pointing back in the right direction. got back on the quad and tried starting it but it turned over 2-3 times then the battery had enough. after 5.5+ hours without a spit, sputter, or hiccup, the cannondales battery was dead and i had to get towed back.

still finished 2nd in class and 24th overall. i don't know who won the Ironman class but saw he finished 18th overall! you gotta respect that!!


a HUGE thanks goes out to Team Alba! Rick and the rest of his crew kept me fueled up, pressure washed, and even changed my roll off film. you'd have a hard time finding a nicer group of people. thanks guys and girls!

[lancems007]

Team TPC PowerCenter (Utility Expert)

I started the race and got a decent start. We walked the track the day before and I was really suprised to see that it had been changed pretty dramatically since I walked it. Needless to say, I slammed into a tree on a wet, off camber slippery section that I hadn't had a chance to walk and flew over the bars, landing directly on top off my head. When I finally got back to my feet and on the bike, I realized the bars were bent forward and to the left. So, I limped it back to the pits the best I could and it took us about 20 minutes to fix the problem. **Note to self for 12 hour** Organize Pit Crew**

George and Dave got on my King Quad and each rode three laps each without a hitch. We were feeling really confident. I got back on the bike and was turning a really smooth lap. When I got to the motocross section, I remember seeing Harlen there snapping pictures at this large table top. As I went over the table top past him, I felt something snap. As I got back on the gas, I realized it was the right rear axle. Since we are running a 2005 Suzuki King Quad 700, it has IRS. This was my second right rear axle I've snapped in the 380 miles I have on the quad**Note to self**Call Gorilla Axle**

I limped the quad back to the pits in 4WD, which works terrible with only one rear wheel turning, and told the guys what happened. They said to go out and try and run it in 3 wheel drive, which is actually like 1.5 wheel drive. I tried that for about 1 mile and I couldn't make it up the first steep hill. So, I headed back to the pits again. At this point we didn't have another axle on hand to change out, so I figured we were done. Then, our main pit guy Tom said, does anyone have a welder????? I did bring my 110 volt teeny tiny welder with me. So, we figured we'd give it a try. 45 minutes later, we had the axle out, welded, and back in the bike.

We opted to run it in 4 wheel drive the whole time in order to keep stress off the welded axle. Tom thought we'd be lucky to make a lap. It wasn't until 5 laps later that the axle finally broke again. At this point, there was only about an hour of the race left, and we were 5 laps down and mathematically we couldn't catch up to Penland.

About 5 minutes after we broke the axle for the 2nd time, Penland's quad blew up and was towed back to the pits.

So, we ruined a ton of stuff, but learned alot of lessons for the 12 hours of ATV America. I just hope it doesn't rain like that again!!!

[Admin]

These are some awesome stories and thanks for taking the time to share them with everyone, so 6 teams down, where are the other 40 teams stories?

Keep them coming

[SwainRacing]

#725 C&S Racing – IRONMAN Class

Hi my name is Todd Swain, and I started racing ATV’s this year. I have been competing in the GNCC series in the 35+ C Class, and have been improving every race. I thought this 6 hour race would even help me more for the GNCC races, so I decided to go IRONMAN.

I would like to thank all my crew members, Michele, Kirstie, Tyler, Ron S, Ron M, & Doug for the great job they did on all my pit stops. I could not have done this race with out them!

Also I would like to thank my main sponsor, Dave Crouse, for building me a GREAT Honda TRX 450R and supplying us with a home away from home.

We arrived Friday afternoon right behind the red bus. We also were going to pit over on the first pit area, until we got over there and saw that there was not much stone on the ground. I didn’t want to get stuck again like we did out in OH at the GNCC race. So we moved over to the second pit area just inside the entrance on the left. Got everything set up and took a break.

At around 5pm we took off walking the track. We took our time and finished walking it around 7:15. The track was to my liking, nice and wide and not to rocky. I knew it was going to be a fast track for everyone. I picked the lines I was going to take and checked for other routes in some spots where I thought it might bottleneck. We got a bite to eat and turned in for the night.

After it rained all night, I got up and started setting up our pit area. Then later in the afternoon, my pit crew started rolling in. We went over our pit strategy, but that went out the window on the first lap, due to goggles fogging up and all the MUD!

On the start, I took my time getting to the TRX and it took 2 kicks to fire. I think I was 3rd in to the first corner in my class. I took my time and learned the track. I pitted just about every lap to change goggles, gloves and spray the radiator off. I just paced my self and keep telling myself not to do anything stupid. You have to finish the race to win the race! After about the 3rd hour I asked my crew to see where I was at in my class and over all. The next lap I stopped and they told me I was in second place. I just kept my steady pace and a few laps when I pitted my crew asked me if I wanted to know what place I was in. I told them I didn’t want to know but they yelled that I was now in first place and moving up over all! I was very excited and it got me a little nervous. I kept saying to my self don’t do any thing stupid!

Around 8:30 I need to turn the lights on. So on my next pit we uncovered the lights. One of the MR16s was shattered but the other one worked. Then I tried the 8” light and it didn’t fire up! I though I was in trouble now, with only one lower light. When I got out to the MX track I tried the 8" light again and it fired up! WOW what a relief! I could now really see where I was going and picked up the pace.

I was feeling great until the last hour. This is when I started to tire out. At this time I was told I had at least a 2 lap lead over second place. So I took it easy in the fog section and some other of the slower sections, trying to get some strength back. Out on the MX track I was now rolling over the jumps I was doing earlier.

When I came around the last turn and saw the checked flag I was very happy to see it! Not that I couldn’t have done a few more laps, but it sure was nice to know I finished the race with out stalling the TRX once, hitting anything & not a single sputter.

I just want to say all you other IRONMEN out there, you see a lot of coverage out there about the team riders, the pros and they do deserve it, but for one rider to do this alone is a amazing task! My hats off to all of you!

Bryan Braughler, I just wanted to thank you for your comment on my over all finish! If you would not have gotten stuck, I know we would have been fighting to the end!

I would also like to thank the team that was pitted beside us for loaning me a set of their goggles near the end of the race!

Sorry for the long story. Thanks for putting on a great race, and I hope you replace the one that was to be in OH in Aug. I will defiantly be doing most of these next year, I am hooked!

[Derno24]

RAB Offroad/ C&D Racing

Team members Randy Brandt, Chad Kirby, and Ron Dernoski.

Well our story starts with our quad a Cannondale. Yep we have one of those. We have had some success already winning our class at the 6hr in Ga and finishing 3rd overall. We knew this race would not be as easy as there were alot more teams and there were several great teams in the 30+ class.

We felt extremely confident in our quad which was in great working condition. We took extra time taping off the whole front end so we didn't get alot of mud in the radiator. The race started out with Chad getting an excellent start and passing most of the line. We came around in 2nd place in our class right behind the ATVriders team. As Chad went by the quad sounded great. There were many machines sucking water and sputtering all over the track, but ours was ready for the elements. We switched positions with the ATVriders team for most of the first 3 hrs as it seemed our 2 teams would be battling it out for the rest of the race. Our lap times were very similar with neither team making mistakes out on the track.

Then it all started. Our water bottle blew the cap off and all of the coolant blew out of the bottle. After a 5min pit we had it corrected, but now we had changed our put strategy as we took time to clean the bottle and check it for each pit. We knew this hurt our chances of keeping up with the ATVriders team, but we figured there was alot of time left so we kept plugging along. After another pit we noticed the bottle was a little low so we topped it off again with another lengthy pit. The ATVriders team was slowly pulling away with about a 5 min lead. No our concern shifted to the rapidly closing Dirt First team. They were gaining with each lengthy pit. The amazig part was that we were still in the top ten overall even with about 15 extra mins wasted in the pits.

Our little problems kept killing us slowly. Instead of a major breakdown ending our day we kept getting nickle and dimed to death. Next our air filter became clogged due to the excessive pressure washing under the hood. Then our lights quit working on us in the middle of the lap. We thought we had it all licked as we entered the final hour still in the top ten and 3rd in the class. Chad went out and cranked off some good laps and turned it over to Randy with 50 mins to go. Chad got off saying the quad was running erratically so we figured we only had 50 mins to go so let's keep it going. The 4th place team was still 7mins behind, but on the same lap. Randy went out and normally would have passed the pit in abut 13mins in the dark, but no Randy. 15mins, 18mins, 20 mins. Now our concern was for Randy's safety hoping he didn't crash. Finally he pulled in on the white flag lap. 22mins had passed and the 4th place team was right behind us. Randy stopped and said the fuel filter was acting like it was clogged. After watching the 4th place team pass us we decided the time it would take to fix our problem would help us get our position back so we shut it down. We dropped into 4th place for the class and 16th overall.

Our Cannondale was still running at the end of the race. Along with Rookie's Dale I would say we would have done Cannondale proud if they were still in business. Oh well we will get them at the 12 hr!