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ATVA
High Lifter
ATV Mud Nationals
Mud Creek OffRoad Park
March 29 - April 2 2006
By: Austin Wilson
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Lifter
ATV Mud Nationals - Links |
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The 2006 High Lifter ATV Mud Nationals are once again held in East Texas at Mud Creek Off-road Park for 5 days of mud fun. This event attracts ATV enthusiasts from around the world to participate in the weeks events. Last years event received 6,500 people in attendance to the event. I was told that their goal of having 10,000 people in attendance at this year’s event was reached. There is a constant flow of people in and out of the park for the events. The combination of good weather, thousands of riding acres, and rowdy ATV fans makes this year’s event a huge success.
Muddy Creek Off-road Park is located in Jacksonville, TX. It is 3000 acres of beautiful riding trails that include some of the deepest mud found in Texas. The facilities includes showers, indoor bathrooms, concessions, camping areas, RV hookups and a area set up specifically for washing your ATV. The rolling hills landscape is covered with towering pine trees. Muddy Creek is also host to ATVCCS and TCCRA racing series. Muddy Creek is a ATV riding paradise for all skill levels of rider.
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Thousands of cheering fans kept the riders fighting
for traction through the mud |
Event Summary-
There is 8 events to compete in during the Mud Nationals. Events on Thursday are ATV sled pulling, poker run, and Bad 2 The Bone competitions. Sled pulling puts the ATVs pulling power to the test. Riders must attempt to pull the most weight piled onto sleds with their ATVs. The Bad 2 The Bone contest is to see who built the biggest and baddest ATVs for this years event. On Friday the Mudda-Cross and Team Mud runs are held. Mudda-Cross is a event testing the deep water riding skills of the riders. It is set up on a oval course with humps and holes covered with one to four feet of water. The Team Mud runs are made up of teams of 2 riders that race a cross country endurance course. A Easter egg hunt is held for the kids at the end of the day. The last day of organized competition is on Saturday with the very popular SuperTrapp Mud Bog, Mud Chic Shootout, and Kiddies Bog. The SupperTrapp Mud Bog brought out the biggest and baddest quads to line up 6 riders deep and race to the other end of a mud pit. Some "wild and dirty" women came from all around the country to take their turn at racing across the mud pit. Parallel to the SuperTrapp mud pit was a smaller pit for the Kiddies Bog racing. This was the first year for the Mud Nationals to host a event for the younger riders.
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The
mud pit was a true test of machine and pilot because
one false move could spell disaster by flipping
your ATV |
GNCC
Utility Racing Legend, Mike Penland was in attendance
to watch some of the most intense mud racing.
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Event Highlight-
The SuperTrapp Mud Bogs big cash prizes brings out crazy machines to compete against each other. The riders go through a mud pit that stock ATVs would suffer a for sure engine failure from flooding their machines with water. The mud pit is three to four feet deep in some spots causing many off the ATVs to float if they are not equipped with elaborate snorkels and lift kits. These deep waters cause many riders to overturn their ATVs and end the race for them. The Warn Winch Official truck is then in charge of pulling the swamped ATV from the mud pit. The highly modified machines have no problem getting through the deep waters. The racers go charging hard through the pit often colliding with each other thought the run fighting for position. Mike Walker has no problem in the mud with his ATV outfitted with tractor tires. He falls short to another rider with steel wheels mounted onto his machine in the final heat race of the Open class.
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The
Mud Nationals isn't just reserved for men as there
are some dedicated women that aren't afraid of
the mud.
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The Mud Chic Shootout has a lot of close wheel banging action thought the races. These mud women plow their way through the deep waters in hopes of winning the cash prizes. Now four time winner Ava Rice works her way to a victory in the SRA (Single Rear Axle) Women’s class, but has mechanical problems in the Open Women’s class that ruins her chance of placing first in that event.
The addition of the Kiddies Bog brought youngsters out to prove that they can handle the mud as good as any of the big guys. This is a great event that I really enjoyed watching. All the families worked together to get their child to the checkered flag first. There is multiple heat races that narrowed down the racers to the fastest of the bunch. Some of the Mud Chics that competed in the women’s class races where cheering on their own children as they raced through the muddy waters.
Final Thought-
I was very impressed with the event. It was nothing like what I expected it to be. It is not just a bunch of red necks out drinking the day away on the trails (but don’t worry there was plenty of those also). The racers of the event showed a professionalism that you would expect to see out of a professional factory backed MX team. The only issue of the event that disturbed me is the massive amount of trail riders that were not wearing helmets while riding. It is sad that they choose to jeopardize such a prominent events future with such careless acts. I hope that next year the promoters of the event try to enforce riders to wear the proper safety equipment. I look forward to next years events, maybe I can throw a leg over some of these highly modified machines to take my run at the SuperTrapp mud pit.
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A wave of mud covers the riders as they dive into
the pit at the start of the race with a race to
the finish line on the other side of the mud pit. |
This ATV was mounted with steel wheels. This proved to be the best set up as he rocketed to the finish line before anyone else in the Open class.
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HighLifter
ATV Mud Nationals - Video Clip |
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By: Austin Wilson |
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