Wayne
Matlock Third at Lucas Oil Regional SxS / UTV
Round 3
Lucas Off-road
Regional Series - Round 3 - June 8, 2013
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Wayne Matlock finishes third at
Lucas Off-road Regional Round 3 in his Can-Am
Maverick 1000R X rs SxS |
El Centro, CA (6/20/2013) - This
last weekend's race marked the half way point in
the Lucas Oil Regional Series season. As far as
the championship goes the weekend was a success.
I was looking forward to the race because we had
made a few changes to the Maverick and I was anxious
to see what the difference was. From this round
to the last, I had Bob Bell from Precision Concepts
fine tune my new Elka shocks to get them a little
stiffer and get the ride height of the car a little
bit lower. He worked with PY at Elka to make this
happen and it was definitely a step in the right
direction. The other thing we made changes on was
the addition of the Alba Racing exhaust. I was definitely
happy with the way it turned out. They were able
to use the stock head pipe which was good because
it is double walled for heat and is also a pain
to get off. The new exhaust sounds cool and added
just over 5hp at the rear wheels.
After I went through tech, it was time to see
how the car worked out on the track and I was
not disappointed at all. We spent the majority
of practice dialing in the new shocks and hitting
the track. As the shocks started working better,
we started to find other weak points on the car.
With the shocks getting better I started to charge
harder into the rollers on the track and found
out that the stock tie rods did not like that
at all. Half way through my second practice session
I charged into the rollers hard and half way through
the car started to turn to the right. I pulled
back into the pits and sure enough I had bent
the right tie rod. So Bob and I got to work swapping
it out with a spare my buddy Steve Beilman had.
We got the new one on just in time to head out
for my third and final practice. Out on the track
the car was working good and my lap times were
better. I had a good battle with Nick Grunland
that reminded me of our quad racing days. When
practice was over I came back into the pits and
noticed that the car was pulling to the right
again. As I pulled up to my pit my suspicions
were confirmed by Bob looking at the front end
and shaking his head.
With the shocks getting better giving me the
ability to charge into stuff harder, I was running
out of tie rods. I called Derek Murray who has
a Can-AM racing team and has offered to help me
in the past. As it turns out his mechanic only
lives 15 minutes from Glenn Helen and had tie
rods at his house. What was even better is he
had one heavy duty tie rod. So I went and got
that from him, put it on the right side of my
car, and crossed my fingers.
On race day, Saturday morning, we made some changes
to the QSC clutch and I headed to staging to get
ready for qualifying. Out on the track I took
it easy for a couple of laps to get used to the
shock changes that Bob made just before I went
out. After a couple of laps I picked it up a little
and then I got comfortable with the car and tried
my best to lay down a good lap time without hurting
the car. When I pulled off the track I felt really
good about my last two laps and after looking
at the results, I was right. I qualified first
in the Unlimited UTV class.
Now all there was left to do was race. We waited
around for what seemed to be forever until it
was time to head over to staging. Once out on
the track it was all of the SR1s then the Unlimited
UTVs. When the green flag flew I got the jump
on a couple of SR1s and was looking good. I lead
the first lap and was starting to feel good until
one of the SR1s got out of control and cut across
the course forcing me to hit the brakes coming
onto the front straight-a-way and allowing someone
to get by me on the outside. I tried to get him
back but I had lost too much momentum and now
found myself in a heated battle with third place
Steve Beilman. I was able to hold him off but
was also trying to get first back and all the
while trying to dodge SR1s that couldn't seem
to hold a line. As I came into one of the turns
I had to check up and was hit from behind by Beilman
and it freaked me out because I am used to racing
in the desert on a quad and there is no bumping
because it will hurt you. So now I had my hands
full with first place and third place and squirrely
SR1s only to come into a turn and out of the corner
of my eye I see Dave Nagy flipping through the
air as he tried to pass everyone on the outside,
so I checked up again and one guess who did not
check up, Steve Beilman. I then realized that
I needed to get more aggressive and stop pussy
footing this thing like a quad at a desert race
afraid to trade a little paint. Shorty after that
we had a full course yellow because of Dave Nagy's
RZR freestyle moves. Just before the green flag
came out they black flagged Steve but he was unaware
because his spotter lost contact with the tower.
After the yellow it was on with Steve and I. He
managed to come up and show me a wheel and after
a little rubbing he got by. I was starting to
think I had the hang of this bumping thing. Steve
and I were flat out pinned coming into the first
set of rollers and there is a 180 degree turn
right after the last one. As he approached the
turn I noticed he was forced to go wide and I
was going to try and take him on the inside. Just
about that time he came inside and shut the door
on me. Well I figured it was a good time to try
out this bumping thing and opened that door back
up. Well I got him alright, probably a little
too hard and that forced my bumper down under
his and locked us together. He got on the gas
and his car hooked an immediate right looking
like I pushed him off the track. When he went
over the berm we became unhooked and I took off.
Unfortunately when we were hooked up fourth place
got by forcing me back to third. Even worse my
little stunt caused them to black flag me, forcing
me to pull in through the hot pits ending my run
for a first place finish.
All in all it was a good weekend because I was
racing with my family there and I am now in the
points lead for the Unlimited UTV class. Even
though the race could have turned out better,
it could have been worse.
I would like to thank Derek Murray for going
out of his way to track down parts for me. Bob
Bell from Precision Concepts for getting the car
working as good as it is. Bob has taken a huge
interest in this program and he will have this
Can Am where it needs to be for the next round.
Also a huge shot out to the guys over at Alba
Racing for not only a killer exhaust, but also
prepping my car and getting it ready to go. You
guys are top notch. I would like to thank all
of my family and friends that came out to support
me.
I also want to thank all of my other sponsors
for their help I could not do it without them:
Racer X/Black Rhino, Maxxis, Alba Racing, Elka,
Pro Armor, Precision Concepts, DWT, KZ Trailers,
Quad Shop Customs, Fly Racing, UNI, Tire Blocks,
Baja Designs, Motion Pro, CJ Norby Signs, Galfer,
IMS, Scott, Alpinestars, and Necksgen.
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