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Team Skat-Trak
Wins Third Straight Best in the Desert Pro Quad
Event
Greg Stuart and Nic Granlund win
the 2008 Bilek Racing Silver State “300”
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Greg Stuart flying
through the desert on his Skat-Track YFZ450
ATV
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Calimesa, CA (10/11/2008) - The
Best in the Desert - Bilek Racing Silver State 300
was held on Saturday, September 27. The race covered
close to 300 miles of desert in one single loop
starting in Alamo with the finish line 18 miles
north of Mesquite. 71 quads and motorcycles started
the race with the Skat-Trak team finishing at the
head of the pack among the fastest motorcycles.
With the next quad finishing more than 16 minutes
behind Stuart and Granlund, (12 min on corrected
time), the team brought home its third consecutive
Pro Quad win in the demanding “Best in the
Desert” series. This is a series where anywhere
from 25 to 40% of the entries do not finish and
earn the dreaded DNF notation on the results page.
Finishing three in a row by most measures, Is challenging
and a feat in its own right. Winning three events
in a row is rare.
Racers lined up at 6:30 AM with each motorcycle
or quad leaving the starting line in 30 second
to 1 minute intervals. Greg Stuart was
the second pro quad rider off the starting
line. The pro quads all held their positions by
the first pit. Greg suffered a flat tire and the
third rider off the line passed by while the Skat-Trak
crew changed a tire. The bad news is that Nic
left pit 1 in third place, the good news is that
this would be the only flat of the race as the
Maxxis tires would make it to the end. Leading
the race was the Greg Stuart flying through the
desert Q1 factory Honda team with Harold Goodman
riding ironman while teammate Wayne Matlock is
recovering from a recent crash. In second place
was the KTM team of Cody Mitchell and Shaun Moore
riding Q11.
Within the first few miles towards pit 2, Nic
was able to chase down Q11 and close the gap but
spent the next 20 miles in thick dust. The course
wound its way through Eastern Nevada and was complete
with hill climbs, whoop sections, silt, a few
technical sections, and some sections that were
fast and flat enough for a Rally Car. The course
veered approximately 7 miles before pit 2 and
a friendly crosswind allowed Nic to see well enough
open up the mighty quad and blow by the KTM team.
When Greg mounted the quad at pit 2, he was 3
minutes behind the lead quad. As Greg was working
his way to the next pit, the dust disappeared
behind Q1. When Greg approached Q1 he stopped
to make sure Harold was ok and discovered that
they had blown the motor. As Greg was navigating
his way toward the next pit, he hit deep silt
and was thrown over the bars but was still able
to retain the lead and hand the quad off to Nic
in first place.
Nic made his way through more deep silt and
up and over the mountains and thought he might
have heard something strange in the motor, but
he attributed it to either the altitude or his
ears popping. Nic continued to ride hard enough
to maintain the lead. At the next pit, Nic handed
the bike to Greg with a 5 minute lead. Greg also
inherited a clogged air filter, a loose heel guard
and the core of the pipe was broken and causing
the packing to plug the exhaust. One stop to remove
what was left of the heel guard and a second stop
to adjust the airbox ate up 3 ½ minutes
of the lead. The fast Q2 team of Scott and Sanchez
moved into second place. Greg realized his lead
time was cut by the repairs and put the hammer
down to give Nic almost a 9 minute lead at the
last exchange. In desert racing, there is a fine
line between speed and preserving equipment. Nic
finished the last 73 miles with the quad intact
and a 12 minute comfortable win.
The Pro Quad Division of the Best in the Desert
Series is coming down to the wire. The combination
of excellent equipment along with Stuart's and
Granlund’s speed and course sense has put
team Skat-Trak in the running for the series championship.
The custom quad built by Greg’s dad and
Skat-Trak founder, Ken Stuart or “Big K”,
and is built around a custom Laeger frame with
Fox Shox and is powered by a Honda 650cc motor
with motor work by Allen Knowles of CT Racing.
The Skat-Trak team are privateers, but they seemed
to have cracked the code in designing what might
be the best desert racing quad out there. “We
need to continue to trust that Big K has the quad
in top condition and that our pit crew will keep
us in the running and let us know where we are
in the race. As riders, it’s our job to
ride smart and to ride fast”, said Greg
Stuart. Only two more races are slated for 2008.
The Golden West US Championship on October 25
followed by the Henderson’s Fabtech Classic
on December 6. Nic Granlund stated, “We
are looking forward to finishing the season strong
and the last two races are on our home turf, so
we feel good about our chances to win the series.”
The Stuart/Granlund team sends it thanks to
Casey Folks, Bilek Racing, and all the volunteers
at Best in the Desert for putting on this race.
The following companies proudly sponsor Greg and
Nic - Scat-Trak, CT Racing, Fox Shox, Laeger,
Maxxis, Hinson, Fullbore, Dragon, WebCam, IMS,
Quad Tech, DWT, Torco, NGR, Fasst, Streamline,
Precision, Eibach Springs. Congrats to NGR race
team of Jared Olsen, Jeremy Olsen and Josh Rowley
for winning the amateur quad class. Special props
go out to NGR racer Mike Geiger for winning the
amateur Ironman quad class.
www.skat-trak.com
654 Avenue K
Calimesa, CA 92320
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