Getting race sponsors

RACE SEASON OVER

With race season coming to an end now it becomes the time that you need to start figuring out what you want to do for next season. This means new ATV different type of quad to race, will it be a Honda, Yamaha, Can-An or will you stick with what you have. Will you be switching from a sport quad to utility or maybe even go to a side by side? Do you like your suspension set up or is that changing. One thing you really need to work on is race sponsors.

Why are sponsors so important?

Having race sponsors make a huge difference especially when it comes to building a quad from the ground up. The usual cost for top of the line products will be over 20,000, with sponsors I know someone who built one for close to 13,000. These are still very expensive, this is why you have sponsors. For starters it would be best to have someone to make you a race resume, which is similar to a resume for a job.

Starters for sponsors.

When you are new to racing you don’t really have a proven track record behind you of what people want to see. You have to remember it is a business proposal, this is you being sponsored to promote a certain business. They want someone to represent their company in a respective and professional manner. You will have to tell them what you can bring to the table. You have to give them the proper respect they deserve for being sponsored. You want to make sure in your pictures posted that you tag them, and give them proper praise. 

Follow this link for a little more detailed description.

http://www.atv.com/features/how-to-get-sponsors-for-atv-racing-2132.html

Iron Man Gncc

GNCC IRON MAN

The Iron man is a race were its you and machine no teams, your usual race is only 2 hours.This is one of the most popular races in the Gncc series. The race is hosted in Crawfordsville, Indiana. This race is a very special race to many people as it is known as the race for the cure. Everyone decks out their four wheelers, dirt bikes, and side by sides with as much pink as possible! Below is the Gncc Link, that will better explain this!

http://gnccracing.com/event/ironman

With this being October Breast Cancer awareness is Huge racer Zac Zakowski does a great job at promoting this, and helping donate a large amount of money every year to the foundation after the race. Here is the link that better describes all he does for the Foundation, and what he does to promote it himself. He has a really awesome pink utility quad, that is completely pinked out and looks sweet! 

http://www.atvriders.com/atvnews/zakowski-motorsports-2010-ironman-gncc-atv-breast-cancer.html

The ironman is a race that will really show you what it takes to really push your body. This Race does quite the damage to machines and people. The ironman Hill is the most famous part of the Ironman; this hill is known to take out many people. It is by far the most popular place for spectators to watch. If you aren’t into hill climbs I would recommend choosing an alternative route, that is less risky than the one involved. You will see how challenging this really is for people to do. Below is the link to the YouTube video of the 2015 iron man hill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itMO1LfPres

The importance of XC racing shocks

The different types of shocks

When it comes to racing XC on a quad you really rely on your suspension to take much of the blow for you, when you have a poor suspension set up your body takes the toll. With all of the options on the market it is very hard to decide what best will work for you. The first question you have to ask yourself is what is my budget? Do I want to buy a used set and rebuild them, or do i want to buy a brand new set. You have so many different options available to you on the market just a few of the big name ones are elka, axis and fox. From here you have to decided what style of shock do you want, air or spring; does the one you want fit with your current a-arm set up?

Difference between air and spring

You have two major different types currently the air and spring shock, once is based on your standard spring that compresses and rebound when you hit. The other type is a shock that is set by the amount of air you decide to base in the chambers. They are both completely different and each person has a different standard of what they want to run. When it comes to air shocks they are much easier to change the pressure to your preference because you have an air pump. When it comes to spring shocks you need a special wrench to adjust them.  Below are a couple different YouTube videos of the setup of air shock and spring shocks.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE-sLi2Dxo4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HnbtZQsI4A

What the pros ride-

Many of the pro riders have been switching to air shocks in the previous years, before that everyone was big into the axis spring shock.

How does FOX contribute to your success? My FOX shocks get me to the podium every race. They are so smooth and deliver great, consistent performance that without them I do not think I would be as fast as I am with them.- Quote from Chris Bithell an XC1 pro-rider; (Got from the ride fox website).  In the last year 5 championships were won on the fox shocks alone.

My preference

I ride elka shocks on my race quad, I like them because I was originally on stock suspension and it was a huge change. I haven’t really given the air shocks a chance, due to their price. The elkas have great rebound, and are set up perfectly thanks to Bart Thomas at Shock works.  

 http://www.atv.com/buyers-guide/2015-atv-and-utv-shocks-buyers-guide-2415.html

From the view of a racer

Race anxiety during the week.
When you're big into racing, looking forward to the weekend is like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning. You are beyond excited to get to the track and see all your friends, and just get out and ride. Everyone has their favorite track that they look forward to even more. Many times you arrive the night before, to camp and have fun.
Anxiety pulling into track
You pull into the race track and you start getting some major butterflies, seeing the track is like seeing your significant other for the first time. Within the first couple hours before the race its quite a hassle, you're running around. Getting last minute things around trying to make sure everything is perfect. Finally you pull you're quad up to the start line, and begin to wait the excitement grows.
Getting ready to roll
Right before you hear the national anthem, their is a lot of giving each other some grief. Talking a big game knowing anything can actually happen. You see the guy with the 10 second board pulled up, you're hands are on your helmet just waiting for the board to drop. As soon as it drops you try to get your quad started, you then begin the fight through the crowd. You're pushing for the holeshot and to be first into the woods You get into the first corner and begin to get your pace started. You have trees left and right, challenging crossing many lines to choose from.
During the race
From this point on your excitement continues to grow you have a lot of lines to choose from. You have to be strategic to make passes because you don't have a large number of good passing sections to choose from. You begin to choose if you want to push yourself to the pace of other riders. The first time through scoring you begin to see your position and what kind of pace you need to set. Sometimes seeing your position isn't helpful because you ride out of your ability and begin to make mistakes that cost you more time.
Towards the end 
You continue with this for two hours, you have to battle fatigue, trees, ruts, arm pump anything else that is  possible. You start to come up to the finish line and beginning to push even harder. After you cross the line, you slowly pull up to your pits. You almost have to have someone else help you remove your race gear because of how exhausted you are. After a little while you begin to be yourself, you start to figure out everyone's positions congratulate each. After this you load up for the next round and you're excitement grows for next time.

Photo Credit to Kathy Bratz! She does such an amazing job for our local series, and the racers can't thank you enough!!

Competition vs Sportsmanship

Sportsmanship while racing

Sportsmanship is something you don't really think a lot of when it comes to racing. Sportsmanship usually is recognized in sports like baseball, basketball, football etc. How do you have sportsmanship while racing? You have it from when a rider is pulled of the track and just sitting there. You go by slow down and ask if they are all right. You will usually get a thumbs up or a wave telling you to keep going. Typically at the end of the race no matter how mad you are about the way it went you go an congratulate your friends.

You have the times when you see a rider thrown off or pinned below a four-wheeler. That's when you have to make a split second decision, do you stop and help or keep going? For many its a no brainier you see someone pinned and you stop. Then you have the racers who just keep going, the plaque means more to them.

• Iowa series

A few weekends a go in the local series i raced in, a guy was pinned under a utility four wheeler which are very heavy. You had three different riders stop and help get it off of him, you also had almost every single rider who went by ask if he was alright. The guy who was injured is a role model for many different riders and everyone was majorly concerned. When this was happening you had many different people take off and find help while a few stayed.

• Gncc

The second example we have comes from the GNCC series which is the national cross country racing series. This was truly amazing the senior 4x4 class was racing hard through the woods you had the leader see a rider pinned under a four wheeler. He stopped to help and the rest of his class followed right along. They all stopped and helped, from there they all continued back to their quads and started in the exact same order. That is amazing, below is the link to the video on facebook. This is an amazing act by some awesome guys great work! Way to be class Acts!https://www.facebook.com/kevin.perkins.9619934/videos/187215705052164/

Video credit goes to Kevin Perkins.

Prepping a race quad

• Day of race

During the day of racing you get muddy, hit a few trees usually and hopefully get your quad to the finish line. Once the day is over you are physically beat and washing your quad is the last thing on your mind for the day. After a couple of day you begin to get it washed, to properly wash it you need to take your plastics off. Scrub it with a cleaner of some kind and really get it as clean as you possibly can. The cleaner you have it the easier it will be to access any damage you have racked up from the weekend.

Usually the first task you have is to start looking over the quad, checking for any cracks to any of the parts. You want to make sure that nothing has any kind of damage because, the amount of power the quad puts out if anything was to break while you are riding it would be disastrous. If you find any broken parts you start making a list of everything you need to order. This kind of puts you on hold from starting to do repairs. You will usually have some choice words and throw a little bit of a fit because that means you have to put more money in.

• few days after the race

From here you follow up by checking your fluid levels and changing the oil. Typically anyone who rides hard for two hours or more will change the oil and filter every 2 hours. This will help keep your quad in top running condition. To do this you need three different socket sizes a 8mm, 10mm, and a 12mm. Once you have your oil draining you want to make sure and check for metal flakes. This will be in the filter, and make sure your oil isn't a milky color indicating coolant is mixing in. If you see more then just a few flakes of metal, you should start looking into it to avoid completely destroying your engine. Then you fill your oil back up to the recommended amount, their are so many different brands to choose from its more of a personal preference.

If you have any broken parts you are kind of at a stand still here until, your best friend the ups guy shows up later in the week. Once the parts arrive you get those put pack on and make sure everything is back tight. You will want a manual, so that way you have the bolts torqued to what is recommended from the experts. Once you have everything back in place you want to go ride it around for a few minutes to make sure everything is in place.

• race week

A few nights before the race you will want to go back out and check every single nut, bolt, and clamp on the ATV. This way you are fully confident that you will not have any bolts come loose, and that it is all put together properly. This will then bring you to race morning, when its the morning of the race you want to check the conditions, did it rain is it dry? This will help you determine how much tire pressure you should run. Make sure you have your quad full of gas, it would be the worst thing ever to run out of gas. Along with making sure the quad is all ready make sure you are well hydrated.

This is typically how i get my race quad ready to go in the mornings, and weeks leading to the next race. Hopefully this is helpful for some people who are new to racing. I have learned this from guys who have been racing for many years and it hasn't seemed to fail me yet.

Riding Along in Beacons field

Today we are going to get some post race reports of the racers who participated in Beacons field, Iowa over the weekend.

First up we have Kendall Cruse who supports the 712 number plate. He also is the co pilot during the razor race on Saturday night.

"Weekend Race Report: Great weekend in Beaconsfield, IA for the IATVHSS race. The BruKru RZR driver Ben Brubaker drove a very aggressive race on one of the most fun tracks of the year taking 5th after a great battle with the Hayes team. The 712 Honda ran fantastic today after getting serviced by Van Wall Powersports and C&D Racing. The track had some great challenges and plenty of action all around. My start today on the 712 Honda definitely wasn't my best and it took about 2 laps to get settled in, but once I did, it was smooth sailing with some great battles throughout the entire 2 hours. My only bad note was tagging a tree on the last lap while I was trying to gain ground on the 2 riders ahead of me. Even with that, I still tied my best finish of the year and had an absolute blast. Looking forward to the season finale at Carlisle, IA before the long off season. Special thanks goes out to Van Wall Powersports, Inside Out Chiropractic, Kounter Kulture Studios, Penas Farms, BratzSnapz, Buy and Rent Boji, QXCG, my girlfriend, and my family. I couldn't do it without you!!"- Kendall Cruse

Thank you Kendall for allowing me to use your Race report!

Nice work out there this weekend! Get the quad ready for the final round of the season!

Racing vs competition

When you think of racing you only think of it as a competition. You have a winner and a loser. You only see the surface, but you don't see the rest. You really have to see it first hand, or just be apart of it to really understand the craziness. Its not just your Biological Family, that's your family.

When it comes to race weekend you get more excited to see your friends who are your competition, then for the race itself. The racing part is basically an added bonus. Whenever anything goes wrong, from a wreck to needing parts. This form of a "Family" is always going to pitch in and help you out. They want to see you finish the race just as much as you want to. Even if it means you might of beat them this time.

This family takes going out of their way to help you out to a whole new level. You're truck breaks down someone will make sure you and your trailer get home. Even if that means they go 4 hours out of their way. Racing is just the fun added bonus to the weekends.

The competition is of course heated and sometimes a little extreme. Even with that you maybe mad on the track but at the end you congratulate each other and move on.

Photo Credit to Jenny Roach, Thank you for taking Pictures at the Races we all Appreciate it!