The alarm clock was set early for another mid winters motocross race day.  Half worn out from working a full day on track preparation yesterday, Bullet had to drag the bones out of bed and get them going again.  He hasn't raced MX for quite some time, and today, he was going to be catching up with a lot of old friends and seeing if he could still keep up.

ACUSA Park is a unique track that spreads across a deep valley in the Adelaide hills.  There are a lot of elevation changes in the track and John Rogers from JRE Earthmoving had re-shaped a few sections in his excellent preparation works.  New, there was now a very decent span, up hill double that was looked intimidating, but maybe close to makeable.  Most of the senior classes on the day were combined, and Bullet was running in 35+ Vets in the same grid as Clubman and Intermediate.

Race one.  The gates dropped, and Bullets front end was not ideally straight up into the air and he played that struggling game of not wanting to back off and give away any track position from his great launch.  But as he dropped the front end back to earth he was still better that mid field into the holeshot corner and the race was on.  A bad line in the third corner saw Bullets goggles blasted with mud. Great, no tear offs.  Bullet played hard to climb through the field to the tail of first place. 21 year old top Intermediate rider Nathan Watson.  These two have been used to duelling over the years and knew exactly how each other worked.  Bullet was just happy to be on Nathan's tail after a big break from the MX game.

Bullet was the only one hitting the new up hill double every time, sometimes clearing it with ease and other times were not so pretty.  Riding a DS450X MX gives great jumping confidence because they are by far the easiest quad to control in the air.  However, this fact does not make you superman.  The bottom corner run up to this jump was boggy and hard to get power to the ground.  Will power made up for a lot, but not everything.  Taking the longer outside line at the up hill double for an overtake into first place would be an ideal outcome.  But jumping up hill into the sun with a face full of mud added an element of difficulty to that ideal.  Bullets back end fell short.  His poor vision left him unknowingly slightly twisted in the air, Bullet bounced hard and then perpendicular to the track.  One tenth of a second later he'd finished his roll over and was immediately looking for his bike.  Once he dragged it out of the bank , it seemed everything was ok, minus one front brake lever.  It's funny how you can forget that as you approach the very next jump too.  And they say goldfish have 8 second memories. But all went pretty well and Bullet kept it on all 4 wheels and made up a few lost places for a second in class finish to Dave Newman.

Race two.  Thankfully there is a lot less to write about for this race.  Bullet replaced the front brake lever with a spare, and we were good to go.  With a reasonable start, Bullet worked through the field, getting other riders under brakes, and handling through corners to finish 1^st in class not far off young Nathan Watson.

Race three.  Pretty much the same performance, Bullet was not happy with a dominating class win and was chasing young Watson hard.  Bullet was flying better than Yamaha mounted Watson and doubling through the technical whoop section where Watson was not.  This is where Bullet planned his overtake.  Best plans went slightly wrong and Bullets front wheel landed on Watsons back wheel which in quad terms, 99% of the time means ‘crash'.  Luckily the two racers had established such a big lead on the rest of the field that quickly picking himself up again and rejoining the race meant Bullet did not lose a place and he finished a very comfortable first in class again.

Bullet earned a First place podium finish for the Vets 35+ class.

"I had an awesome day today (besides the 2 crashes).  I guess I'm so happy because I was worried that I'd be a lot more off the pace.  Pushing Watson around the track is great fun and good for both of us.  I'd like to congratulate all of the other South Australian racers on their racing today.  There was always plenty of fierce competition for the first part of the track. Top day." Bullet.

Thanks to my sponsors, BRP Australia, QuadSquad, Austraco, Sidchrome, CRC and 47industries.

It was raining on and off all week and I was wondering if the Tailem Bend Motorsport Park Supermoto / Quad Drift Recreational Ride Day was going to be a wet one.  Not that it's a real bother for us Quads, but  our 2 wheeled buddies who help make up the entrant numbers might not come out to play because staying up-right is a big challenge for them.  For Quads, it gets a lot slipperier in the wet but that just means slower speeds and a few more loop outs.  Some would say that equals more fun, and a big positive is a lot less tyre wear.

It turns out the weather leading up to the day probably did turn a few off but we still managed 12 riders and plenty of track time to go around.  Only 3 of us were on quads so that made our sessions pretty easy.  We tried a different track layout today and the Quads went out first to blow some water off the track.  Man it was slippery.  In the first lap I overcommitted to a few corners with changes in bitumen grade, and getting it wrong saw me pointing the opposite way a couple of times.

To their credit, all of the 2 wheeled types managed to stay up-right all day in the patchy, drying out conditions.  We had no rain all day and as the track dried out and my rear tyres wore down, I was gaining traction each session.  I was not running my favourite rear tyres, Austraco's Fury MX hard compound, but running out an old set of ITP SX's.  The ITP standard compound offers a lot of grip, and I much prefer the hard Fury's on a dry track any day.  The Fury's are easier to break traction in a straight line, and they offer more consistent traction right through to the widest angles too. That consistency means more predictable, bigger, cleaner drifts.

Straight from Finke, my DS450 played perfectly all day, and with the two other fellas on quads being good skilled drifters, we could swap lines and run pretty close all day.  John and I just touched tyres in one mid corner loop, but that's just all part of the hair raising fun.

These recreational ride days offer a great casual environment to hone some skills, and take the bike home clean.

Thanks to TBMP Manager Chris for turning out to see what we get up to, Bill, MrsB and John for Officialling the day.

I hope to see more Quads out at the next one.

Bullet

Finke 2011, Bullets 450 attack, and a technical comparison to the big 800 V-twins

For years, I have been wondering how Finke might play out if I rode a DS450 instead of one of Can-Ams awesome 800 V-twins.  There were obvious differences with the machine choice, some advantages, and some disadvantages either way.  I really had no idea what the end result would be unless I got a clean run at least one way on a 450, and in Finke, that is no guaranteed task.  After the event, every racer seems to have a long list of everything from near misses to complete disasters, even the guys who win.

2011 final quad set-up.

Standard 2010 DS450X MX with the following modifications. 12 degree Low Flexx Handlebars with Yellow compression elastomers (set loose). Precision steering Damper 1.5 clicks on Centre setting 4 clicks on Sides.  Caster reduced from factory setting to 2 adjusting shims in front.  Headlights removed and simplified reduced wiring loom.  Increased flow standard rear muffler, airbox lid removed and Pink wire cut.  Rear rims 9 inch rolled edge Fury's with 22-11x9 Fury Enduro tyres.  Standard front rims with 22 inch ITP GNCC tyres.  Standard rear shock revalved by QuadSquad, High and low speed compression settings full soft, Rebound medium to fast.  Standard front shocks High and Low speed compression settings full soft, fast rebound (12 clicks out).  Gearing standard 14/39.

Pro-log.

I thought Pro-log might be the easy bit on the 450X MX, but it turns out the 8km track was fairly clean and super fast.  I came second in the holeshot drag race to the more modified Suzuki lined up along side me, but I did not back off for the first corner and lead from there.  The DS handled the track as though it was way too easy and most riders would have felt wanting for more power for at least 80% of the simple Pro-log course. I can't help thinking that an Outlander or Renegade 800 V Twin would have wound out better at these top speeds and had the advantage over my standard engine DS on this track.  I passed the line with an elapsed 5:59, or 106^th out of 515 race entrants, which might be the highest result for the most standard 450cc quad.

Race day one, down to Finke.

The long open Pro-log track allowed me to get a reasonable feel for my DS's gearing.  I increased the rear sprocket size up from a race part 38 tooth steel sprocket, back to the standard 39 tooth alloy sprocket.  This would give me more rpm in top gear to hopefully push a higher top speed in the expected heavy damp sandy conditions.

Drag racing off the line with mainly 2 wheelers I did not expect to win the holeshot, but I came back strong in the corners and overtook most bikes before leaving the Pro-log track, out into the desert.  I get arm-pump early and it passes by the 20km marker as I start to find rhythm.  The light weight DS is quicker to brake and turn than the big V twins, but is not as smooth as the heavier 4x4 layout with the trailing arm IRS.  Meaning the DS is easier to throw around but not as comfortable.

Whilst it was rougher and more fatiguing, I still felt I could push the DS harder, all i missed was the 800's high speed pulling grunt out of corners.

My gearing proved perfect for the trip down into a light head wind, and I finished day one fairly clean in a respectable 2:54:34 which was equal or better than many other heavily modified quads. I say fairly clean because I carried a right hand rear puncture for the last 50km, which did not distract me too much.  For some reason, there were a lot of punctures going around in comparison to previous years.

Race Day two, returning to Alice.

I checked my Can-Am XPS oil in my 40 hour engine DS, and for a machine that had done a bit of training, Pro-log, and then was hammered to Finke for nearly 3 hours, it still looked near on perfectly new.  So it remained.  The standard air-cleaner had done a lot of work but was not excessively blocked, so it remained also.  I did not change the suspension settings at all, as I thought the standard KYB's were perfectly set on the way down.  I tightened the Centre steering damper setting from 2 clicks to 1.5 clicks in an attempt to further minimise handlebar shake and fatigue.  I now ran on very slightly smaller diameter 21 inch ITP GNCC rears for the return leg.

I was feeling really old in the heavy whoop sections in the first half of the return leg. But in between whoops, I could not believe how well the DS wound up and overtook 2 wheelers across the long straights. Even the standard DS450's engines love to work and put out at high rpm.

I ran stronger and stronger on the way home and was doing more and more overtaking as I got closer.  I climbed to 10^th place before an unexpected Limp home mode condition struck and knocked me back to ¼ throttle and mid engine revs.  I did not know what the condition was but decided to not stop and check, favouring continuing in the designed protection mode on my average 45 or 50kmh.  Stopping would cost me time, and persisting might be the lesser evil.  I lost 2 gained positions but rode through in 2:55:50 for a respectable 13^th in class finish out of 67 entrants, with a total time of 5 hours 50 minutes and 25 seconds.

My conclusion is a top 10 finish in Australias toughest desert races is easily possible for a near on ‘out of the box' DS450.  There are plenty of faster riders than me that could easily place higher than me.

The question I have been asked a hundred times, is... In the Finke Desert race, is the DS450 faster than the Can-Am 4x4 800 V-twins?

I would say No.  Or maybe barely a minute faster over 3 hours, depending on the conditions for each year.  So many other factors including rider preference and ability come into it also.  If race times were equal... I think it is fair to say that the 800's would be more thrilling to ride, they do it easier, they are more comfortable and less fatiguing.

393 out of 515 racers finished the Finke Desert Race this year.  Pick a Can-Am DS or 4x4 and be one of them next year.

Congratulations to my X Team mates and other Can-Ams racers who helped Can-Am dominate the top 10 for 2011.

Well done to Chad McKay for outright winning the quad class.

Thanks to all of the ‘3 Tors' gang for looking after me at your super professional fuel stops.  You guys did an excellent job.

Thanks to my sponsors... BRP Australia.  Austraco for my Fury and ITP tyres.  Mick from 47industries for the usual most impressive Friday night scrutineering display, all the logistics and race support.  QuadSquad for your industry leading suspension tuning work and advice, and Flexx Handlebars.  CRC and Sidchrome.

Bullet #912

It's not very often that Bullet drags the DS450X MX out for an Endurance race.  Normally he is quite comfortable out there on his 800 Outlander which offers the smooth ride of a V8 lounge chair in the roughest of conditions.  To get some of that back into the DS, Bullet threw some bigger 22 inch ITP GNCC's on up front, and some 22 inch Fury Enduro's on the rear, softened the suspension settings and headed into the 3 hour race.

Rumours were the QRASA Bushy's Enduro was going to be rough.  And Bullet was entering Ironman too.  With some tough competition it was not going to be an easy 4 or 5 laps of the 24km course.

Out of 25 pegs to draw for the start, Bullet drew number 9 for the 1 minute apart starting order.  Oddly 4 of his toughest Ironman competitors were in front of him.  This was a good picture.  If you can chase down fast guys in-front, you know you are doing well.

Into the first lap, Bullet was overtaking other riders and the DS was performing exceptionally well in it's set up for rough, sandy terrain.  He missed a couple of very sharp corners under heavy brakes which cost a few second here and there but his outright pace was good enough to keep him climbing through the field.  His first fuel stop was after the 2 lap, and after starting 7 minutes behind Nathan Watson, Bullet was apparently now only 5 minutes behind, which probably put him in first pace.  By the 4^th lap Bullet was slowing down. The harsh conditions were taking their toll on all of the riders.  Thinking he was on his last lap for the 3 hour race... at check in, he got the word to "go again, 3 hours not over".

"At that point I could have died.  I just spent everything I had hammering out the last 5kms to what I thought was the end of the race" Bullet said.

Only 3 competitors were fast enough to get that 5^th lap in, and Bullet knew he had to fight to keep the pace up to get near the win.  The racing for those guys looked painful and although they were too far apart to see each other on the track, it was going to be close.

Bullet 2^nd place Ironman.

Well done to my Can-Am X Team mates who took home trophies in other classes.

Thanks to Trent Deboo for the Refuel and pit support.

Thanks to my sponsors;

BRP Australia Can-Am,  QuadSquad,  Austraco,  CRC,  and  47industries.

Bullet

Kamfari was celebrating its 40th Anniversary at Howard Springs on a perfect Northern Territory Sunday and half the town came out to watch. Organisers waited until the last minute for a big wet season to subside before marking out the separate 2 wheeler and Quad race tracks only days before the event. They did an awesome job of the mark out and the racers were in for a wet one.

Kamfari is an easy race so you don't need much preparation. Fitness wise... as long you can swim through a swamp, dragging a quad in full motocross gear, and you can completely lift an Outlander by yourself... you'll be fine. As far as the quad goes, it needs to be submarine capable, but to some point the mandatory huge mud tyres you've fitted will help it float anyway.

Austraco hooked me up with some 28 inch ITP Mudlite XL's for the event. 10's on the front and 12's on the rear. They proved to be an excellent tyre for the job. Running 4.5psi I had zero flats and I found they threw water out flat at high speeds and aquaplaned really well. They also did an awesome job of driving and keeping momentum in bottomless mud. High speed straight line was fast and smooth, but as with any mud tyre the high speed hardpack cornering is not the prettiest compared to a normal sports tyre.

Bullet and Lawson were joined by rookie ring in X Team rider Adrian Hermsen. Martin Stone brought the 2 Outlander 800X XC's up from Thumbpump and the local BRP dealer Territory Marine received the 3rd unit in a crate and helped us prepare the machines for a real swamp racing. We are lucky in Darwin because Steve Blair has got the best workshop you've ever seen and a top bunch of tradies that can throw anything together.

The race... A line of 38 quads racers were standing to the rear of their bikes waiting the Sheriffs Shot Gun Start. Bang. I jumped on board and missed the start button on the first stab. It only cost me a quad length off the line and after a dusty long start straight I found the field was pretty early on the brakes for the first corner, so I caught a heap and found myself in about 6th place. Around the corner, over an 18 inch log, through some damp black stuff and straight into the swamp.

There was crap flying everywhere as lots of positions change because there are so many different lines. I was in the top 5 battling through the scrub when Lawson hit something in front of me on the left hand side which threw his Outlander down on the right. I just missed his rolling body, crossed the track and found myself beached on a big stump only 20 metres later. You don't really need good brakes for Kamfari either. In 600mm grass a 500mm stump will pull you up very effectively, and they are surprisingly easy to find. I must have spent more than 5 minutes getting untangled from that one.

Maybe another 500m in to the 11km course, I was bogged passed the chassis in black pea soup due to poor line selection. I remember thinking how do the local boys get this stuff right all the time. Answer... they don't. 15 minutes later I was being lapped by the front runners while I was off the quad reefing and heaving away. A really good idea is to have a winch fitted to your quad. Although sometimes they don't help much either if you don't have a decent tree around.

Could it get any worse? Fortunately I got all of my bad luck out the way early and besides a few minor navigational issues in the swamp I was swimming like a crocodile. I found my rhythm and kept climbing up through the field. Man this race is tough on machines. I was passing dead, broken and upside down quads everywhere.

I was towing people out, they were helping me, the local lads lined the deep creeks to help racers through... it's a crazy fun race for everyone. I passed Mick@47 out playing ‘crocodile food' in the swamp with his camera and there were spectators everywhere.

I passed Adrian and Colin again, both repairing their machines to get back in the race. I think i was one of the only ones who did not go up-side-down. I came very close a couple of times, once at the finish check point river crossing and just managed to hold on to the big Can-Am. Colin did get going again and for a while there we were racing together before a tree jumped on him and took his quad out. I found him staggering back through the swamp on foot the next lap.

Before i knew it the checkered flag was out. I honestly thought i had another hour to go, but I was happy to idle through to the pits and wait on the results. There were disqualifications, dead bike recoveries, people still lost in the swamp and action everywhere.
Final result... It turns out that only 12 quads completed Kamfari this year. Even after my bad start lap, with 26 knocked out, I was still in the running. I managed to climb back to a respectable 6th place.

"Awesome event, awesome race. Thanks to Steve Blair, Ben and the boys from Territory Marine. The Stone family, Colin and Jane from Extreme Motorcycles, Mick@47 and my usual sponsors. BRP Australia, QuadSquad, Austraco CRC and 47industries"
Bullet.