I was given an opportunity to attend the beatercross event at ERX while I was wondering what it would be like I decided Id show up and just have a good time. I showed up and found the event coordinator Katie and she got me all set to race just in time for me to go out for my hot laps (I showed up late) I got strapped in and headed out to the track , butterflies floating in my stomache I went out and used the first lap to get a feel for the track then the second lap to dig into it deeper and try to quickly find lines that I thought would work and I quickly realized that the guys I was out there with were pretty serious about this. I went back to the pits Jeremy (Houle) made some suggestions on setup and we got the utv dialed in and ready for the heats.
My heats came up and it was a open start , no gate, no rubber band just lined up like a snocross race waiting for the flag, I was pretty nervous but ended up in 2nd both heats heading to the main very confident in my setup as I had scored 2nd in both heats. They caught me asleep at the wheel in my main and got a poor start, I ended up 4th out of the hole where I would make a quick pass into 3rd and remain there the rest of the race, the two racers in front of me had some different/faster lines then I had but in the rough sections and the whoops I caught them every lap but wasn’t able to make a pass in the corner. Overall the experience at ERX was amazing , they have a great staff and just as good facility if anyone ever gets a chance to race or even go out and watch I highly recommend it! They showed this Iowa guy a heck of a time, needless to say the 25th of July I will be attending the round 4 of their Beatercross events again in the UTV open class.
Overall I was amazed at how my Wildcat X swallowed up the bumps and jumps of the course , I was able to flat foot it across the whoops just fine and once I learned my throttle control I was able to pitch the UTV just the way I needed it for a smooth landing to charge into the next obstacle, the stock suspension is very good and I cannot wait to see what my Elka shocks will do for me. Speedwerx had clutched my machine , created a fuel map and tossed on their L2 competition exhaust and it was spot on , lots of power where I needed it and it was usable power compared to the stock setup that seemed more sporadic these guys have the hottest setup out there for the wildcat! The biggest thing I think I fought was the learning curve of driving as I am very green to this, where the guys that had out drove me were much more experienced watching the go pro videos I had helped me to look at my strengths and weaknesses and gave me the knowledge as to where I need to focus on improving.
I plan on racing the next event at ERX motorpark in their beatercross event in UTV open , then with any luck I can race the GBC Heartland challenge as well as any of the remaining iowa atv hare scramble series races (iatvhss.com)
My sponsors are : Storm lake Honda and Arctic Cat , Speedwerx, Twenty 7 promotions, Elka suspension, Twice production graphics , Team Autodrive inc. , Autismmx.org, Upper Iowa tool and die and innovations, Iflyphotography.com , and special thanks to Jeff Zak and Jeremy Houle for helping me get my Wildcat setup for the first trip of many I’m sure to ERX.
-Alex Fortune #46