The 1st MX race weekend of the season is behind us and it was eventful! Even though we we’re not able to use our much anticipated modified machine because of technical issues, we worked all week in order to get our 12hrs of La Tuque winning Stock Wildcat X Limited ready for battle.
Again thanks to my long time mechanic Sebastien Lortie, without him the weekend would have been impossible!
So with the stock machine, we showed up for the race on the demanding MX track of RPM Raceway in St-Marcel, Quebec. This track boasts some of the biggest air we’ll encounter all season. We arrived on Saturday morning to race in the Open class to see where we were at in our settings. After the morning practice, we made some changes in suspension and geometry.
At the start of the first heat, we pulled the holeshot and pulled away during the heat to finish approx. 3/4 lap ahead of 2nd. Not 100% happy with the handling we made more adjustments for the 2nd heat. At the start of the heat, we pulled another holeshot and pulled away yet again from the field and with the handling close to where we wanted it, took the Win for the Open class. Awesome day for us and our 2014 Wildcat X Limited that, even though we were out powered, the sheer performance of the Elka Suspension shocks and the geometry of the suspension of the Arctic Cat – ATVs Wildcat made us pull away from the competition.
On Sunday was the Production 900-1000 class in which the other Factory Team drivers race in. This would be a greater challenge and we were content to get points towards the Championship. After a surprising practice session, we were ready for the first heat. At the start, as we anticipated fell back to 4th, but oddly after that we were the quickest SxS on the track. We passed one Canam driver and then the Polaris driver on the last corner of the race to finish 2nd!
Awesome result for a STOCK Wildcat X Limited! In the second heat, at the start we stuck behind the 1st place Canam and took 2nd, even though we were quicker in the technical parts of the track, he would pull away from us on the straights by more than 5 lengths. At that point, I took the decision I would jump two of the doubles (not table tops) that no one was jumping and stay with him. It worked, I put pressure on him for the complete race, but in the end, was a few feet behind….can’t wait for our fully prepped machine!
At the end of the day we dazzled the announcers that were going nuts and the crowd was completely pro-Arctic Cat at the end of the race!
With several onlookers coming to see me at the end of the race telling us that we made them live something special…..No doubt the Elka Suspension shocks, Evolution Powersports rear radius arms and Wildcat suspension geometry were determining factors in this great result!
