UTV Rally Raid Round 10 Race Report

UTV Rally Raid Round Ten (10) kicked off promptly at the posted start time of 3:15pm on Saturday, December 8th 2012. The race course was simply impeccable thanks to a few days of light rain and continued maintenance by Stony Lonesome’s track stewards. The temperature never climbed higher than 70, with overcast conditions starting the first few laps. As is the UTV Rally Raid formula, the racers set off in pairs at thirty (30) second intervals. The entire grid left the starting line without any problems and the race was underway.

The fast flowing sections of Stony Lonesome really came to life in Round 10. Drivers were able to negotiate the long straights and fast corners with ease. Round 10 was well represented. As the final round of the series, this was a double points race. There were real implications to championship table and every lap counted…

More so than any other round, drivers were pushing their pit strategies to the limit. At one point, the race leader (from the very start) ran out of gas and dropped down to 4th place. As is the spirit of UTV Rally Raid, during their pit-stop, two (2) competing teams loaded up extra fuel and delivered it to their fellow racer. Outstanding character and racer support from within the series community!!! Thanks you guys.

The much revered ‘hairpin’ proved to be a fantastic test of driver skill. Each driver negotiated the turn in a unique manner. At the end of a technical forest section, the hairpin signaled the start to the fast, flowing middle section of the race course.

Even more so than the previous round, the dust was at an all-time low and the drivers loved it! The track really began to settle in and the traction provid-ed by the damp conditions al-lowed the drivers to really test their cars.

Stony Lonesome’s track stewards were strategically positioned throughout the entire course and communications were rock solid with PCI Radio’s first class radio technology. Fortunately, the Race stewards had an easy afternoon with very few occasions where assistance was required.

The pictures above really drove home the theme for the final round of the 2012 season. All the teams were trying a hard as they can to complete as many laps as possible to earn the double points. In some cases, championship places could be determined by a few points/seconds over the 4hr rally.

The entire field took no prisoners during round 10. No vehicles reported any mechanical issues as a result of the race venue. Stony Lonesome made sure all large ruts were taken care of as well as removing large rocks from sections the course that could have been a problem.

As you can see from a small selection of the race-day photographs, the drivers were really going for win. The race finished right on time at approximately 7:30pm (after taking elapsed starting times into consideration).

Over the course of the 4hr Endurance race, the field managed to accumulate 368 total laps with the fastest team recording sixteen (16) total laps of the Stony Lonesome track.
The awards ceremony took place almost immediately and included the Championship Trophy Ceremony. Results were tabulated by the Timing Systems and the results were presented to the driv-ers.
The atmosphere between the competing teams was awesome. Big cheers and rounds of ap-plause erupted when the winners of the respective awards were announced. Congratulations to all the racers, pit crews and spectators for the fantastic atmosphere throughout the entire event. The UTVVRR community and sponsors make the event what it is!!!

The Top Three positions for each class are as follows:
Class one:
1st Team Edub Racing – Polaris RZR570
2nd H.O.R.S Racing – Yamaha Rhino
3rd Team GFR – Polaris 50″ STD RZR-

Class Two:
1st Team Buff – Polaris RZR570
2nd Team Blue Torch – Polaris RZR 800 S
3rd Team Basch Brothers Power Sports – Polaris RZR 800 S

Outlaw Class:
1st Team LCB Racing – Polaris RZR XP900
2nd Team Octain Racing – Polaris RZR XP900
3rd Team Tony’s Toys – Polaris RZR XP900

Fastest Lap of the Event:
Team LCB Racing -13m 39 seconds – RZR XP900

On this last race report of 2012 RT Pro would like to make a special mention to the guys that make UTVRR a reality. These are the folks who do all the hard work behind the scenes to make UTVRR a fun and competitive event we can all enjoy. We should all appreciate what they’ve put together for us! Thanks guys!