Wormhole Racing @ 2017 AZOP Touchdown GP

Race Report from Eric Harrison of Wormhole Racing

We headed down to Tucson for the AZOP Touchdown GP bright and early Saturday morning. We had wrapped up replacing shocks on the #139 and fixing up some damage from the last race Friday night and had the UTV’s loaded up waiting for us. As the big quads started Wormhole racing started getting ready to head to the start line. There was a lot of vehicles this race which was exciting. Always more fun to race with a group.

Wormholeracing_EricHarrison

As we waited to line up my co-driver took time to close his eyes and rest. The #130 was first in the 900cc class to line up. Vehicles were sent of 2 by 2 at 30 second intervals. Eric managed the hole shot barely and pulled away as we hit the first table. With the new Fox RC2 shocks I had the confidence to let the car fly. Back down the other side and into a very sharp 180 left I was able to slide it. The steering felt so precise after replacing the bent tie rods with beefier ones from RT Pro. That was the last time I would see the other 900’s. The course was a mix of motocross track and desert which provided a variety of hazards. The #139 found a large cactus shortly after the start when the person he was closing on slammed into a berm and forced Hal to take evasive action. The cholla left them another challenge, picking needles out.

The course was dusty and with the sun getting lower visibility became an issue. #130 kept closing in on someone, getting close enough a few times to see a light bar flashing in the think dust, but when it disappeared around a turn or dip we would have to let off from not being able to see. Eventually the Pro class caught up to #130 and made the dust that much worse. Things then started to go downhill. #130 wasn’t able to get over 40 mph and ended up going in a small loop 5 times before course workers were able to figure out where someone blew through the tape making it impossible to figure out where the course really was.

In the end we were able to pull out a 1st place podium in the #130 after putting enough distance over second place and limping around at 40 mph. Didn’t get to stand on the podium as we were recovering the #139 and pulling spines out of Hal and Tegan.