CORR1 and I made the 9hr haul to Mesquite for the AZOP Desert Showdown Off-Road challenge.
![Land vehicle Vehicle Car Motor vehicle Off-road racing]()
This would be CORR1's first race in the YXZ while 2nd for me. We came prepared with Raceline wheels, Airisun 28" tires, Re-sprung and re-valved shocks courtesy of Shock Therapy plus CORR1 had a brand new DASA full exhaust and ECU flash.
The course consisted of a pretty nice MX track, a "pumpkin patch field" then out into the desert for some fresh cut course and some high speed runs.
Practice on Saturday afternoon gave us a real taste of what we were in for on Sunday. We were going to be hurting! The bikes and Quad's had rutted up the track some though worse was the short and deep sand whoops along this 10.5 mile course.
16 UTV's were on hand to race Sunday. One Teryx, 11 RZR's, 1 CanAm and 3 YXZ's. Of this group there were 11 in the non-turbo 1000 class. There was a mostly stock 4-seat XP1K and a couple of highly modded XP1K's.
The start would be in 30 second offsets with me in 11th and CORR1 14th. Our starts and initial track time were uneventful with the exception of a whoop section on the track that proved too much for these shorter wheelbase UTV's. Only the $60k RZR's made them look tolerable along with the 4 seat RZR. Out on the pumpkin patch where we flat-tracked it around the course, we felt much more at home. The 60mph asphalt run out to the desert was quick and brought us into the fun first half of the desert course. Corner ruts were skid plate deep and the silt became deeper with every lap, still we were having a blast. The deep whoop section as evidenced in the video was painfully slow going, 18mph is what I clocked one time as compared to 40-74mph elsewhere. The faster sections were a blast and they quickly brought us back onto the track where steep descents and climbs leveled out onto the normal gap jumps, gravity cavitiy and tabletop jumps. CORR1 enjoyed the passing opportunity I offered when I endo'd off a gap jump, digging the bumper into the dirt. Oops, forgot that was a gap not a tabletop! He went on to show his jumping skills while I enjoyed hearing that DASA exhaust! (a side note, we heard the WR exhaust on another YXZ and both agreed the DASA has a slightly more desirable, for us, sound. I WANT ONE!) We ran 6 laps, 62+ miles and were happy to be done.
CORR1 took 3rd, I took 4th, both very respectable finishes considering a $40k RZR and the 4seater were 1st and 2nd.
Lessons learned? 1) Though we recently had Shock Therapy rework our suspension (review later) I sent mine back in for further work as I found it too stiff for the mix of recreational riding/racing I was doing. CORR1 kept his the original ST setup and found it too harsh for these racing conditions. There's a happy medium between our two setup's of which he's getting his set up this week. 2) That DASA exhaust is SICK! Even I could tell the performance gain with the pipe and reflash. (Fathers Day gift maybe?) 3) Shifting is soooo much fun! 4) The YXZ showed how reliable they are as compared to the competition. Five machines DNF'd due to belts, motors and tie rods. We had one torn CV boot and were able to load ours on the trailer under their own power. PRICELESS! The 3rd YXZ was a first time racer who happened to break a sway bar linkage on the pavement. He pulled out early because of that and noted he was getting beat up with only having Eibach spring kits and no valving. 5) These machines in their mostly stock form perform best on the track and moderate offroad racing. CORR1 is interested in Long travel while I'm going to be content with keeping it as stock as possible. 6) These are thirsty devils! About a 63 mile race mostly above 7000 RPM with 74mph runs. Two bars left on the gauge.
Next race is Memorial Day!
![All-terrain vehicle Vehicle Automotive exterior Off-road racing Bumper]()
This would be CORR1's first race in the YXZ while 2nd for me. We came prepared with Raceline wheels, Airisun 28" tires, Re-sprung and re-valved shocks courtesy of Shock Therapy plus CORR1 had a brand new DASA full exhaust and ECU flash.
The course consisted of a pretty nice MX track, a "pumpkin patch field" then out into the desert for some fresh cut course and some high speed runs.
Practice on Saturday afternoon gave us a real taste of what we were in for on Sunday. We were going to be hurting! The bikes and Quad's had rutted up the track some though worse was the short and deep sand whoops along this 10.5 mile course.
16 UTV's were on hand to race Sunday. One Teryx, 11 RZR's, 1 CanAm and 3 YXZ's. Of this group there were 11 in the non-turbo 1000 class. There was a mostly stock 4-seat XP1K and a couple of highly modded XP1K's.
The start would be in 30 second offsets with me in 11th and CORR1 14th. Our starts and initial track time were uneventful with the exception of a whoop section on the track that proved too much for these shorter wheelbase UTV's. Only the $60k RZR's made them look tolerable along with the 4 seat RZR. Out on the pumpkin patch where we flat-tracked it around the course, we felt much more at home. The 60mph asphalt run out to the desert was quick and brought us into the fun first half of the desert course. Corner ruts were skid plate deep and the silt became deeper with every lap, still we were having a blast. The deep whoop section as evidenced in the video was painfully slow going, 18mph is what I clocked one time as compared to 40-74mph elsewhere. The faster sections were a blast and they quickly brought us back onto the track where steep descents and climbs leveled out onto the normal gap jumps, gravity cavitiy and tabletop jumps. CORR1 enjoyed the passing opportunity I offered when I endo'd off a gap jump, digging the bumper into the dirt. Oops, forgot that was a gap not a tabletop! He went on to show his jumping skills while I enjoyed hearing that DASA exhaust! (a side note, we heard the WR exhaust on another YXZ and both agreed the DASA has a slightly more desirable, for us, sound. I WANT ONE!) We ran 6 laps, 62+ miles and were happy to be done.
CORR1 took 3rd, I took 4th, both very respectable finishes considering a $40k RZR and the 4seater were 1st and 2nd.
Lessons learned? 1) Though we recently had Shock Therapy rework our suspension (review later) I sent mine back in for further work as I found it too stiff for the mix of recreational riding/racing I was doing. CORR1 kept his the original ST setup and found it too harsh for these racing conditions. There's a happy medium between our two setup's of which he's getting his set up this week. 2) That DASA exhaust is SICK! Even I could tell the performance gain with the pipe and reflash. (Fathers Day gift maybe?) 3) Shifting is soooo much fun! 4) The YXZ showed how reliable they are as compared to the competition. Five machines DNF'd due to belts, motors and tie rods. We had one torn CV boot and were able to load ours on the trailer under their own power. PRICELESS! The 3rd YXZ was a first time racer who happened to break a sway bar linkage on the pavement. He pulled out early because of that and noted he was getting beat up with only having Eibach spring kits and no valving. 5) These machines in their mostly stock form perform best on the track and moderate offroad racing. CORR1 is interested in Long travel while I'm going to be content with keeping it as stock as possible. 6) These are thirsty devils! About a 63 mile race mostly above 7000 RPM with 74mph runs. Two bars left on the gauge.
Next race is Memorial Day!
