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Race Tested: Kawasaki Teryx
Written by: Mark Mitchell   
02/15/2009
Charlotte, North Carolina
 
My machine was a totally stock, right off the showroom floor Kawasaki Teryx. (Photo: RACEDAY PIX) ยป More Photos

The stage was set and I was ready. A total of 54 UTV racers, the largest field ever assembled, had descended on Power Line Park in southern Ohio on a sunny autumn afternoon for the penultimate round of the 2008 Grand National Cross Country Series, the premier off-road racing series in the country. Of those 54 racers 19 of them were lined up next to me in the largest class of the day, the UTV Open Limited division. The rest were split between 4 other UTV classes all based on displacement and vehicle type, ie stock or modified.
As I looked down the line to size up my competition it slowly dawned on me that every other vehicle in my class was a Polaris Razor. I was the lone Kawasaki Teryx in the 701-850cc Open Limited class. Since it was a “limited” class the rules only allowed for minimal changes, specifically allowing modifications to tires, wheels, bumpers, skid plates, air box and exhaust. No suspension or internal motor modifications, including ignition and rev limiter, were allowed. My machine was a totally stock, right off the showroom floor Kawasaki Teryx so there would be no issues there. Oh yea, one more thing, the GNCC rules state that every UTV in the race must have a driver and a passenger to provide as one GNCC official put it “moral support”. I guess they don’t call this side-by-side racing for nothing…

We were told at the brief riders meeting that the race
would be one hour long over a twisting closed course just over two miles in length that consisted of approximately half open fields and half tight woods with plenty of hills, roots, rocks, dust and trees thrown in to keep things interesting. Typical GNCC fare.

I didn’t get to the staging area / start line as early as I had planned and subsequently found myself down toward the outside end of the line. This position didn’t look too bad though as the first turn was a simple bend to the left that led straight off up a large open hillside a couple of hundred yards to a fast sweeping right hander that disappeared over the ridge. That was all I could see and there was no sighting lap offered. I had a feeling this was going to be one crazy first lap.

Things started getting interesting way right off the bat. The first class off the line was the Open Modified class, we were set to go off in the second wave. The green flag dropped and the Open Mods roared away in a cloud of dust. Just about the time they reached the apex of turn one two of the vehicles tangled and rolled over, one flipping several times before coming to rest. My oldest daughter who had been recruited as the mandatory passenger looked at me and said, well actually she screamed, “I don’t want to do this Dad”. “Trust me” I said, “Everything will be ok”. I only hoped I was right.

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