The Fines Double Racing/ Arctic Cat Factory Team just returned home from a ten-day adventure in Baja Mexico, which included a win at the SCORE Baja 1000. In fact, the team swept the entire series this year, never settling for second place at either the Baja 250 or Baja 500. On December 5th, the team will claim the first ever utility ATV class championship award at the SCORE International Off-Road Racing Series awards banquet at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.
The FDR team rides an Arctic Cat Thundercat 1000 H2, a 700 plus-pound, mammoth-sized, 4x4 ATV that comes stock with a 950cc V-twin engine. The FDR Thundercat is slightly modified for high-speed desert racing. Arctic Cat utilizes a lot of the information it gathers from the FDR Baja effort, which translates into its development of better stock production machines, especially in the areas of performance handling and all-around durability.
This team takes a lot of pride in the fact that it has never conceded to any long distance racecourse. "These machines have been put through the ringer! Each of our Thundercat ATVs has several thousand race miles stacked up on the odometer," says team captain Reid Rutherford. "This 2009 Baja 1000 win completes 13 finishes in a row between Nevada's Best In The Desert series and the SCORE Off-road series. This is our 9th finish in a row down in Baja!" When it comes to competing in these types of long distance races, those that have been there will tell you that a record like that of the FDR Team is unheard of. "Our entire team worked very hard to get to this point, and we're stoked that we swept the entire 2009 series," exclaimed Rutherford.
FDR team racer Benn Vernadakis had this to say about the team's victory at the Baja 1000, "It wasn't an easy battle, you know? Just when we were beginning to think we might have the competition beat, we suffered an unavoidable crash in an effort to miss colliding with a race car that was rolling backwards and out of control down a hill. The whole ordeal bent a lower front A-arm, and we lost the race and back-up battery at the same time. This all happened at race-mile 472 near Mike's Sky Ranch, probably the most remote and inaccessible location on the entire racecourse. It cost us about seven hours of down time to find a legal way to get a fresh battery to the racer. We got it running though, and battled hard to get back in the lead. Aside from that, the Thundercat ran flawless, strong and cool all day. We never had a flat tire and we started and finished with the same drive belt!
Jason Wade and Jeff Henson, both veteran Baja racers, were enlisted by the team to fill in the big shoes of FDR team racer Tony Valero, who regretfully wasn?t able to attend the Baja 1000 due to unyielding personal reasons. Henson, who is also a powersports photo journalist, had this to say about his first race with the team. "I would bet big money that there is no other ATV team out here that has the race support system that Fines Double Racing has. They're also racing a machine that has proven it's up to any task. Arctic Cat has good reason to be proud. This team comes prepared for a war, and they never give up! Every member of this team is just as valuable as the next, whether it's a racer or a pit crew member. I consider it a very big honor to be asked to race with these guys."
The first class FDR chase/pit crew includes Phil Heck, Alex Waters, Jason Cook, Steve Rudd, Brent Falin, Merlin Ladd, Aaron, Chris Fisher, Ron and Tom Craft and ace mechanic Ryan "Rhino" Best.
Fines Double Racing/Arctic Cat Team Sponsors Include:
Fluidyne Powersports Radiators, Speedwerx, Rox Risers, Spyder Grips, Vision X, Planetmoto.com, Klim, Motion Pro, Elka, RTT Stabilizers, Greenball Tires, and Montrose Signs.
The Fines Double Team will continue racing with Arctic Cat for 2010. For more information and updates on the team's progress, check out the Fines Double Race Team website at www.finesdoubleracing.com.