Round 7
Terror and triumph

Rider: Jorge Cuartas

Location: Carolina Adventure World, Winnsboro, SC
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Each issue we've been approaching pro riders of every aspect in ATV racing to find out just a little more about them. We want to know more than just the basics, so we've slipped in a few surprises that they probably did not expect and thrown in a few that made them think outside of the box. This time we caught up with one of Can-Am's factory team riders, Jeremy Lawson. Here is your chance to find out a little more about the man than maybe you ever wanted to know.

A fond memory for me since I've been involved in the ATV industry has to be the start of the 2002 or 2003 ATV National MX Series season. I had never been to an ATV National MX race before and had always wanted to make the trek back East to see what it was all about. Being from Southern California, the only ATV racing scene I had experienced at that time consisted of local MX, short course and the Mickey Thompson-style stadium races that came through at the beginning of every year. While these races could prove exciting with the talent of our local pro racers, I was told the racing back East was a completely different experience altogether.

As an ATV enthusiast growing up, I remember walking through the pit areas at the Mickey Thompson race series wishing one day that I could be one of those racers. When I walk through the pro pit area of a World Off Road Championship Series (WORCS) race, I still have that bit of envy as I see the factory teams of Can-Am, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Polaris with their professional appearances. These pits are filled with everything a racer can dream of having when they're at the track and more, which is why being on one of these teams is the ultimate dream for many.

Think way back to the 1980s when Honda's almighty TRX250R pretty much dominated in the world of high-performance ATV competition. Depending on the year model, the 250R put out 26 to 28 horsepower to the rear wheel. In the 1990s, Honda then released the TRX400EX that put out 26 horsepower to the rear wheel. At that time it was imperative to start with motor work and then maybe later a little suspension work if you really wanted to be competitive in racing. But as time moved on and ATVs evolved, that theory has actually reversed places. Today, with most of the 450s being up around 50 horsepower with just bolt-on power mods, the power is at the point that the average rider will actually not do faster lap times with the extra power and speed. The fact is that even with all of this added power, the stock suspension without proper setup is not adequate for going fast for long periods of time, carrying speed and ultimately dropping lap times. But a properly dialed in suspension setup can actually unleash your quad's full potential, therefore making you more of a threat to your competition on the trails or at the track.

I generally consider myself fairly lucky to have traveled to the places I have and experienced the four-wheeled adventures that life has thrown my way over the years. I've ridden the lush mountains of Hawaii, carved through the massive sand bowls in California, explored West Virginia's rugged Hatfield-McCoy trails, sunk deep in East Texas mudholes and have literally been raised dodging trees and the occasional abandoned moonshine still in the thick technical wooded trails of Northern Georgia. In all honesty, I can't even remember half of the places that I've been fortunate enough to let loose my wheels. But one thing is for sure: It's difficult to forget those places that throw in an interesting twist to the overall adventure. Which brings us to my latest endeavor as an ATV adventurist, that being the Mines & Meadows ATV/RV Resort.

The weather on Friday was great, the sun was shining and it was warm, which is normal Yadkinville weather. On Saturday morning we all got weather we weren't expecting from Yadkinville. It was raining. Never in the history of racing at Yadkinville has it ever rained, so we all knew it was going to be an interesting day.

The second half of the season came all too quick. School had recently resumed for us and it seems like it is taking up a lot of our time. The GBC staff and I just attended the ATV and SxS Roundup at Brimstone in Tennessee the week before we went to New York for the GNCC season to start, so the week was a little hectic. My quad was not ready come time to load up so I went to the track a nervous mess. We got to the track around one in the afternoon on Friday. Immediately we started unloading and looking at my quad. It wasn't looking good. My quad was so low on compression it wouldn't start on it's own , meaning we had to bump start it. I had a big decision to make, race risking the engine, or don't race risking points. There was 15 minutes left in the youth race before I decided I couldn't sit out, so the day would be interesting.

If you missed out on the 2009 SxS & ATV Roundup in Huntsville, TN on September 4th through 7th, we would agree that you should never forgive yourself. First off, Brimstone Recreation where the event was held is probably one of the most incredible ride adventures that an ATV or SxS enthusiast could ever experience. With nearly 20,000 acres of off-road nestled in the remote mountains of Northeast Tennessee, located in the Heart of Appalachia and a community that loves off-roading, this place is literally heaven. Be sure to drop by their website at www.brimstonerecreation.com.

The Parts Unlimited OMA Nationals would imprint land in Festus, Missouri with the SIDI Mizzo XC. However the overall atv winner would not imprint the podium, Kyle Martin (Dirtworks Motorsports/Maxxis/Fly Gear/Scott/HMF) took his fourth consecutive OMA win. "It was a hot one, the bike held up real well. Dirtworks got my motor together real quick and I was able to have a good machine for this round. The downhill was very interesting. I come up on some lapped riders and they were a little scared of it. I was too coming down. I mean, there's no stopping. Where ever you were going, that's where you were going. I was kind of scared for them. I didn't know where they were going to end up. It was a little gnarly, but that's what makes it pretty fun. This event was a lot of fun. Up on the hilltops, with the rock ledges and stuff, that was gnarly." Martin led the pack eight laps through the virgin countryside and took the checkers three minutes over fellow OMA racer, John Pitts.

Check out Chris Borich and the Pro Class of the World Off-Road Championship Series lay it all out. Click link below:

While running in 3rd place Dustin Nelson blew a berm and landed in this pool of water. Robbie Mitchell and Derrick Sas showed true sportsmanship by pulling off the course to help him out.

It would end up to be a beautiful weekend for the very last ATV MX National of the year at Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch in Hurricane Mills Tennessee along with the expected blistering hot sun and ridiculous amounts of humidity that sucked your body dry of any moisture. As to be expected, the track was perfectly prepped and ready to take on yet another monumental weekend of racing. Suzuki's Dustin Wimmer walked into the event only literally needing one finish to wrap up the 2009 Championship. In practice, it seemed as if every Pro racer kept it in reserve as if they did not want to show their cards for what would come Sunday.

Motion Pro would present the OMA Nationals round 6 Spring Creek GP in Millville, Minnesota. The renowned track of the outdoor Spring Creek Motocross National owned and operated by former motorcycle off road Champion, John Martin. It would be Pro rookie Shane Gaunt (Gaunt Motorsports / Maxxis / Torc / Streamline Breaklines / Scott Goggles) who would take the holeshot and lead the first four laps until he would succumb to electrical failure.

Today is a sad day for America and the whole off-road community. CBS news recently ran a misleading and untruthful story titled "Yamaha's Rhino: For Some A Deadly Ride". Somehow, bloodthirsty ambulance chasing lawyers have convinced CBS news to run with a story filled with inaccurate, incomplete and false information. CBS tries to make the point that Yamaha's Rhino is an unsafe vehicle, but in every incident recorded by them, the driver was not following the safety rules by not wearing helmets, not buckling in, driving on pavement and driving beyond these peoples abilities and etc.

ATV Suspension has come a long ways in recent years with plethora of varieties on the market today, a person could be left with many question's. One company that has seen many of these changes over the years is Z-broz Racing based out of Logan, Utah.

On July 23rd the ATV racing community lost one of it's greats, Hoyt Penland who passed away in his sleep at his home in Rabun Gap Georgia. The cause of Hoyts death is still undetermined at this time. Hoyt is the son of Mike Penland, a multi-time champion in the GNCC racing series. Hoyt Penland himself also raced in the series as well as the BAJA 1000 alongside his father. As a factory Can-Am rider Hoyt had dreams of following in his father's footsteps and carrying on the Penland legacy in racing.

Every day there are advancements in the world. From breakthroughs in medicine, new styles and designs in the clothing industry and even the in the style and design of ATVs and UTVs. Every reputable manufacture is always searching for a new way to make their machine the best and most powerful to increase their sales and generate happy customers, and Polaris Industries is one of them. Normally companies take us to an area where we can put their machine of choice to the test and see how it handles. Well with the slew of new updates to both their ATV and UTV lineup, Polaris invited Thad and myself out to their corporate test facility in Wyoming, MN to ride the latest and greatest in the exact place they do their research for what works right.

Anyone who races shares one dream with all of their competitors, and that is to one day ride a factory race machine. Dustin Nelson is part of an elite group that is able to do this and get paid for it. Competing in both the ITP Quadcross and WORCS series, Nelson needs to have the best possible machine underneath him to be a contender. Yamaha supplies the machine while the rest of the work is done through his sponsors, and the final package is anything short of amazing.

Honda ATV's and Side-by-Side: Working hard and playing hard, Honda's line has it all from TRX90 to the Big Red

You might be surprised that as Editor of ATV Rider Magazine, I do not get the opportunity to test and ride every single model or project build that you see printed in our magazine or posted on our website. Aside from the fact that there is not enough time in the day, I actually appreciate the differing opinions from the members of our very talented team. When Yamaha unveiled the new and innovative YFZ-450R for the media to evaluate many months back, we sent out two of our very trusted and skilled riders to get the scoop on this new racer. The testing went down on the west coast in both a motocross and desert trails setting so that our testers could get feedback from a variety of types of riding. Both testers arrived back extremely excited about this new machine and delivered an incredible first ride report.

Last year, our dedicated staff hesitantly weeded out some dates from our already cluttered calendar to tackle a handful of long ventures to Southern states such as Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina to capture with our very own eyes (and the camera, of course) something quite adventurous and experimental for ourselves and mud ATV enthusiasts. Although mud racing is not at all a new sport (trust me when I say I've spent my share of time high-centered at the bottom of gnarly deep holes), the launch in 2008 of a new racing series, Championship Mud Racing, reintroduced mud racing in a new light. The promoters of this series stepped up mud racing to a whole new level by professionalizing it and developing it into the very first national mud racing series where racers traveled through various Southern states struggling and competing to earn points and a national championship crown. And before that inaugural season ever arrived at completion, CMR converted our skeptical staff and thousands of our readers into believers of this experiment, a newly legitimized and exciting national form of mud racing.

Each issue we've been approaching pro riders of every aspect in ATV racing to find out just a little more about them. We want to know more than just the basics, so we've bombarded them with questions they might hear every day and thrown in a few that made them think outside of the box. This time we caught up with one of the most recognized faces in mud racing, Dewayne Crowder of Team Gorilla Axle/Can-Am. Here is your chance to find out more about the man than maybe you ever wanted to know.