Back in the pits, one difference between bikes and quads was becoming noticeable: quads break more. The main reason for this is that the stock chassis are still not strong enough for repeated hard landings. I’m pretty light so I’m not that hard on equipment, even if I’m casing stuff, but some of my pit neighbors weren’t so lucky. One had to go home early after bending an axel and another would later break one of his shocks. Between the breakdowns, the need for modifications to be competitive, and the competitor’s willingness to help each other, the sport reminded a lot of how motorcycle racing used to be fifteen or twenty years ago. Before bike people complain about quads making the day longer or wrecking the track, they should realize that we have a lot more in common with our quad brothers and sisters than not.

After racing the first moto on my now plush feeling motorcycle, it was back to the quad. The first lap didn’t go too well for me. It started with a rather embarrassing moment where my clever inside line at the start left me on the wrong side of a sand berm. Then my throttle hand came off the bars while landing the first of two sets of doubles. After remarking to everyone how I didn’t get tired during the first moto, the much rougher track this time around had me hanging on for dear life. I was clearing the smaller doubles pretty clean, but was a bit spooked after coming up short on a few of the others and getting squirrelly on the landing. My arms were very tired by time the checkered flag thankfully waved, more so than a bike, but not the classic arm-pump. Primarily due to attrition, I ended up one place away from getting a trophy. It would have been nice to get one with a little quad guy on it, but I didn’t finish in front of enough people to deserve one anyway.

The whole experience was quite enjoyable. Whether some people want to accept it or not, the sport is growing and will be included at more and more “bike” races. I would anticipate some growing pains when the sport is too small for their own events, but big enough to noticeably add time to the race day. Judging from the amount of quad entries I saw at this race and others this year, it looks like the quad riders may have their own races and schedule fairly soon. Until then, can’t we all get along?

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