UTV enthusiast and business owners Steve McCarthy (DuneStar Racing), Jim McIntire (UTV Riders) and Jayson Wolcott (212th Automotive) have been riding in the beautiful Pacific Northwest for as long as they can remember. Growing up in Washington and Oregon, they have spent hours upon hours riding quads, dirt bikes and side x sides (SxS) with friends and family, often in the Oregon dunes. They have visited every campground, participated in every event and have made many friends along the way. Still, Steve, Jim and Jayson felt like something was missing. With all the Oregon Dunes have to offer –so much great riding and so many great people – where was the event that focused on the riders? From this, UTV Takeover was born – a multi-day, family-friendly event, for the riders, by the riders.
Set in the picturesque Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area (ODNRA) which stretches approximately 40 miles along the Oregon Coast, north from the Coos River in North Bend, to the Siuslaw River, in Florence, UTV Takeover has found a home at the privately-owned Boxcar Hill Campground in Coos Bay, Oregon.
Centrally located, Boxcar Hill is the perfect place to host UTV Takeover with plenty of space for the main Tent and all of the Takeover events and activities. It offers not only a perfect view of Coos Bay but Boxcar Hill’s 105 acres connects directly to the ODNRA with access to 6,000 acres of Oregon’s majestic coastal dunes and sandy beaches. Boxcar Hill Campground offers Takeover participants the option of camping within the event, with 60 large RV sites. 32 spaces offer full hookups and an additional 28 spaces provide water and electric services. Partnering with UTV Takeover, the campground was able to add 50 Sand Camping spaces for the Summerfest 2016 event over Memorial Day weekend.
Boxcar Hill is also surrounded by 7 additional campgrounds that offer approximately 500 additional camp spots, all with direct dune access and just a quick ride over to the UTV Takeover Tent and UTV Takeover events and activities.
If camping isn’t your thing – Coos Bay and North Bend offer many hotel and motel accommodations and participants can access the UTV Takeover Tent and events by utilizing any of the 4 surrounding day-use parking lots.
No matter where you stay and how you get there – make your way to the UTV Takeover Tent where you will find indoor and outdoor seating for over 150 people, food vendors like Elk Horn BBQ, a community bonfire, charity raffle tickets and schedule of all of the FREE events and activities happening over the multi-day Takeover.
UTV Takeover is a family-friendly event, for the riders, by the riders. This event is completely free for the participants – made possible by all of the donations and sponsorships received from over 50 businesses stretching as far as Idaho and Arizona. These companies continue to support the sport and give back to the riders and local charities and are the heart of UTV Takeover.
UTV Takeover is packed with activities both at the Takeover Tent and out on the sand with something for everyone. The 60’x60’ tent hosts open seating, free water, coffee, DJ, a community potluck dinner, a nightly bonfire and participants can purchase raffle tickets with proceeds going to organizations such as Save the Riders Dunes, local schools and other charities.
Once you have a schedule in hand, you’ll find events designed to accommodate all vehicles, ages, and skill levels. For the Summerfest 2016 event, things got started right away the Thursday night with a Whip-It Light Rods group night ride that lasted about an hour and covered the southern end of the dunes. There were over 75 cars snaking through the dunes with lighted whips and light bars in a guided single file row. Once back to camp the night was capped off with a group bonfire and shared stories about the night ride and things to come the next day.
Friday morning started bright and early at 9:00 AM when the Takeover Tent opened and participants started to emerge out of their toy haulers for a fun filled day and a little breakfast from Elk Horn BBQ before the first event. The Florence Yamaha group ride was schedule to start at 10:00 AM and would take participants on a guided, adrenaline filled ride that would cover over 40 miles and last over 2 hours. Once back there was about an hour to kill hanging out in the tent and catching up with friends before the next event started. The 3Six0 Motorsports Scavenger Hunt started at 1:00 PM and took teams of 4 all over the dunes, answering trivia questions, taking selfies and figuring out riddles to find secret locations. This event is challenging and fun at the same time and really does takes the entire 4 hours to complete. Once back from the Scavenger Hunt participants headed back to their toy haulers to prepare for the Elk Horn BBQ pig roast and potluck. Over 300 guests showed up to enjoy the music, free food and good times. Dinner started at 6:00 PM and participants hung around the tent mingling and making new friends until it was time to prepare for another Whip-it light Rods night ride at 9:00 PM. Once back from another great night ride, the night ended with participants gathered around the group bonfire once again as they prepared to do the mini games the next day.
Saturday started very similar to Friday with the tent opening at 9:00 AM and a Florence Yamaha group ride at 10:00 AM but participants could tell things were starting to heat up. The Takeover schedule is set-up to build the excitement each day as everyone gets more comfortable with the events, activities and the dunes, leading to the main events on Sunday. Once back from the group ride participants grabbed a bite to eat and headed out to the sand arena. Here they would participate in games like the Farmers Dash, Late for a Date, barrel racing and short course event. Things got started at 2:00 PM with the Farmers Dash presented by Metal Havoc. Similar to musical chairs except done with UTVs, participants drove in a circle around green safety barrels until an air horn blew. Once the horn sounded, participants stopped their UTV and dashed towards the potatoes in the middle of the circle. Always one potato short, someone would be eliminated. This continued until only one participant was left. Late for the Date presented by Devious Powersports, was up next and provided many smiles as participants raced 4 teams at a time down to a green safety barrel. Here one member of each team exited the UTV and got dressed up in fine women’s clothing. Once dressed they jumped back into the UTV and raced back to the star/ finish line. Last two teams where out and the first two teams moved on. This continued until there was only one team left. Up next was some traditional barrel racing presented by Snuggs Services, for the kids and the quads. Here participants raced around 3 barrels and then back through the start finish line. This was a timed event where the quickest time for each heat would win and winners would be announced at the awards ceremony the next night. The last race on the schedule for Saturday was the Sand Outlaws race presented by Peterson Machinery. Here, two quads raced simultaneously over a course that measured the length of two football fields, maneuvering over elevation changes, jumps, crossovers and hurdles where the winners would move on and the losers would join the crowd of spectators until only one quad remained. With the two competitor’s tracks crossing each other at one point, this was a very exciting race to watch – would the two competitors meet in the middle or just miss each other in their quest to get to the finish line first? Once the sand events were finished, Whip-It Light Rods presented another Night Ride that led participants from the Takeover tent, to Hauser Road and back again and the night concluded with another group bonfire back at the Takeover Tent.
Sunday, the final day of scheduled activities, started off with a bang – the highly anticipated Huckfest presented by Devious Powersports. Judged by measured distance, this event took place on a custom-built jump that took nearly 3 days to get “just right”. Participants took multiple jumps in the three round competition with drivers being eliminated each round. The event was structured to have multiple winners based on the longest jump of the day and the driver who moved through each round without being eliminated. Participants gave the spectators a show that did not disappoint. Things got started right away with John Gardner Jr. from Mount Hood Polaris setting the “Sand to Sand” record of 103.1’ in the practice round. That is right I said practice round. The drivers where going huge right out of the gate and were leaving everything out on the sand (including a few broken RZRs). Ty Lacroix also went huge in the first round with a jump over 90’ that left his RZR in pieces and his body a bit sore. Rich Segebartt from Metal Havoc was the most consistent all day and was able to keep his RZR in one piece and advance through all the rounds making him the overall winner. Rich took home $150 in cash, $900 in new axles from Warthog and a 3’-0” tall trophy.
Overall Huckfest was a success and heart pounding event that left the participants wanting more. Next on the scheduled was the Blind Bandit SxS obstacle course race presented by Octane Toy Box. This new take on a timed race had participants partnering up, with the driver navigating through the tight obstacle course blind folded while only receiving verbal instructions from the passenger – as you can imagine, this was pretty entertaining to watch. It was finally time for the last race of the weekend which would be another Sand Outlaws race, presented by Peterson Machinery. This time the SxS’s took to the track to duel it out over the jumps, crossovers and turns with the winner moving on and the loser joining the crowd of spectators until there was only one SxS remaining. With some rollovers and races that came down to the very last second, this was definitely an exciting event for all. Finally the events wrapped up with the Awards Ceremony and Benefit Raffle presented by Save The Riders Dunes. The Takeover Tent was packed with participant hoping to nab trophies and prizes and ticket holders trying to win some of the raffle items donated by all of the awesome Takeover sponsors. Over $12,000 in raffle items were given away with over $2,100 in proceeds going to Save the Riders Dunes and additional proceeds going to other local charities and organizations. The event closed with one final group bonfire where participants unwound and shared stories from the weekend.
UTV Takeover already has the next event in the works – Winterfest 2016. This event will take place from Wednesday November 25nd – Sunday November 29th and is guaranteed to be another family-friendly, action-packed weekend that you won’t want to miss out on. UTV Takeover will be hosting another Thanksgiving potluck and will be bringing back the races, rides and activities from past events with new and exciting activities in the works. Expanded sand camping will also be available. For more information, reservations and to stay up-to-date on all future events and activities, be sure to check out UTVTakeover.com. If you would like to join the team of sponsors and help make the next event even better, email the Takeover team at [email protected].
Special thanks to all the great sponsors that made this event possible.
Title Sponsors
Florence Yamaha
Presenting Sponsors
3Six0 Motorsports, Devious Powersports, Metal Havoc, Octane Toy Box, Peterson Machinery, Save The Riders Dunes, Snuggs Services, Whip-It Light Rods
Elite Sponsors
Bay Area Yamaha, Bear Electric, Boondocker, Extreme HIDS, Motosports, Mount Hood Polaris, NXS Designs, Pacific Northwest Off-Road Racing Series, Sand Craft Motorsports, Subzero Scientific
Team Sponsors
Autowerks, Black Label Powersports, Cycle Country, D&S Technologies, Dave Dave, DB Motosports, DGAS, Dirt N Dunez Photography, Elevated Alliance Garage, Elk Horn BBQ, Envious Tile And More Co., Imperial Dunes RV, Les Schwab, Moustache Rides Unlimited, Mr. Tree, North Powersports, Rip-It Powersports, Rocky Mountain ATV, Rugged Radios, RZR Porn, Shutter-Up Photography, SK Northwest Powersports, Spotlight Country Bar, Star Entertainment, The Infamous Shoops, UTV Family Clothing.
Organized by
DuneStar Racing, UTV Riders and 212th Automotive.
