I was basing my statement on what the tracker showed compared to the actual finishing order.
II was not there to physically witness the finish.
2017 Baja 500 (Official Thread)
- Thread starter Matt Martelli - CEO
- Start date
II was not there to physically witness the finish.
The X3s are strong. Burnett had a 10 min lead on 2nd place at mile 80 and had nearly a 20min lead by mile 145. He was absolutely kicking ass but had issues that made him lose 1:20 mins in the pit trying to fix issues. By then he kept have small issues and couldn't catch back up to the pace. But. Had he had a totally clear race and he woulda really kicked some ass. Desert is tough I saw a lotta good racers have a bad day. Congrats to cognito for putting it on the podium. He's been testing constantly trying to work out the bugs in his car and it looks like he's dialed and gonna get back on his winning streak.
We raced a Can-Am X3 and took 4th overall UTV (Burroughs). Results incorrectly listed us in a Polaris. We are making good progress with the new car.
The band is called Metalachi. Google them and you will find it.
He did not have a 10min lead at RM80. He had no more than 3-5min. I could pull the splits. Him and lambert then had a 20+/- min lead over the next UTV.
His X3 is fast, but you can't judge a ton on pace early on. Half the field was cruising through the first 80. Some guys hammered down.
Burnett's X3 was anything but "strong". He had to change a failed transmission the night before the race. He then had to change a front axle, a belt, etc. he did have troubles with his crew not being at a pit and at another pit stop the hired pit team didn't have his fuel.
Murrays continue to suffer front suspension issues as well losing multiple front Axles. I'm
Not sure if Chapo's front corner ripping off was self inflicted or not.
Reality is, minus S3, Can-Am had their best and polaris had theirs. RZR had three factory guys in the top spots.
Can-Am and Yamaha proved they can battle on any given day at the UTVWC. But it was RZRs day at the 500.
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What broke that took Wayne Matlock out of the race?
None the Lonestar equipped cars had issues with the bolts breaking that hold the wheel bearing carrier to the trailing arm?
None the Lonestar equipped cars had issues with the bolts breaking that hold the wheel bearing carrier to the trailing arm?
You would think Can Am would have some of this stuff figured out by now. I am surprised to hear about transmission problems with the X-3. I always thought the one thing Can Am built strong was the transmission on their turbo cars. The front axles seems to be an on going issue and you would think the teams would have a solution by now.
What other front suspension issues are some of the teams having?
If I were a gambling kinda person, I would bet the Murray team will get things figured out and will be the most consistent of the Can Am teams.
Burnett is an equipment killer. Absent him turning his X-3 into a Sherman Tank, he will continue to a be a checkers or wreckers kinda program. Good news is he has not destroyed the badass suspension that Fabwrex is putting out for the X-3. Maybe he should have Reid back on the team to help over engineer the car for Burnett's driving style.
The last thing these teams want to do is have Cognito get all the bugs worked out and start winning races. Cognito is going to be tough to beat with his turbo car.
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Heres the deal. Both Polaris & Can-Am build exceptionally bad ass off-road racing equipment. Their transmissions are both durable as are their motors and suspensions. But lets not hide the fact that racers beat the living shit out of their machines. They also modify them to strengthen areas which then forces others to then become the weak point. You can only do so much. What it really boils down too is a major amount of luck, but that luck is determined by your prep and your equipment being up to the task at hand.
No doubt Burnett preps his machine well, but shit happens. Look at Scanlon. I am very close to that program currently and I will tell you, no stone is left unturned. There isn't a more meticulously detailed and prepped machine in the fleet of racing vehicles in all of the class. But how can you prevent a brand new, factory hub from cracking all the way around the center of the hub? That was simply a freak part failure. That failure occurring where it did cost them the race. If it had happened anywhere else it would have been a 20-30min repair MAX and chances are they could have ran closer to the front. BUT, thats racing.. coulda woulda shoulda is the name of the game after these races.
I feel terrible when I hear of good teams who pour hours and hours of prep and testing into a machine and still have the unforeseen ruin their efforts.
We all need to get away from this Can-Am is better than polaris and visa versa junk. Lets all be real here. Both machines are more than capable of winning on any given day. Nothing is "better" then the other in all reality when it comes to racing. It comes down to who has the better shock tune, who has the better driver, who has the better prep, and most importantly, who has the most luck!
Crazy stuff we saw in Baja.
1. Dude exiting freeway on my on ramp. Haha, wrong way buddy.
2. Murrays pit mayhem at RM 155. Not sure what happened but they almost ran over a crew guy with the race trailer. He was hurt but walked away.
3. RM 155 dude drove into the power lines with his radio tower up. I guess it blew the transformer feeding a bar right next to the race course.
Let's hear some of your stories.
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1. Dude exiting freeway on my on ramp. Haha, wrong way buddy.
2. Murrays pit mayhem at RM 155. Not sure what happened but they almost ran over a crew guy with the race trailer. He was hurt but walked away.
3. RM 155 dude drove into the power lines with his radio tower up. I guess it blew the transformer feeding a bar right next to the race course.
Let's hear some of your stories.
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I agree that both cars are very capable and any given race could be won by either. Desert racing and any form of racing is pushing these cars beyond the normal. Shit happens in the desert and all the preparation can not account for everything. Certain drivers/teams seem to be a little better at creating the luck needed to consistently be in contention.
Guessing you don't follow his instagram account? Don't know exactly what happened but a good rock can take out any suspension. We use to see a lot more bent radius rods, banana-ed trailing arms, and other destroyed suspension components from the various makers out there but they have all gotten quite good. Seems that transmissions have become the #1 race ender. They take a lot more shock load in a race environment than in the average car.
Things I experienced or saw that didn't make my story:
1. The Matlock's; talk about having horrible luck. Both RZRs DNF'd which RARELY every happens to them. Their box chase truck blew the motor on its way to Baja. That situation was a gnarly effort taking multiple tow trucks to get it back home where they then had to unload and re-load equipment into other trucks just to make it to baja. Then their other Chase truck shit the bed on the cross over road between San Vicente and Valle T. It was pulling a trailer and anyone who knows that road knows how shitty it would be to have to recover a full size truck and trailer off of it on a good day, let alone on race day.
2. The Shock Therapy guys had one of the worst pit stops I have ever seen in Baja at RM80. Their crew literally pitted them directly on the shoulder of the highway around a blind turn. The vehicle was on a horrible lean on the side of the road as they tried to fuel it and do some repairs. The crew was all running around franticly, stepping into the road as cars wizzed by around this corner. The guys were walking into the road like they owned it. They were all yelling at each other, it was chaos. I know its hard to remain calm when you are in the midst of the battle but it was scary to watch. To top it off, once the car was done, one of the guys literally walked into the middle of the street and stopped the oncoming traffic so the rzr could enter back into the race. Again, I was shocked at how selfish this crew was and how much danger they put themselves and their own car in. The driver was visibly upset with his guys, I would have been too.
3. I will leave it up to the racer who witnessed / experienced this to elaborate if they want and name drop, but he followed another UTV racer 4 miles around a bottle neck down another road only to reach the gate the racers had driven through and realize they had put a pad lock on it!!! So this racer used a road and locked the gate behind them so no one else could use it. lol This forced the other racers to double back 4 miles.
4. Tracking and service sucked BAD this year.
I will see if I can think of more..
1. The Matlock's; talk about having horrible luck. Both RZRs DNF'd which RARELY every happens to them. Their box chase truck blew the motor on its way to Baja. That situation was a gnarly effort taking multiple tow trucks to get it back home where they then had to unload and re-load equipment into other trucks just to make it to baja. Then their other Chase truck shit the bed on the cross over road between San Vicente and Valle T. It was pulling a trailer and anyone who knows that road knows how shitty it would be to have to recover a full size truck and trailer off of it on a good day, let alone on race day.
2. The Shock Therapy guys had one of the worst pit stops I have ever seen in Baja at RM80. Their crew literally pitted them directly on the shoulder of the highway around a blind turn. The vehicle was on a horrible lean on the side of the road as they tried to fuel it and do some repairs. The crew was all running around franticly, stepping into the road as cars wizzed by around this corner. The guys were walking into the road like they owned it. They were all yelling at each other, it was chaos. I know its hard to remain calm when you are in the midst of the battle but it was scary to watch. To top it off, once the car was done, one of the guys literally walked into the middle of the street and stopped the oncoming traffic so the rzr could enter back into the race. Again, I was shocked at how selfish this crew was and how much danger they put themselves and their own car in. The driver was visibly upset with his guys, I would have been too.
3. I will leave it up to the racer who witnessed / experienced this to elaborate if they want and name drop, but he followed another UTV racer 4 miles around a bottle neck down another road only to reach the gate the racers had driven through and realize they had put a pad lock on it!!! So this racer used a road and locked the gate behind them so no one else could use it. lol This forced the other racers to double back 4 miles.
4. Tracking and service sucked BAD this year.
I will see if I can think of more..
I see the instagram stuff.
The race cars have come a long way just in the last few years and will only continue to get better.
It's a dick move, but I've gotta say, I grew up going to Baja in the '80's and the '90's when it was the wild west where anything goes with factory warfare and no tracking or GPS. Stuff like this happened regularly. Personally I would never do it, but I read that and immediately thought Old School Baja trickery.
