The track followed the same layout from April for the most part with the exception of removing a stretch that was full of jumps and other technical features. The October layout was a high speed track, similar to a groomed logging road or trail with 6 jumps, 1 table, and 1 corner that had a kicker at the bottom and a roller at the top right at the apex... over the entire 1½ mile track. It was a great layout for all the newbies that might have come out. We're hoping Whiplash adds a few more jumps and tables for the quads... and not the boulders and logs that the dirt bikes have to contend with. Those babies do some pretty expensive damage to the machines and body.

For our quad time on the track, we had one 20 minute practice session on Saturday and a 45 minute race on Sunday. Once again there was an exceptional quad turnout in all the classes. The 30+ Open group was first off the line with the 30+ & 40+ Novice, & Utility classes starting shortly behind them. Coming out of the transponder/scoring area we had our 450R in 5th thru the majority of the track. That's great for all those desert racers out there that enjoy the speed and not the jumps, but with our 19" tires and gearing, our style is the exact opposite J. Other than having fun in the 2 technical corners making a few passes, we were pretty much giving some of those positions back on the wide-open areas of the track. Late in the race we started suffering the ill effects of a dirty filter and lost a little power, giving up a few spots. At the end, Missy finished 9th out of 13 in the class.

Awe, now to the real fun that we had out there, the Short Course 1600 class. There were only 4 in our class and we ran off the same gate as the 5 Pro Buggy's. Everyone got a good start, the Pro's were lined up 2-by-2 in the front followed by the 1600's. It took longer than expected for the 220+hp of the Pro's to make their way around to the 80hp 1600's, but when they did, it made things a little messy, especially during the main on Sunday. In Saturday's race we were swapping 1st place honors with Jeff Knupp in the ^#354. Knupp finally got by Jeff Barrett in the ^#334, and once Barrett rolled it in turn one late in the race, Knupp had first place in the bag. After we rolled it and later were t-boned by another 1600 buggy, we had a few adjustments to make for Sunday. We re-bent our nerfbar and lowered our ride-height since the track was a much smoother layout than the April race. Sunday's action was really good. We managed to keep the rubber side down and had a lot of good battles throughout the entire race. There was an unfortunate incident within just the last couple of laps when 2 of the Pro Buggy's were coming up on us during our battle for 2nd place. Barrett, in our BRM buggy and Justin Davis in the Army buggy were entertaining the crowd with lap after lap of side-by-side racing when on of the Pro's, who was in a battle of his own, came into the final turn way to hot and t-boned Barrett into the side of the other Pro buggy, who than hit the Army buggy. The corners aren't wide enough to go 4-wide, and it's pretty obvious. But that didn't stop this one guy from coming in and clearing house. And as you might expect, the BRM buggy, the Army buggy, and the Pro leader were all taken out, giving the instigator a clear track ahead of him. And, no, he was not given a black flag, just the 1st place checkers a couple laps later. As for the tangle up, BRM and the Pro were both locked together but everyone managed to find reverse, find the track, and get the hammer down. We ended up settling for 3rd, and other than the mess at the end, we had a great time.