Midwest Performance Podiums
at Heartland Challenge
Zac Zakowski, Bryan Buckhannon,
and Jason Smith
Keokuk, IA (8/27/2015) - Midwest
Performance racers Bryan Buckhannon and Zac Zakowksi
teamed up to take a second place finish in the 4x4
Pro class at the eighth annual GBC Tires Heartland
Challenge endurance race held in Carlisle, Iowa.
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Midwest
Perfomance's Zac Zakowski & Bryan Buckhannon
Take 2nd in the Pro 4x4 Class at the Heartland
Challenge |
Midwest Performance is a premiere Honda, Yamaha
and Can-Am dealer, located three hours southeast
of the Heartland Challenge racing facility. Buckhannon
and Zakowski competed in the both the UTV and
ATV portions of the unique endurance event, held
just outside of Des Moines. Both events featured
special courses with “Challenge Sections” that
allowed racers to shortcut the course through
special obstacles, including logs, rocks and tires.
“We’ve always tried to bring a team to the Heartland
Challenge,” said Midwest Performance owner Jason
Smith. “We’ve always had a really good relationship
with the Kyner Family, and I like to support the
local racers.”
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Midwest
Perfomance's Zac Zakowski had some difficulty
early on adapting to Bryan Buckhannon's
race setup on the Can-Am Renegade |
Zakowski and Buckhannon finished second in the
rain-shortened ATV Pro 4x4 race. The race was
originally scheduled for 10 hours, but was shortened
to around six hours after thunderstorms enveloped
the race track shortly after sunset, but with
storm clouds rolling in early, the team was thankful
for their Lazerstar Lights, which made a huge
difference in the woods and the limited racing
time after dark at the Heartland Challenge.
Buckhannon and Zakowski worked hard to adapt
to the setup in each other’s ATVs: “I was really
struggling on Bryan’s quad at the beginning,”
said Zakowski. “He runs a completely different
setup than I do. Too bad it started raining; we
didn’t get a chance to challenge for the win.
This event is great. It’s like a big family get
together. Whether you win or lose, it’s fun to
see everybody, and you still go home happy.”
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Midwest
Perfomance's Bryan Buckhannon taking on
the GBC Challenge section to save some time
at the GBC Heartland Challenge |
Buckhannon agreed that the team’s victory charge
was cut short by the weather: “If it hadn’t have
rained, we could have won this one, but it was
definitely the right thing to call the race,”
said Buckhannon. “Midwest Performance really stepped
up this weekend. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t
for them.”
“I’m pumped about the ATV race,” said Smith.
“Any time you can race for six hours, it’s impressive.
This event was as tough as it gets and they should
be very proud of how they finished.”
In the four-hour UTV race, the Midwest Performance
team got a great start, but was set back after
a collision with another side-by-side. After rebounded
from the back of the field to fourth, a belt failure
and a broken tie rod sidelined their efforts.
“I tried to go around him, and it flipped right
over,” said Buckhannon of the crash at the start.
“We set a strong pace from there. We ran really
well. This was one of my favorite tracks of all
time and that’s why I came to race. It really
was a great run. We hadn’t raced a side by side
since April, and it was a blast getting back into
one.”
“We had a really good race going, but had a lot
of bad luck today,” said Zakowski. “Overall it
was a really good race. The team really worked
hard today. We never gave up and kept pushing.”
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Midwest
Perfomance's Zac Zakowski |
While the UTV race didn’t turn out as good as
hoped in the Heartland Challenge, the Midwest
Performance Team couldn’t be happier to finish
out the weekend of racing with a second place
finish in the highly competitive 4x4 Pro class,
and they look forward to coming back next year
and go for the win.
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