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Team Skat-Trak Wins Third Straight Best in the Desert Pro Quad Event
Greg Stuart and Nic Granlund win the 2008 Bilek Racing Silver State “300”

Greg Stuart ATV Racing

Greg Stuart flying through the desert on his Skat-Track YFZ450 ATV

Calimesa, CA (10/11/2008) - The Best in the Desert - Bilek Racing Silver State 300 was held on Saturday, September 27. The race covered close to 300 miles of desert in one single loop starting in Alamo with the finish line 18 miles north of Mesquite. 71 quads and motorcycles started the race with the Skat-Trak team finishing at the head of the pack among the fastest motorcycles. With the next quad finishing more than 16 minutes behind Stuart and Granlund, (12 min on corrected time), the team brought home its third consecutive Pro Quad win in the demanding “Best in the Desert” series. This is a series where anywhere from 25 to 40% of the entries do not finish and earn the dreaded DNF notation on the results page. Finishing three in a row by most measures, Is challenging and a feat in its own right. Winning three events in a row is rare.

Racers lined up at 6:30 AM with each motorcycle or quad leaving the starting line in 30 second to 1 minute intervals. Greg Stuart was the second pro quad rider off the starting line. The pro quads all held their positions by the first pit. Greg suffered a flat tire and the third rider off the line passed by while the Skat-Trak crew changed a tire. The bad news is that Nic left pit 1 in third place, the good news is that this would be the only flat of the race as the Maxxis tires would make it to the end. Leading the race was the Greg Stuart flying through the desert Q1 factory Honda team with Harold Goodman riding ironman while teammate Wayne Matlock is recovering from a recent crash. In second place was the KTM team of Cody Mitchell and Shaun Moore riding Q11.

Within the first few miles towards pit 2, Nic was able to chase down Q11 and close the gap but spent the next 20 miles in thick dust. The course wound its way through Eastern Nevada and was complete with hill climbs, whoop sections, silt, a few technical sections, and some sections that were fast and flat enough for a Rally Car. The course veered approximately 7 miles before pit 2 and a friendly crosswind allowed Nic to see well enough open up the mighty quad and blow by the KTM team. When Greg mounted the quad at pit 2, he was 3 minutes behind the lead quad. As Greg was working his way to the next pit, the dust disappeared behind Q1. When Greg approached Q1 he stopped to make sure Harold was ok and discovered that they had blown the motor. As Greg was navigating his way toward the next pit, he hit deep silt and was thrown over the bars but was still able to retain the lead and hand the quad off to Nic in first place.

Nic made his way through more deep silt and up and over the mountains and thought he might have heard something strange in the motor, but he attributed it to either the altitude or his ears popping. Nic continued to ride hard enough to maintain the lead. At the next pit, Nic handed the bike to Greg with a 5 minute lead. Greg also inherited a clogged air filter, a loose heel guard and the core of the pipe was broken and causing the packing to plug the exhaust. One stop to remove what was left of the heel guard and a second stop to adjust the airbox ate up 3 ½ minutes of the lead. The fast Q2 team of Scott and Sanchez moved into second place. Greg realized his lead time was cut by the repairs and put the hammer down to give Nic almost a 9 minute lead at the last exchange. In desert racing, there is a fine line between speed and preserving equipment. Nic finished the last 73 miles with the quad intact and a 12 minute comfortable win.

The Pro Quad Division of the Best in the Desert Series is coming down to the wire. The combination of excellent equipment along with Stuart's and Granlund’s speed and course sense has put team Skat-Trak in the running for the series championship. The custom quad built by Greg’s dad and Skat-Trak founder, Ken Stuart or “Big K”, and is built around a custom Laeger frame with Fox Shox and is powered by a Honda 650cc motor with motor work by Allen Knowles of CT Racing. The Skat-Trak team are privateers, but they seemed to have cracked the code in designing what might be the best desert racing quad out there. “We need to continue to trust that Big K has the quad in top condition and that our pit crew will keep us in the running and let us know where we are in the race. As riders, it’s our job to ride smart and to ride fast”, said Greg Stuart. Only two more races are slated for 2008. The Golden West US Championship on October 25 followed by the Henderson’s Fabtech Classic on December 6. Nic Granlund stated, “We are looking forward to finishing the season strong and the last two races are on our home turf, so we feel good about our chances to win the series.”

The Stuart/Granlund team sends it thanks to Casey Folks, Bilek Racing, and all the volunteers at Best in the Desert for putting on this race. The following companies proudly sponsor Greg and Nic - Scat-Trak, CT Racing, Fox Shox, Laeger, Maxxis, Hinson, Fullbore, Dragon, WebCam, IMS, Quad Tech, DWT, Torco, NGR, Fasst, Streamline, Precision, Eibach Springs. Congrats to NGR race team of Jared Olsen, Jeremy Olsen and Josh Rowley for winning the amateur quad class. Special props go out to NGR racer Mike Geiger for winning the amateur Ironman quad class.


www.skat-trak.com

654 Avenue K
Calimesa, CA 92320

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