2014 TORN Racing Round #4 May 10-11, 2014 Crafton, TX

Crafton, TX (5/17/2014) - The fourth round of the Texas Off Road Nationals Series took place this past weekend at the T Top Ranch facility located just Northwest of the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area in the town of Crafton, Texas. Rocky, rugged terrain with a good mix of open and woods areas greeted over 100 ATV and SxS racers, and on the previous weekend 328 motorcycle racers competed.

Due to the rugged terrain, many race machines experienced flat tires and had to stop mid-race to make wheel changes. But one team that had a flawless race weekend was Shawn Hess of Hess Motorsports. Hess literally “cleaned house” this past weekend by earning double class wins in both the premiere UTV Expert and Pro ATV classes.

Another rider who seems unstoppable aboard his Team UXC Factory Polaris supported Scrambler 1000 was Chris Robinson. Robinson impressively scored his fourth TORN Utility class win of the season. In the motorcycle portion of competition, Dillon Green earned his first TORN Series Pro class win of the season and Allie Spurgeon earned two class wins by taking the Open Intermediate and Ladies Expert wins.

On UTV race day it was another nail biter, with multiple machines proving that they were competitive enough to run up front. “I knew the start was going to critical and I chose the far outside spot hoping for a holeshot,” said previous race winner Shawn Hess. Manual Esquivel and his Polaris would grab the holeshot, followed Cody Miller and his Can-Am in second.

Manual Esquivel grabbed the holeshot in the TORN UTV Expert Class

Dust would prove to be a major factor early for Hess, as he jockeyed for position and claimed the third place spot as the class entered the woods. Hess stayed close to the two leaders applying pressure and looked for a break to make a pass.

At about the 4-mile mark of the first lap, that break came when the leader, Esquivel overturned his machine, partially blocking the trail. Fortunately, the early leader was uninjured and he would quickly rejoin the race.

Cody Miller would hold the lead for several laps before falling back in the field after getting a flat tire from one of the many sharp rocks on the course

Luckily for Miller and Hess, they pair would quickly find their way past the overturned Esquivel and would open up a large margin over the rest of the field.

Shawn Hess was able to capitalize on Cody Millers mechanical issue to take over the lead & earn his second consecutive win this season in the TORN UTV Expert Class

As the race progressed, Hess has this to say about his battle for the lead, “Cody and I ran nose to tail for almost 3 laps and I tried to drive very conservatively to miss all the newly exposed rocks, as we were running on a very well worn race track. Overall, I think I played it smart by keeping the pressure on Cody Then in the final laps when he hit a sharp rock and cut a tire, that was the break that we needed and I was able to get past and take over the lead.” Hess would pull away to earn his second UTV Expert class win of the season, finishing 2:27 ahead of second place Brian Reiter (POL) and Cody Taylor (POL) in third. Miller would soldier on with his flat tire and eventually finish fourth.

Brian Reiter was able to grab a second place finish at TORN Round 4 in his Hess Motorsports Polaris RZR XP 1000

Hess had this to say about the UTV racing, “The track conditions were pretty knarly for everybody, with all the rocks, along with the dust at the very end. But the track design was really a lot of fun, very open and safe, as it was really well laid out with a good mix of woods and open sections to keep everyone happy. I think we finally have all the bugs worked out now with our new Polaris RZR XP1000 and think we will be able to make a strong run the remainder of the season as we are looking for another series championship. I’ve got to give a big shout out and say thanks to Elka Suspension, Maxxis Tires, HiPer Wheels, Maxima Oils, Hot Rods, FMF Exhausts and Hess Motorsports for supporting all our racing efforts in both classes this season”