Soboba
GP / RZR 4
SxS Links
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San Jacinto, CA - The annual
Soboba Grand Prix was held just a few weeks ago,
and every year, I attend this big purse event,
to compete with on my MCR/ Maxxis race quad in
the Pro ATV Class, but this year, I decided to
bring along the Polaris RZR-4 that I have been
doing a long-term test with for ATVriders.com.
With a $4,000 win purse up for grabs, I figured
it would be a great way to test out the RZR-4
in a real race condition to see how well it performed
especially since there was a big purse up for
grabs.
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Since
the fall of 2010, Beau Baron has been
test riding the 2011 Polaris RZR-4 for
ATVriders.com at various locations on
the west coast from Sand Hollow, UT, Pismo
Beach, CA, Glen Helen Raceway, and beyond.
Also, ATVriders.com utilizes the RZR-4
as the perfect vehicle for hauling camera
gear & help around at the WORCS racing
series & it has proved itself to be
an extremely useful vehicle in many different
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MCR
/ Maxxis' Beau Baron is well known for
his racing accomplishments in the WORCS
& Quadcross Series. In 2009, Beau
Baron claimed the WORCS Pro ATV championship
& finished in the 2nd spot for 2010.
He also, finished in 2nd place in the
Quadcross Series Pro Class in 2010 |
In the morning, I claimed the Pro ATV class
win for $2,000, and I was feeling really good
after taking the win, so I decided to go for
it, and race the Polaris RZR-4 as well. I ran
down and entered the UTV Open class.
I hurried to get my stock Polaris RZR-4 down
to the start line and started to look around
at the other entries. Figuring I was the last
one down to the line, I was thinking it wouldn’t
be a bad race because there were not too many
guys lined up. I was wrong. Cars kept lining
up, and lining up, and lining up. Not stock
RZR-4s but rigs with more money into their paint
jobs than my RZR-4 was worth. When a SR1 rolls
up right next to me, I began to feel that I
was out of my league. I then realized there
were 41 total UTV entries, which included many
highly modified UTVs with some big team backing,
and to top it off, I was starting on the third
row, and I was instructed by a track worker
to move out of the way of the modified UTVs
during the race.
My ATV team manager, Mike Cafro, walks up to
me and says, “You are an idiot. Let’s
get out of here.”
I said, “No way! I am gonna ride. As
long as I am in a money position, keep flagging
me on, but if I get too far back I will stop
and let all my pit guys in and we will finish
with a car-full.” I didn’t think
I had much chance of staying in a money spot
and thought for sure I was going to end up stopping
and picking up my friends, but atleast I would
get a chance to run the RZR-4 at speed over
some rough terrain any really see how well it
performed for my ride review.
At the start, the SR1 engine equipped UTV that
was right next to me made me feel like I was
not moving at all as it wheeled past me, cut
in front of me and wheeled again! I was pumped
that he did this though because in the next
turn he had pushed wide and cleared a straight
path for me to cut right in past a ton of riders
and come out of the first turn in about 8th
place. Because I had raced the ATV race that
morning, I already had a good feel for the course
and could easily navigate my way through the
thick dust when other drivers were struggling
to see anything at all.
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Beau
Baron amazed everyone as he quickly worked
his way into the top five with the stock
2011 Polaris RZR 4 Robby Gordon Edition
SxS |