The 2016 season is finally underway. For the first time in GNCC history the UTV’s and the single seaters attended round one in Palatka, Florida. GNCC Racing added a class for the single seat Polaris ACE last year. I was very pleased to see this class growing so quickly with eleven entries at the Wild Boar GNCC!
I was pretty nervous going into the opening round; not having any seat time in my Racer Tech Polaris ACE 900. We changed the throttle on the hand controls removing the twist throttle and adding a Motion Pro thumb throttle to the custom steering wheel. Racer Tech really brought out the big guns to make my hand controlled Polaris ACE GNCC ready!
I started mid-pack. In the third turn I hit the on/off switch on the steering wheel. I hit it again to turn the car back on and immediately hit the start button. I spent the entire first lap in a panic, not having the ability turn the car at all without a struggle. On the second lap, I stopped in the pits to be told to turn the car on and off to reset the power steering. I didn’t realize it wasn’t working. I thought, with it being a bigger car and round one being in the Florida sand, that it was just that difficult to turn. After the simple fix I put my head down and charged forward. I went from sixth to fifth place. I hit some lappers in the woods accidently bumping a few of them in my aggressive effort to gain some positions.
Even when I raced quads the first race of the season we always used to get a feel for the machine and new season. The uniqueness of a Florida race compared with the rest of the series is massive with opening race jitters and sandy track conditions. I can say with confidence my team and I are ready for UTV Round 2 at Big Buck. I am happy to roll away from the first round with a solid fifth place finish and some new knowledge on a possible easy fix for anything electric!
Be sure to check out atvriders.com for the full Polaris ACE Race Report!
I was also featured on the live show on Saturday from the afternoon UTV race on Racer TV. You’ll hear from me at about an hour into the show!
