Mancelona, Michigan 550ft snow races

[ALLSEASONRIDER]

Last weekend I decided to try my luck at racing one of my Vmax's and had a blast! It's been about 20 years since I raced motorcycles down the 1/4 mile so I am a bit out of practice, but I'm happy with the results. I made it through 3 rounds in both 800 and 1000cc stock classes, but it was a race in hard packed snow and my sled is more set up for ice so hooking up was a major problem. The guys that ran the best had more aggressive tracks and I'm confident that the old V4 with a Ripsaw would have faired extremely well against the new iron/aluminum. Also, my straps are too far out and it's like riding a jetski. (fun, but not as fast)

If the races were to be held again soon, I would go to more lug track and adjust the straps in a bunch (maybe all the way in). Oh and probably take some more gas out of the tank. I was originally planning on going up for a ride so the tank was basically full. Nothing like a bit more weight for the old V4!

I didn't plan on being very competitive, but was pleasantly surprised. I guess next time I'll take things a bit more seriously. I can't wait until next year!

Also, the Yamaha Truck was there and they had demo rides on local trails all day and into the evening. Here are a few shots of the event. The last one shows my terrible launch/hook/turn right on my last run of the day. I had to back way out of it to stay in the cones, but still only lost by 1 length to the Nytro.

[vmax4rules]

Wow I wish I would have known about them, I only live 15 miles from Mancelona.
Oh well maybe next time? :frech32:

[ALLSEASONRIDER]

More shots from the races last Saturday in Mancelona.

[ALLSEASONRIDER]

Some shots of another 96 VMax4 there....he was in the $$$$$. The kid did very well!!!

[ALLSEASONRIDER]

Check out the Cat in the middle lane in one of these pics, he about flipped it!!

[ALLSEASONRIDER]

Wow I wish I would have known about them, I only live 15 miles from Mancelona.
Oh well maybe next time? :frech32:

Sorry about that, I decided to go as kind of a last minute thing and forgot to put something in here about the races. I heard on Hardcoresledder about it. It would have been fun to see more Vmax4s out there!

With the way the weather has been over the last month, it's hard to plan much in advance for these trips.

Next year we should have this event as a Vmax4 meeting (east) and show the locals how the old iron can really run! (I need to work on that) There was a great turnout. I'll bet they had at least as many sleds there racing as what was at the World Series in Gaylord the week before. And with it being on the trail, many more people rode to this event.

[SleeperMax]

Hey Scott, Keep us posted for next years event. I will have something ready next season. I will make the trip from Ohio and come up. It sounds like it could be a tradition to start for the guys in our neck of the woods. It would be fun to crash their party with about 10 or 15 V4's.

[ALLSEASONRIDER]

Hey Scott, Keep us posted for next years event. I will have something ready next season. I will make the trip from Ohio and come up. It sounds like it could be a tradition to start for the guys in our neck of the woods. It would be fun to crash their party with about 10 or 15 V4's.

That sounds good Don! I'd love to see a bunch of us fill up the finals and take home all the money....that could lead to increased values for the V4's in Northern Michigan anyway!!

There is a 'Race the Face' coming up the end of March at Schuss Mountain. This is put on by the same guys that did the Mancelona race last week. I don't know how a paddle tracked V4 would do mostly because of the weight......Got turbo anyone?? Could be fun to watch though...

[VMax-4N.C.]

I would drive over for that next year! Keep us posted.

-Mark

[ALLSEASONRIDER]

Will do Mark! It was definitely a fun day...

[speedy196]

Keep this post going and see how many people we can get to goto to this event next year.

[mark the shark]

Was it held here? http://www.infinityraceway.com/
It's a new racetrack near Mancelona. By the look of their website, they've been doing a lot of work.

Shark

[AL P]

TTT

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[ALLSEASONRIDER]

Was it held here? http://www.infinityraceway.com/
It's a new racetrack near Mancelona. By the look of their website, they've been doing a lot of work.

Shark

Sorry for the late response on this one! Yes, I do believe that was the same place...it is along railroad tracks, I remember that for sure.

[AL P]

So what do they do to keep it "hard" packed?, or does it just got more and more tore up the more runs that are made?

obviously, i flat can not get ANY traction on ice..so maybe I`ll try to find a hard pack race somewhere one of these days..for what it`s worth, if i go out on my very hard packed road and nail it, there`s a HUGE difference compared to my pathetic atempt on ice..LOL

But if the hard pack, becomes very loose broke up snow, I`d probley bomb badly again..LOL

don`t suppose they roll it do they?..LOL

[Trying2]

I run hard packed snow 640 ft all the time. I run a 2" camplast back country track. You definity need this if it is snow because after a half dozen runs it gets loose and any thing under 1 1/4" dosen`t grip. Alot of the guys around here now are purchasing the paddle lags "2 1/2" plus, for deep snow and cutting them down to 1 3/4" to acheive a stronger thicker paddle to prevent the bending. You will get the odd hard packed race track that stays hard and icy and this is where the stronger thicker paddles work better. But in my experience out east here is that after all of the smaller sleds have run the track is very loose for the larger machines catergories.

[Trying2]

Nice looking sled allseasonrider. Looks like you did good. How did you do against the SRX. I cannot wait my first race is in Riviere au Renard next Sunday. 640 ft hard packed snow. There are going to be 7 vmax 4s in improved and modified catergroies. If i knew how to post the theads you can go to you tube and look up Riviere au Renard drags and you will see my sled out there first run ever with her. I did pretty good for the first race (two second places in 800 inproved and modified). I think the videos are in the 30`s.

[AL P]

I run hard packed snow 640 ft all the time. I run a 2" camplast back country track. You definity need this if it is snow because after a half dozen runs it gets loose and any thing under 1 1/4" dosen`t grip. Alot of the guys around here now are purchasing the paddle lags "2 1/2" plus, for deep snow and cutting them down to 1 3/4" to acheive a stronger thicker paddle to prevent the bending. You will get the odd hard packed race track that stays hard and icy and this is where the stronger thicker paddles work better. But in my experience out east here is that after all of the smaller sleds have run the track is very loose for the larger machines catergories.

well...there ya have it!!! looks like I better stick to racing up and down my road then!!!..LOL

I enjoy casuall riding too much to change mine over..so using it for any kind of racing appears to be out..unless I happen to run early on a very hard pack surface...But that`s cool though...it`s still fun to run ayway..although i really would`nt want to keep making the vmax 4`s look bad, by bombing horribley...
maybe I`ll just save up some $$$, and invest into some ice picks and chisels..then I`ll just have to suck it up and swap over my studs before a race..not sure i have the motovation to do all that though..LOL

I think I`ll leave the actuall race events to you guys, and I`ll cover the city street racing!!!..I`ll coin the name "the vmax 4 bandit"..LOL

[Trying2]

Don`t look at it that way it is all for fun. If you have a smaller lag 3/4" or 1" just change the gears to give her more lag rotation and it will help alot.

[ALLSEASONRIDER]

So what do they do to keep it "hard" packed?, or does it just got more and more tore up the more runs that are made?

don`t suppose they roll it do they?..LOL

They didn't really do anything to the track during the races....basic, home town racing!

It was loose and that was the majority of my problem...as I have the standard Vmax4 track with 192 studs...NEEDED A PADDLE TRACK!

[ALLSEASONRIDER]

Nice looking sled allseasonrider. Looks like you did good. How did you do against the SRX. I cannot wait my first race is in Riviere au Renard next Sunday. 640 ft hard packed snow. There are going to be 7 vmax 4s in improved and modified catergroies. If i knew how to post the theads you can go to you tube and look up Riviere au Renard drags and you will see my sled out there first run ever with her. I did pretty good for the first race (two second places in 800 inproved and modified). I think the videos are in the 30`s.

Thanks for the complements!

The SRX had to bump to my class (800+ stock) because of his track lug height. I believe 1 1/2" or more lug bumps you to the next class but anybody interested in going there better double check that. He could get me out of the hole by a length or so and I could not close the gap but, I felt I was making up ground on most of the sleds at the finish...I need to check my gearing again as I believe it is more set up for 1000' runs. The guy that had the sled originally said it was a beast on ice and I would guess the runs were considerably further than the Mancelona track.

It sounds like you did great for your first race! I'll have to try to find them on Youtube.

[Trying2]

Did all right. This year should be alot better. The first race this year is this sunday. I will post some videos. There is quite a few Vmax`s that usually show up. Last year Vmaxs ruled ruled the 800 catergies improved and mod. Hopefully the Maxs will rule again this year.