Right Out of the Crate

The Outlaw, a recent release from Polaris Industries, competed in its first race in the Stock Category and finished first in the class by almost 6-1/2 minutes over the second place finisher. WORC sanctioned the race, which was run at Speed World MX in Phoenix, Arizona. Jeff Bertuzzi was the rider.

According to Polaris, Bertuzzi's fastest lap put him in the top 10 of almost any class. The lap was faster than 15 of the 21 pros and faster than any of the Pro-Am riders and five of 13 Open Pro riders who ran the course.

Bertuzzi explained that most categories ran the same course in waves with results posted within each category. So a comparison of times between racers in different categories can be determined. Bertuzzi volunteered that the first wave was the Pro Racers; the second wave was the Production A Class competitors; and the third wave included Bertuzzi's category, the Stock A Class.

The course included a motocross track with 30 feet to 40 feet table top obstacles, a trail track with sandy wash tight turns, and a flat track, said Bertuzzi.

According to Bertuzzi, the Outlaw that was raced came right out of the crate. Only the tires were changed to Maxxis tires and the stock handlebar were changed.

He said that he got the bike only three weeks before the race and rode it near his home to get familiar with it. "I'm 6 feet 3 inches tall and the Outlaw was comfortable for me. I live in southwestern Utah where there are whooped out trails. So after work I just went out there and rode to get familiar with the bike. It handled really well. It has the best by far stock shocks I've seen on a four-wheeler. I went through whoops at similar speeds that I did on other aftermarket converted bikes."

He wasn't able to practice ride a course with obstacles until the weekend of the race and that was on the actual course on which the race was run. "The Friday before the race I was able to practice with obstacles when there was an open practice on the motocross part of the track. That was the first time I was able to jump the Outlaw. I was very impressed.

"Saturday morning they had an unclassified race," said Bertuzzi. "Anyone can go out for a $20 fee. It was more like a paid practice. We could run the open track for about 50 minutes so I could continue to get familiar with the track and bike."

When asked if anything about the Outlaw surprised him, Bertuzzi said, "I was surprised with the power off the start. It was a live engine start in gear. I was also surprised by the feel off the jumps. The independent rear suspension did not surprise me. Over the rutted stuff on the track I was able to go through things a lot faster without getting as worn out soaking up stuff. Off camber the bike did real well. The bumps that weren't even -- like just on the right or just on the left -- I felt them only on the side they were on."

More on Bertuzzi
Bertuzzi is 34 years old and an elementary school counselor at Washington and Panorama Elementary Schools in Washington, Utah. He started riding ATVs in 1985. His first ATV was a 1985 Suzuki Quad Sport. It was one of the first ATVs available and Bertuzzi was only 13 years old at the time.

"My step father, Michael Ledger, got me into it," said Bertuzzi. "He had three wheelers when he married my mom. We started in the desert then moved on to motocross tracks. My step father raced; my older brother, who is two years older than I am, raced; and my younger brother raced mini 80s. You can say it was a family affair."

He is now the only member of the family who continues to race. He first started racing in 1986 competing against three-wheelers. He started racing in the Pro class in 1991. He claimed that he is one of the few people to race in a Mickey Thompson Stadium Off-Road main event on a Kawasaki Tecate Four. He ran in local races in the Pro and Pro-Am classes and he raced the Pro Quad Stadium Series in Qualcomm Stadium in 2003 where he finished ninth on a supercross track. He also finished first in the USRA desert A Class in Utah in 2004.

Bertuzzi took time off of racing in recent years for school and work. He has started back into racing this year by signing to race the WORC Series in the Stock A Class for Polaris Industries.

When asked what was the best part of racing, Bertuzzi said, "I am a motocrosser by nature and I like the thrills of hitting a big jump. The best part of racing though is coming up from the back of a pack and passing everyone for first place. I also like the fans and their cheering. It gives me a big boost of adrenaline."

And the worst part of racing? "Repairs," he said. "But since I switched to four-stroke I haven't had a lot of repairs. So I guess the worst part is the expense."

He sees the future of ATV racing to be bright. "My career racing has been 20 years. And most of that time it was without factory support. Once you get extra help from a factory it makes things so much easier. There is not a lot of playing around money in this sport. Now that the factories are giving help, the new competitors don't have to wait 20 years. And the technology will make things better too. I'm racing the Outlaw from Polaris and an ATV like that was being talked about before the Outlaw was introduced. Racing independent rear suspension bikes was talked about for years. Now it's here with the Outlaw. We're starting to see fuel injection quad vehicles that are better, faster and more reliable and cheaper. You don't have to get a $5,000 aftermarket frame anymore to be competitive. I went out on a stock bike and won the stock class. The production class started out ahead of me with fully modified bikes and I passed 15 or 20 of them on a stock bike. Better technology makes the future look real good."

Finally, Bertuzzi hopes to see an East Vs. West A&A Series. "The west has the WORCS series which has grown by 20 percent. The east has the Grand National Cross Country. I would like to see races between the winners -- the WORCS racer winners against the Grand National Cross Country winners. I think that would really boost the sport."

"I would like to thank Polaris, Maxxis Tires, Pro Armor, Spider Grips, Steven Wade Power Sports for helping me set up my Outlaw, and Cory Hove, who is with ALBA, without whom I would not be racing for Polaris," Bertuzzi concluded.