By: Jason Giacchino
Email: offthepegs@atvsource.com

Racing Days Return

It’s hard to suppress the excitement in the air of late in terms of the manufacturer resurgence in race oriented quads. Just when Yamaha and Honda appear to have secured the industry, Suzuki steps up to the plate with it’s all new LT450R, in essence giving racers who wish to fly yellow two viable choices (as the hop up industry for the Quadsport Z400 has been a literal explosion). I have said it before but allow me to reiterate on the reality that these are indeed good days to be involved in the performance aspects of the ATV spectrum. Not since the late 1980's/ early 1990's have consumers been able to walk into a dealership and leave with a 4 wheeled machine actually intended for the race track.

As recent as 1985 a similar situation had unfolded: One in which Yamaha and Honda (and Kawasaki) had dominated the ATV racing scene with their Tri-Z, 250R, and Tecate 3 respectively. Of course this was back in the day when the word ATV was synonymous with three-wheels, injuries, law suits, and media exaggeration. Suzuki meanwhile, sat back quietly with a late entry race model that would not only revolutionize the industry at the time, but start a tradition that would continue even to this day. In 1985 the LT250R Quadracer hit the scene, combining the industry standard 250cc two stroke racing mill with the stability of a 4 wheel chassis. The rest, as they say, was history. The three wheeled phase was on its way out for reasons stated above while the manufacturers themselves focused on making the transition to 4 wheels exclusively.

The tragedy for ATV racing would follow shortly as activists and consumer advocacy groups fielded enough complaints to warrant action by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. As you are probably already aware, once the CPSC got involved, most of the manufacturers determined that the risks outweighed the benefits and began to cease production on the race devoted models. 1989 witnessed the final production run of Honda’s legendary 250R and by 1992 the relatively short-lived Quadracer was pulled as well.

And it was with that we entered into a bleak era of factory supported ATV racing. While the manufacturers focused their efforts on the utility/ recreational aspects of the sport, racers were forced to go to great measures of modification and aftermarket parts selection in effort to enter with competitive equipment (usually using the late model Honda 250R chassis as a starting point). It wouldn’t be until the dawn of the new millennium that manufacturer focus would again shift to include emphasis on sport/performance models again through the likes of Bombardier’s DS650, Yamaha’s Raptor 660R, Polaris’ Predator, Cannondale’s Cannibal, and Suzuki’s Z400.

While the proverbial paint was yet drying on the Raptor, Yamaha was busy developing a next generation platform, one that didn’t even attempt to hide the fact that it was designed for the race track. The bar was raised in 2004 when the YFZ450 began making its way into dealership showrooms, followed quickly by Honda’s TRX450R and for the first time in twelve long years, race specific quads were back.

In 2006, Suzuki proudly added to the tradition with a new take on the Quadracer label. Today’s LT-R series boasts an electric start, liquid cooled, fuel injected 450cc 4stroke engine (single cylinder) with a 95.5mm bore, 62.8mm stroke, DOHC and (4) Titanium valves. Adding to the excitement of the hour, manufacturer resurgence has resulted in drawing interest from several well established aftermarket/ performance companies into the sport of ATV racing. We are now witnessing high tech suspension entries from long-time snowmobile & mountain bike suspension manufacturer Fox as well as performance exhaust units from Superbike pipe extraordinaire, Yoshimura.

It is wonderfully refreshing to be involved in an industry during these early days of rapid growth, development, and outsider interest. In the hierarchy of powersports, quads have been long overdue in getting the respect owed to them. It’s better late than never!