Brian Bush - The good, the bad, and the ugly - KOH 2012

JoeyD23

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Brian Bush - The good, the bad, and the ugly - KOH 2012

On Thursday February 9th Johnson Valley California again played host to the 2012 King Of The Hammers UTV race. Teammates, Brian Bush and co-driver Greg Frantz of Lonestar Racing, and Rotax Your Rhino set out to back up their respectable third place finish from 2011. The two we’re lucky to have drawn the #1 starting position for Thursday’s race, but that wouldn’t be enough to seal up another podium finish.

Brian took the green flag at 8:00am leaving the line next to a Polaris XP900. The two cars raced over the start/finish jump and into corner #1 of the course. Brian took the hole shot and never looked back. The two set out at a comfortable race pace as they had the advantage of a dust free race course, and there was no need to throw the race away so early in the day.

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Once they were well underway, gauges were checked, race equipment was inspected, and nerves were settling. Brian describes his first feelings of the race as, “the best morning of racing I’ve ever hadâ€

They held off race traffic until around the 35 minute mark where they were passed by the (soon to be) race winner, Mitch Guthrie. Considering their considerably fast race pace, this meant Mitch was on rails! Just after being passed, the team made a navigational error putting them in a position where they were stopped for a couple of minutes. During this time, they were passed by 3 other cars. Brian quickly got back underway and gave chase. Within minutes he had passed two of the cars who passed them while stuck. They pulled into pit #1 in third place.

After taking fuel, Brian and Greg set out through the lake bed and put the hammer down. Everything on the race car was working flawlessly as they made their way towards the most difficult rock section on the course, “Elvisâ€
While pulling into the area where spectators were cheering racers on, there was no explanation as to why radio transmission was informing the team that they had a broken part on the front end. At this point Brian noticed the something wasn’t right, and co-driver Greg got out of the car to assess the situation. At this point the lower control arm was in the dirt and the Rhino would no longer move under its own power. The two were able to winch the car into a better spot where other cars would be able to pass them. The towel was thrown in.

This was said by Joey DiGiovanni who was at Elvis covering the event:

“Lastly I want to tell the story of Brian Bush. "Brian B." has been preparing his Rotax powered Rhino for battle since last years KOH race. With a little luck he drew the #1 start position for this years race putting his powerful UTV on the pole and in a prime position to make a run for the win. Brian settled into a conservative pace not wanting to risk a mechanical failure early on. After playing a little leap frog in the first 35 or so miles Bush would come into the gnarly rock section known as Elvis holding a firm 3rd place position. But as he would begin his decent a lower ball joint on the front of his UTV would give way causing a flat tire and then putting Bush wedged literally between a rock and a hard spot. Despite the efforts he and his co-dog Greg Frantz put in, Bush would be forced to throw in the towel and call it a day leaving his Rhino to plug the "easy" route down Elvis. This is where the story gets good. Instead of pulling up a rock and simply becoming a spectator Bush would roll up his sleeves and go to work helping every competitor behind him who needed a hand getting down the most difficult trail of the race. He spotted, pulled winch cable, pushed, lifted, moved rocks, laughed and encouraged all in the name of sportsmanship. It was awesome to see him become his competitor’s biggest cheerleader as they were all forced to create alternative lines to make their way out of this canyon of carnage! It would end up taking a real rock buggy to come into the canyon and pull his Rhino out from within the rocks grasp.â€

Brian states:
“Thanks for the kind words from all of our competitors, and spectators coining me the sportsman of the event. I’m a racer through and through, and I absolutely love everything about racing. We all have our good days, as well as the bad. Why would I sit around and feel sorry for myself while I could still be part of the race and help others out. Remember, at KOH, no outside assistance is allowed except from other racers. While I’m sorry for creating the unfavorable conditions at Elvis, I was happy to have been able to help the other racers get through itâ€

Stay tuned for an exciting announcement as Brian will announce a new race car build and scheduled racing events for 2012!
Brian would like to thank these people for their efforts. In no particular order:

Greg Frantz, Devin Murphy, Blake Rennie, Bob Nolan, Brent Macias, Branden Sims, Daniel Wilsford, Mitch Moody, Josh Hounslow, Stacey Jordan, Kyle and Michelle Hill, Joey DiGiovanni, William Baptist, Daniel Fernandez, and anyone else who offered support for this race.

Special thanks to Pitbull Tires, and SXS Performance for sponsoring this years King Of The Hammers UTV race, and The International SXS Association for sanctioning the event!

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Team sponsors:

Freedom RV
UTV Forums Network
WickedBilt UTV
Unique Metal Products
Rigid Industries
TCP Performance
PRP Seats
HJC Helmets
PCI Race Radios
Muzzys Performance
Rotax Your Rhino
DragonFire Racing
Pitbull Tires
Lonestar Racing
UTVUnderground
 
We had the pleasure of watching this exceptional display of sportsmanship in the midst of a huge train wreck.

Nice work Brian.........:cool:
 
Whatcha buildin Brian? huh huh?The ride you have now is badass.Not jumpin brands are you?
 
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Thanks guys! Great meeting you Jim! La Familia knows how to party!

I'm going to wait until I have a new unit in my possession prior to announcing it. Moneys tight, and I need to move a few things before another acquisition!

And I wouldnt be jumping brands if Yamaha would shit or get off the pot! I'm a Yamaha fan through and through but the wait is getting tiring.
 
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When have you ever known Yamaha not to beat a dead horse!Love my Rhino and I will prob be the fool to build a purpose built rig out of it but I can't bring myself to buying a Polaris.If I was to buy anything differant it would be a Cat.I've said it over and over.I started riding a dependable Yamaha Sled when I started in the snow and went to a Cat when I wanted bragging rights.Can Am would be a close second but I think there R&D departmartment was slow on there car.Not starting pissing matches here fellas just talking to a true Rhino nut.lol I own a Rhino and have no intensions of replacing it but I'm not waiting for them to release a new one either.Brian whenever your ready to box your drivetrain up and send it to OHIO let me know.:DTell then keep making us look like champs!
 
Bummer.:( I dont understand why so many of the LT manufactures out there use balljoints.
 
So they dont have positive camber at droop? :p

Possibly? Positive camber at droop isnt much of a problem, but the negative camber gain while cornering is a bonus when using a uni ball lower arm on a rhino. Anything is breakable, even a uniball joint or the hardened taper pin. I was not taking a shot at LSR I just figure they may have a reason that I didn’t consider:confused:
 
Then there is always this option...... "The Weller Spindles" by Cognito Motorsports:D (Uni ball lower spindle):D
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you will have to get a better picture of the uni ball area on that spindle Jim
 
Hey Brian, About 50% of racers dnf each race, now you should be the other 50% next race. I thought about switching brands but decided to keep yamaha & jump into the dsr1 class (abit twisted -but yamaha).can't wait to see your next build. Rich
 

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