I'll add my overall experience.
1st, I had a ton of fun and appreciate the help of my good friend Waytay who helped me get to Havasu and Primm.
I started on the front row in Production 1000, and was supposed to have gate pick 4. In the driver meeting, they said it didn't matter where you are in the sighting lap, just pick your spot when you get back around. I was towards the back of the sighting lap and the front row was basically full when I got there. So much for that theory.
Driver Mtg
I squeezed in between Beau and RJ, which caused RJ to reposition to the left to give some breathing room between us. Turns out neither RJ or myself needed it because I was apparrently asleep at the wheel!
The whole front row left before I even stepped on the throttle I think. I blew it!
I proceeded to effectively take off on my own and still managed to not be last into the first turn. It was tight and the beadlock bolt damage to my nerf bars prove it!
Immediately we were in some of the MX jumps and this proved to be a problem for me as with only the single sighting lap I just didn't have a good feel for the jumps yet. I followed as best I could but was probably a road block for some others. I found I basically had more power than I could use and needed a combination of more talent and either EPS or some serious work at the gym! My arms were tired pretty early in the race and the wheel was hard to hang on to at times.
I ran a moderate pace for about 20 minutes, trying to really learn the track, until I noticed the handling was getting weird. Turns out I broke the rear sway bar. You can see it hanging on the left in Joey's CV Fire pic.
Broken sway bar
While I was trying to figure out what was going on with the handling, I lost drive to the left rear wheel. This resulted in more clanking from the rear (I could hear it over the engine even with the helmet on), and radical changes in direction when getting on/off the throttle, plus the added steering effort from the AWD kicking in almost constantly. I thought it broke an axle shaft but it turns out it was the left rear inner CV. Knowing I had some issues, and wanting to finish the race, I made the decision to back way off to make sure the right rear axle/CV didn't break and that I would indeed finish. This strategy worked as I finished under my own power in 14th but I definitely gave up a lot of positions in the latter part of the race. This is pretty clear in my lap times too.
Broken CV
So for Surprise in April, I'll have fresh rear axles and CVs, EPS, and a renewed effort to get a good start! Also, must get there for Friday practice as not knowing the track is a HUGE disadvantage!
Also, congrats to Waytay for holeshotting the 2nd row of Production 850 with his Benchmark powered 750 Teryx!