Jerry
Boling, a veteran of GNCC racing and a frontrunner at the UTV Rally Raid series,
put his GPS Offroad/Tireblocks/SunF Tires Polaris XP 900 on the box this past weekend
at round five of the Rally Raid Series held at Windrock
ATV Park
in Oliver Springs, TN.
The Rally Raid is a
relatively new series that is quickly becoming one of the most popular side-by-side
racing series in the southeastern United States. Unlike most
series that travel from state to state, the Rally Raid takes place on the same
track at each of the ten rounds. Promoters had such success in the first
two years that they divided the series into north and south divisions, each
running their own ten race series at different locations. There will be an
invite only North versus South Race of Champions event at a yet to be
determined date to allow the best of both series to compete for the overall
title.
Every race is a
four-hour endurance-style format, including two hours in the daylight and two
hours at night with no break. The side-by-sides leave the starting line in
pairs every 30 seconds with all three classes competing at the same time. Starting
position is determined by a driver's finish at the previous race and scoring is
done by adjusted time.
In his second year competing
in the series, Boling is a regular in the North series and after struggling
with tire selection early on, finally has his Polaris XP 900 dialed in. Boling
arrived early Saturday morning to pre-run the course but a broken
axle cut his practice time short, allowing only enough time to complete a
single practice lap.
Boling started from
the third row alongside round one winner, factory Can-Am racer Kyle Chaney. Chaney
managed to nab the fastest lap of the day but would break down early in the
race, ending his day in sooner than expected. Boling opted to drive fast
but cautiously enough to ensure that his Polaris XP 900 would make it through
the entire four hours, which it did without any trouble. Because the race
is scored on adjusted time, racers are battling the clock and the course more than
each other-and the course certainly takes its toll on equipment.
After having some tire
issues at previous rounds, Boling switched to Sun F tires with Tire Block's run
flat system in hopes that the combination would serve him better on this
extremely rough course. Not only did he manage to run the entire
race without a single puncture, but the Sun F/Tire block combo was so light
that he was able to gain 10-15
mph on most areas of the course.
"There was one section I could only manage about 65 mph at the last race and
this race I hit 78 on the same section," said Boling. "I need to make some
more adjustments to my JRI Shocks to account for the extra speed, but once we
do that we should be good."
GPS Offroad Products
teamed up with Boling about midway through the season and is excited to have a
representative at the Rally Raid demonstrating the reliability of the
tire.
"We're ecstatic to
have Jerry put GPS Offroad and Sun F Tires on the box," said Seth Fargher, marketing
manager for GPS Offroad Products. "We've been slower to tap into the side-by-side
market and we're excited to have Jerry showing the durability of the tire. Matted
with the tire block's run flat system, it's a combination that's hard to beat."
