The Blingstar/Polaris Race team headed to Honolulu Hills in Taft, California this past weekend for the WORCS Racing Season Opener. The rough track proved to be very challenging for both drivers and their machines. A combination of dust, mud, huge jumps and squared off edges littered the grueling course. Despite the rough conditions, Blingstar’s Clint Roberts finished the four-lap race in ninth place in his new Polaris RZR XP 1000.
“The track was fast and the motocross section had some pretty big hits and you had to be on your game to keep up with the pace for sure. There weren’t a whole lot of places to pass,” stated Clint Roberts
With the New Year, the WORCS Racing Series chose to even the odds and draw for starting position for the opening round. Roberts started on the third row in the SXS Pro Class with 31 total entries. Roberts got a decent start off the line in fourth place around the first turn and made the quick pass for third place in his row. Like many, Roberts soon began to feel out the rough track and ran into an issue on the second lap.
“I was fourth in the first turn and was running third in my row for the first lap. On the second lap I ended up rolling on my side for a minute or so. After the second lap, my stock shocks began to get a little hot and I was blowing right through my travel. I saw a lot of people breaking; there were a lot of cars pulled over to the side. I went into the mentality to get through the first round and to finish top ten and then re-group for the second round,” explained Clint Roberts.
For 2014, Roberts has made the switch from a Polaris RZR XP 900 to the new Polaris RZR XP 1000. The Polaris RZR XP 1000 has raised the bar even further for the industry and it makes a perfect platform for racing even in stock from.
“Polaris did such a great job with the RZR XP 1000 this year. We are trying to keep the car as stock as possible. My DWT tires and wheels hooked up great on the rough track at Honolulu Hills. We have made a few changes to strengthen it a little bit.” Stated Team Owner and Driver Clint Roberts
The team has turned to JRi Shocks and is pumped to run their state of the art set up for the 2014 race season. Tony Cuva over at JRi has been awesome to work with and will be offering trackside support through out the year for all their racers. JRi brings their knowledge and technology from the NASCAR industry and I’m confident they will make a huge impression in the SXS industry for many years to come. The Blingstar/Polaris team will be running the new Lonestar Radius Rods at the next round as well to increase durability, and to improve suspension travel and handling.
The team consists of 3 SXS’s this year. Two of which will be racing the WORCS and BITD series and the 3rd car will be racing the GNCC series out on the East Coast.
Blingstar believes in racing the same exact products that they sell to the public. With that said, their production slam latch doors, bumpers, roll cages, harnesses and pro latch system is exactly what is used on their race version Polaris XP 1000; all of which can be purchased from dealers and distributors worldwide.
Robert’s teammate, Nick Nelson unfortunately experienced some mechanical issues during practice on Friday. Unable to fix the issue before the race on Saturday, Nelson was forced to sit out round one and prepare his SXS for the next round.
The Blingstar Team will be back in action February 7-9th at the Buffalo Bill’s Resort & Casino in Primm, NV for the second round of the WORCS Racing Series. The race will be exciting as both Nelson and Roberts will have their Polaris RZR’s dialed in and will be battling for the number one position.
2014 Blingstar / Polaris Race Team Sponsors:
Polaris, Blingstar, Lonestar Racing, JRi Suspension, DWT, SSi Decals, UTVunderground.com, Inland Powder Coating, P.C.I. Race Radios, Protective Film Solution, BShipman Films
http://www.racerpress.com/blingstar/worcs/01/
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