Team Faith Takes Their First GNCC UTV Championship

| October 30, 2009 | 0 Comments

Team Faith in their Yamaha Rhino - pic by racedaypix.com

K&N supported Team Faith won its first ever National Championship in the GNCC Lites Limited UTV Class in Crawfordsville, Indianadriving a Yamaha Rhino.

Team Faith entered the round, one point away from the series lead. “We worked hard all week to get the Yamaha 700 Rhino ready,” said Brian O’Rourke of Team Faith. “We knew the championship was on the line, but we were ready to race.”

The track was muddy and Team Faith made a last minute decision to run their ITP MudLite tires instead of the Terracross tread. “Both are awesome tires and provide great traction, but the MudLites have more of a tractor tread and work very well in deep mud,” said O’Rourke. “When we arrived at the starting line, we learned the course had been shortened from 5 miles to 4 ½ miles. Race control removed the ½ mile creek section from the event, but I was certain there would be enough mud and that our tires would give us a competitive advantage.”

GNCC Racing pushing the Mud - racedaypix.com

The Lites Limited class racers started twenty seconds apart. Team Faith drew a 2nd row starting position and managed to get the holeshot for its row. “We only had a clear track for a few moments before we caught up to traffic. Passing was impossible in the woods.”

Team Faith waited for the field sections and started picking off its competition. “We raced to a large, harvested cornfield with a Grand Prix style track,” said O’Rourke. “There were multiple turns and the dirt was tacky. We came through the first lap in 3rd place and were only 8 seconds away from the next competitor.”

Team Faith caught up to one of the leaders, but had problems steering. “I poked my head out and checked the tires and we had a flat,” said O’Rourke. “Our top speed went from 40 mph to 25 mph. It took all the horsepower of the Rhino 700 to turn the wheels.”

Victory Lane - racedaypix.com

Team Faith uses K&N air intake system, part number 63-1121 and K&N oil filter, part number KN-204. “We really noticed the horsepower we gained with the K&N air intake kit when we had to run the last 2 ½ laps on a flat rear tire,” said O’Rourke. “It took all the power we could get out of the Rhino 700 to make it to the checkered flag and secure our first National Championship win.”

Team Faith has put UTV racing on hold during the winter but will return to Arenacross racing in 2010.

About K&N Engineering, Inc.: With headquarters in Riverside, California, has been the world’s leader in performance filter technology since 1969, serving the needs of the automotive, motorcycle, marine, industrial and military markets. K&N is heavily involved in nearly every form of motorsports from off-road and powersports to drag racing, stock cars and road racing. For more information about K&N Filters, please contact K&N Engineering, Inc., P.O. Box 1329, Riverside, CA 92502-1329, (800) 213-4182 for a dealer near you, (800) 858-3333 for technical service/questions, (951) 826-4001 Fax, e-mail tech@knfilters.com, or visit www.knfilters.com.