Riding Winchester Bay at DuneFest 2010

| August 13, 2010 | 0 Comments

Main stage and manufacturer area at DuneFest 2010

The five-day 2010 DuneFest event was filled with fun activities for the whole family including ATV & UTV Racing, Sand Drags, Poker Run, Treasure Hunt, Show N’ Shine, Drive-In Movie Night, Charity Auction, Freestyle Shows and evening entertainment featuring Rock The Dunes on Friday and Saturday nights.

Vendor Row was packed with businesses offering the latest in ATV and UTV parts and accessories, clothing, crafts, and food booths.

I was lucky enough to pick up our demo 2011 Can-Am Commander 1000 XT the day before heading up to Winchester Bay so it was a perfect chance to try the newest UTV in the dunes.

Other than some paddle tires from Fullerton Sand Sports and mirrors from Axia Alloys, the Commander was completely stock. I put about 100 miles on the Commander over the weekend, and also displayed it in the vendor area with Got Sand? The Commander does great in the dunes. Lots of power (I went up Banshee Hill several times) and a smooth ride. The shocks are pretty good for stock. Smooth ride, but when you get aggressive, you can g-out just like any other factory shock. I really like the Fox shocks on the 1000 X. They are top of the line and if I had my choice I would get these. Unfortunately the 1000 X won’t be available until later this Fall.

It will be fun to see who can get long travel done in time for the Sand Sports Super Show next month. My Commander will be in our booth as well as my race Teryx.

I did line up with a stock RZR S and race up a pretty steep/long hill. We both had paddles, but the Commander needs a little clutch work to really shine with the 26″ Sand Blasters. The Commander was just ahead of the RZR S most of the way up until the last bit. The Commander just kept going (nice torque) and the RZR S slowed down considerably. There is a YouTube video that one of the RZRForums.net guys took, but it is real far away and hard to see what I am talking about. The RZR guys are all happy that the RZR didn’t lose by much, and it is funny to read the “brand loyalty” on some of the forums. In my opinion, the RZR S and Commander 1000 are both great machines, but they are really not in the same class – sport vs. sport/utility.

Can-Am, Yamaha, Arctic Cat and Kawasaki were all there with their newest ATVs & UTVs and most were giving demo rides. As you can imagine, Can-Am was swamped with demo rides for the Commander. These events are a great opportunity to take different UTVs out for a spin to see how they feel instead of just looking them over in a dealer showroom.

Muzzys 999cc Big Bore Kawasaki Teryx

I also hooked up with Muzzys and took their 850cc RZR and 999cc Teryx out for a spin. Both setups are big improvements over stock, but the 999cc big bore Teryx is in a class by itself. I ran around a bit in the Teryx while Rob tried out the Commander. After Rob headed back to camp I headed over to Banshee Hill. First I tried it in 4WD just to get the feel. Wow, that was impressive. Headed back down and put it in 2WD to see what would happen. It flew right up almost as fast in 2WD as in 4WD. The torque is HUGE. If you have a Teryx and want to go fast in the dunes, this setup is for you. Much more power than a stock Commander 1000. I sure hope to upgrade my 840cc Teryx to this setup this year. My Commander went home with Muzzys so they could do some R&D on an exhaust. Stay tuned for that. Just like all the other UTVs, Muzzys will have the best setup for performance and sound.

Polaris RZR S in the Last Man Standing UTV Race - DuneFest 2010

Eric Nichols in his Polaris RZR S during the Last Man Standing UTV Race

The racing was pretty entertaining. Tractor pulls. Last Man Standing. Rules are real lose. Pretty much just put a helmet on and run what you brung.Eric Nichols won the Last Man Standing UTV race in his MCX Turbo Polaris RZR S.

Only thing they need to think about is splitting up the turbo’s in their own class. Kind of hard to put a turbo RZR in the same class as a Teryx or Rhino. And the Redline single seater shouldn’t have been able to compete in a SxS race. They did have some pretty cool prizes and there wasn’t a ton of competitors.