“stocker” brought in by Big Moose Arctic Cat at the 19th annual Adirondack Shootout. After reviewing the Shootout acceleration ET MPH data, I have to conclude
that it was way too fast. It had to be a cheater. I am suggesting to AmSnow Sr Editor Mark Boncher who was at the Shootout, that he eliminate the results of the Crossfire 1000 from the Shootout, and leave the Z1
results as the Unlimited Class sole participant.
During the Shootout we make on-site real-time comparison of stock vs trail mod
difficult since we public address and listen to 1320′ results of stockers and
1000′ results of aftermarket trail mod sleds. But after getting back home
and assessing 1000′ results of stockers I can see clearly the supposedly stock
166hp Xfire1000 was much more powerful than that. In 1000′ it was as fast as
D&D’s 195hp 901cc piped Xfire800 clutched and driven by Scooter, and faster than Bikeman’s stock Xfire
1000 with BM pipe, reeds, and dyno tuned at my place at 193hp.
I should have been diligent enough to realize that when the stock Crossfire
1000 was much faster than the Z1 in 1/4 mile something must have been amiss,
and we should have teched the Crossfire 1000 immediately on-site.
Once again, mia f’ing culpa.
But even though the Unlimited Class results are tainted by this, the 600 class
and 800 class results are as they should be.
When we decided at the last minute to have an unlimited stock class to
differentiate from the 800’s we included the two big Arctic Cats– Z1 turbo and
the Crossfire 1000. And because it was an all-Cat class, George Taylor and I
unwisely assumed that the dealer Big Moose Yam/ Arctic Cat would leave things
alone and let the sleds run stock. They were already bringing a trailer-full of Cats and Yamahas to dyno certify, and a second trailer was a lot to ask. There should be no incentive for them to
cheat one over one another since they were the same brand. So we allowed Big
Moose to keep the sleds, no dyno certification and lock-up, let them run in the Unlimited Stock
class amongst themselves. AC lobbied for some miles on the Z1 for breakin and we
concurred that that was acceptable, and Big Moose was allowed to run the sled
on the trail for the breakin miles AC requested with no supervision.
The Z1 was surely left stock–the timed performance was commensurate with power
to weight ratio. It’s reasonable to let those Z1 results be included in the
Shootout.
But for now, in the interest of fairness to everyone including the very
important aftermarket participants, the Crossfire 1000 results should be
deleted.
After The Shootout banquet at the Trail’s End Restaurant in Old Forge, Big Moose Cat tech Vince was overheard bragging that he had fooled us by cheating with modifications that I won’t disclose here. That explains the too-fast performance of the Big Moose Crossfire 1000 that closely matched the 190 plus HP Crossfires brought by D&D and Bikeman.
Today I called Big Moose co-owner Phil Martin to explain this discovery. He indicated no knowledge of this cheating by Vince. I can accept that, because I’m sure that Phil and Jon Martin both have IQ’s high enough to realize the negative results of this buffoonery–make the Z1 look slow so no one will want to buy them? Make the aftermarket trail mod Crossfires from D&D and Bikeman look like a poor investment? Make their Crossfire 800 sleds look slow?
I’m awaiting a response from Mark Boncher, Sr Editor of Am Snow who covered the Shootout. George Taylor and I had stressed to all dealers the need for a flawless Shootout and this is what we got. It was Mark who sold the AmSnow owners on partnering once more with us for Shootout 19, and I’m hoping this doesn’t create a problem for Shootout XX.