Area BFE Beatdown with Jeremy McGrath!
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- Опубліковано 13 вер 2024
- It’s an oft-used cliche in motorsports circles, and I believe it was first made popular when so many retired motocross racers and freestyle riders threw their har into the off-road truck racing arena. With extensive experience and knowledge about traction, line choice, and racecraft, short course truck racing is an easy transition for most two-wheeled veterans. Guys like Brian Deegan, Jeremy Stenberg, Ryan Beat, Ricky Johnson, and yes…Jeremy McGrath, have all quenched their thirst for racing competition on four wheels. McGrath, in fact, earned the Lucas Oil Off-Road Series championship in 2017 with four race wins and eight podiums.
Little known fact: the Swapmoto Live offices are nestled deep within the Jeremy McGrath Motorsports Race Shop in Lake Elsinore, California, in an upstairs loft that The King cleared out for us to have a home base in. Every Monday, I walk past MC’s championship-winning Pro 2 truck (which is for sale, by the way), his 1992 125 Supercross Championship-winning Pro Circuit Honda CR125, a No Fear Jeremy McGrath pinball machine, a Jeremy McGrath soda vending machine, hundreds of trophies, a couple of modern Kawasaki KX450s, one badass KX500, and two or three Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000 side-by-sides.
These days, Jeremy doesn’t ride as much moto as he used to…mostly due to a knee replacement surgery last year that he is still recovering from, but he is still representing Kawasaki incredibly well with his newfound love of side-by-side driving and racing. Kawasaki is relatively new to the high-performance side-by-side game but the KRX 1000 Teryx is widely acclaimed as the best-handling side-by-side on the market, thanks to an amazing chassis and suspension. Walking past the Teryx in the office, it’s hard not to grow interested in driving one. I mean, when I was younger the Honda Odyssey was the bee’s knees: an air-cooled 250cc two-stroke off-road buggy with a rigid chassis! My, how far things have come!
My first opportunity to drive a Teryx came in early September when Jer invited Chase Curtis and me to join him in the Stoddard Wells off-road area near Barstow, as he had some tire testing to do with the Maxxis crew. Strapped into McGrath’s backup Teryx, Chase and I drove around the area and I could not believe the things we could climb in it! As we approached one rocky ascent, I asked Chase if we should turn around, over the Lowrance radio system in our helmets. “No way man, this will go right up that no problem,” he replied. (Chase, apparently, has spent plenty of time in side-by-side vehicles before.) So I steered straight ahead and pinned up. Of course, it was no problem at all for the Teryx, and I smiled wide beneath my helmet. Later on, when I told Jeremy about my experience, he laughed and said that was like the bunny slope at a ski resort. Deep down, I was thinking we were pretty badass for driving up the rocky hill, and I quickly declined when he invited me to sit passenger during his next testing lap. With a freshly healed neck injury that had sidelined me for 12 weeks, I was scared to have my head flopping around as I held on for dear life. Haha!
A couple of weeks ago, Jeremy again invited Chase and me to join him on another side-by-side adventure, this time the destination was Moab, Utah, for the BFE Beatdown round of the Ultra 4 National Championship Series. Knowing that there was some pedaling time in the plans, I also invited my good buddy and SML contributor Steve Emter. Forgive my ignorance as I write this feature, as I am completely new - yet very interested - in this form of competition. As we drove to Utah. Jeremy was unsure if we would actually race, as he was mostly going to support Kawasaki’s Teryx KRX 1000 demo program at the event. I was excited to get to Moab for multiple reasons: to finally ride shotgun with Jeremy as he pre-ran the racecourse, to watch my first UTV race, and also to mountain bike Moab’s infamous slickrock trail.
Check out the action from Area BFE!
100% Rad video edit!!!! Loved it..didn't last long enough only sad thing..lol Kool ✌
The KING of anything he sets out to do. KING72
King of hammers 2021 champ!!!
Curious about the one backwards front tire. Great video!
Did you brake the old style knuckle or the new beefier knuckle?
The right front tire is on backwards
Bring back alcohol and cigarette sponsors, these energy drinks are getting lame. I wanna see Anderson on a Four loko husqvarna
Somebody was sponsored by Jagermeister back in the day. Had black and orange jager graphics too
So I see he dumped the stock Kawasaki shocks and springs 🤔