STI ROCTANE RULES ON THE SHORT COURSE TOO

Posted on April 25, 2013

Is there anything the STI Roctane tire can’t do? Since its introduction only a few months ago, this extreme-duty, 8-ply-rated radial has shown its stuff in everything from hard-core desert events like King of the Hammers to GNCC woods racing to deep, slippery snow.

Now the Roctane is demonstrating its performance, durability and versatility in take-no-prisoners short course racing as well. STI-sponsored driver Nic Granlund has been campaigning a self-built Polaris RZR XP 900 on tracks around SoCal for a while now, and lately — with the help of his new Roctanes (mounted on new STI HD Beadlock wheels) — he’s been enjoying the spoils of victory.

He’s staying busy, that’s for sure. We’re going to step aside here to let his people tell us about one particularly long, busy, successful weekend he recently completed.
As Nic Granlund was preparing for the next round of the WORCS Series, he thought it would be a good idea to head down to Southern California for a doubleheader weekend. The weekend would start off with the Lucas Oil Regional Series race at Lake Elsinore and the following day at the Dirt Series at Perris Raceway.

When Nic took to the track for practice at Lake Elsinore he quickly noticed that it would require a completely different set up than the WORCS tracks would require. With his pit crew, Nic made some changes to the Polaris RZR XP 900 before qualifying.

As qualifying came around, Nic still had some improvements to make but managed a ninth place. When the main approached Nic and his pit crew had made some changes including a different size of the STI Roctane tires and some tuning to his Fox Shox that was expected to yield better results.

With a field of 20 competitors and starting from the fifth row, Nic used some creative race lines and quickly made his way up into the top five. On the second lap a competitor spun out in front of him causing a collision and pushing Nic back to tenth. Again finding some great lines, Nic made his way back in up into the top five. As the final laps approached there was a yellow flag caution and the field was grouped up again.

On the final restart Nic went a little wide in a corner allowing three competitors to slip underneath. While trying to regain his position Nic worked his way back to a seventh place finish! With what Nic learned at this round of the LOORS series he feels confident that in the future he will be able to battle for a podium position.

The second day of this doubleheader weekend brought Nic to Perris Raceway for round two of the Dirt Series. The Dirt Series is more of a motocross type track and Nic felt confident that with his years of experience racing ATVs this would be an excellent format that would suit his driving abilities.

Again after switching his STI Roctane tires, tuning his Fox Shox on the Cognito suspension and topping off the Torco oil, Nic felt that his Yoshimura-powered Polaris RZR XP 900 would be ready for the race.

As Nic strapped himself into his PRP racing seat the gate filled with 11 Production 1000 competitors for moto one. With a mid-pack start there was lots of tight racing and bumping through the first two turns when Nic noticed that his power steering had taken some hits and gone into overload protection mode causing Nic to complete the race with a lack of power steering.

After several hard fought laps Nic had worked his way through the pack into the third position. With only a few turns to go the leading competitor tangled with some lapped traffic, allowing the second place car and Nic to slip by. Nic followed the competitor closely to the checkers and ended up finishing moto one in second place!

Between the races Nic and his pit crew diagnosed the steering problem and reset the power steering. Feeling confident with his setup, Nic made no other changes before moto two.

When the gates dropped Nic timed it perfectly and managed to get the holeshot, but while leading the first lap he came around to see a red flag condition. The race was stopped due to a rollover with a driver in an unsafe position.

When the field lined up for a second time, Nic repeated his first-place starting performance. A few turns later a competitor made an aggressive move on the inside to take the lead, only to miss a corner causing his car to roll over and allowing Nic to regain first. From there on Nic held a steady pace for the next eight laps, consistently putting time between himself and his competitors while driving fast but maintaining control all the way to the finish for the win! With a moto score of second and first, Nic took the overall victory for round two of the Dirt Series!

Nic would like to thank his pit crew of Mike and Tedshred for always being there and helping out! Nic would also like to thank all of his sponsors for their great products and continued support: Fox Shox, STI Tire & Wheel, Got Tools Racing, Cognito. Nic G Motorsports, Torco oil, Yoshimura, Motoactive, Triumph Motorsports, PRP Seats, Summers Bros axles, DFR, CT Racing and AME grips.