Team Alba Racing Blog

SMITH TAKES THE WIN IN THE PRODUCTION 700 CLASS

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 23:57:50 +0000

RACE TOWN 395- KAYLA SMITH PRESS RELEASE

On May 12, 2012, Kayla Smith, in her #3 GBC, ALBA RACING ENGINES, SUMMERS BROTHERS, OFF ROAD WAREHOUSE, PRP, 747INK sponsored Rhino, rocked the WORCS track taking the win and fastest lap time for production 700 and a 5th place over all for 850 and 700 classes. Her ALBA RACING tuned motor once again ran flawless, giving her the power to close the door on the competition.
Kayla would like to thank her sponsors, ALBA RACING ENGINES, for a great power plant, GBC TIRES for putting that power to the track, OFF ROAD WAREHOUSE, SUMMERS BROTHERS racing axles, PRP RACING SEATS, 747INK, and all the guys and gals on the team for helping her move closer to hergoal of production 700 champion.

TEAM KAYLA SMITH # 3

Rahders takes 2nd in Alba powered RZR 570

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:36:47 +0000

CODY RAHDERS CONTINUES TO GO STRONG –

AND IN A GREAT POSITION TO TAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP

On a day with temperatures in the high 90′s the racing at Race Town 395
was just as hot.

30 cars lined up in the combined Production 700/850 class with 9 of
those entry’s in class 700 alone. Cody lined up in row 4 in his Polaris
RZR570 and when the green flag flew for his group he rounded the first
turn second to last.

“I got a good jump on the start but got pulled down the start straight.
Its a 45 minute race, I could have drove it in to the first turn hard to
get a better position but that’s a big chance to take, better to be
patient.”

Through the motocross section and out into the desert the order remained the same but when the group returned from the desert section Cody had gone from 8th to 4th and by the end of lap one he was in 3rd.

As the top three headed back into the desert the call came over the radio, “The dust is so bad I cant see a thing!” and upon returning form the desert section a portion of his front bumper was gone.

“I thought Havasu was bad, this was the roughest, dustiest race I’ve ever done. It was either stay right on top of the car in front of you or back off and lose them in the dust….looks like I got a little too close.” He said pointing at where the top portion of his front bumper used to be.

The top three were within 10 seconds of each other starting lap three and by the time the group returned from the desert section the leader had rolled putting Cody in second.

“Once we got back to the motocross section I really started to push, I was right on top of the leader about to make a pass and bicycled the car. I was over so far I could have reached out and touched the ground, it was the save of a lifetime….and no one saw it.”

Starting lap four Cody had gone from bumper to bumper with the leader to 15 seconds back and as they returned from the desert section for the last time he was within 10 seconds and finished it out second place in class and seventh place overall.

“Once the leader was out in front of me by a few seconds It was so dusty I couldn’t see anything and was beating the car to death because of it. At that point it was better to finish so I decided to just check up, hoped for a mistake, and take second.”

Cody Rahders Racing and R3motorsports would like to thank the following for their support:

Polaris Industries Cognito Motorsports UTVunderground.com [1]
Team Alba Racing Fox Racing Shox Pro Armor Black Rhino Performance
Mystik Lubricants Benchmark Performance RacerX Motorsports
And our personal sponsors
Superchips K&N Filters
Diffenbaugh Construction Frosty Burger Pine Valley
and SuperLite Championship

Next race, may 19th and 20th at LOORRS in the #16 SuperLite, check Cody
Rahders Racing facebook page for updates.

Doug Rahders
_R3motorsports_

Congrats to Cody Rahders! First place at WORCS

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:41:36 +0000

Cody Rahders wins Production 700 Class!!!

(report sent by Cody)

AZ. WORCS Round 4.

The Polaris Industries/CognitoMotorsports/UTVunderground.comRZR570 piloted by Superchips driver Cody Rahders came away from Round 4 with a win in the Production 700 Class.

On a cold and overcast day constantly threatened by rain Cody lined up against 6 other competitors in the Production 700 Class and a total of 29 in the combined 700/850 race. As the flag dropped for the 700 Class line Cody came through the first turn in second place and the top three quickly distanced themselves from the rest of the class where the order remained set for the first lap.

At the beginning of lap two Cody bicycled his car in a turn allowing third place to slip by. He quickly recovered and stayed within striking distance as the top three were never separated by more than 1 second through out the lap.

“Before this race Fox revalved my shocks and we made a spring change in the rear, after that my car handled so much better, I was comfortable the whole race and knew we had a good chance to win. Since the three of us were running the same pace I decided Instead of making crazy passes to just be patient and pressure the leaders.”

At the beginning of lap three the order still remained the same with Cody in third and glued to the rear bumper of second place when the leader made a mistake and hit a lapped car. The resulting impact sent her off the track with front end damage and a DNF for the day.

“Once first place went out my car was working so good that I just kept up the pressure.” Said Cody.At the top of lap four with Cody now running in second place current the leader shot off the track after suffering a steering failure and with that Cody set the cruise control and finished out the race with the
class win as well as taking 4thoverall out of 29 in the highly competitive 700/850 class combined.

“Alba Racing hooked us up with some mild engine tuning which made the 570 pretty quick. Now Alba, K&N, American Star, and Cognito, all have new parts for us to try, the 570 is fast but now it’s going to flat out rip when were done, it’s gonna be so fun!”

Cody and R3motorsports would like to thank the following for their support:

Polaris Industries, Cognito Motorsports, UTVunderground.com

Team Alba Racing, Benchmark Performance, Pro Armour

Black Rhino Performance, Mystik Lubricants, RacerX Motorsports

And our personal sponsors

Superchips, K&N

Diffenbaugh Construction, Frosty BurgerDoug Rahders
_R3motorsports_
619-887-8070

Cody Rahders
#816 WORCS Production 700
#16 LORORS SuperLite

KAYLA SMITH takes 3rd at WORCS

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:03:03 +0000

KAYLA SMITH makes it to the podium in her Rhino

WORCS series -- KaylaEngines, Summe

Kayla Smith # 3 Race Report
Lake Havasu City, AZ
March 17, 2012
On March 17, 2012 in her #3 GBC, Summers Brothers, ALBA Racing, Off Road Warehouse sponsored Rhino, Kayla Smith rocked the WORCS track in Lake Havasu City, Arizona and took a third place podium despite a large hole in her rim causing a flat tire on the first lap of the race. Her father, Trevor Smith reported how thrilled the team has been all season with the new GBC dirt commanders. Even after running for forty minutes flat at race pace the tire still held up allowing Kayla to finish the race without a pit stop.

Kayla’s ALBA Racing Engines tuned motor ran flawlessly all weekend giving her the power even with a flat to finish on the podium.

Kayla would like to thank her sponsors; GBC tires, ALBA Racing Engines, Summers Brothers, Off Road Warehouse, and all of her team for helping her move closer to her 2012 goal of Production 700 Champion. Looking forward to Phoenix April 14th for round 4 of the WORCS 2012 series!

Team Kayla Smith #3
Production 700 SXS

Rhino takes the win at the San Felipe 250

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:15:33 +0000

Underdog UTV takes the win at the San Felipe 250

We like those stories where the perceived ‘little guy’ comes out in front. That is exactly what happened this past weekend when Tom Graves and Rich Morel drove Tom Graves’ Rhino 660 in the San Felipe 250. This popular race is the first in the SCORE International series and this Alba built Yamaha Rhino managed a nice first place finish.

The UTV class is the 1800 class and this 660 was competing with the bigger guys—Teryx, RZR 900, etc. So Tom’s Rhino was understandably the ‘Underdog.’ “The reliability of the motor, the chassis and the fact that it has a 686 big bore kit all played a part,” noted driver and Alba Technician, Morel.

On the way to a Baja 250 win!

Victory Arm Pump!

First Place Finish for Rhino 700

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:39:20 +0000

Alba Powered SxS wins Adelanto Grand Prix Race

Larry Carraher took a first place win at the recent Adelanto Grand Prix. Driving his Alba powered Rhino 700 Larry ripped past everyone, taking the hole shot and never looking back. He ran a 15 min. lap time which was 41 seconds faster than anyone in his class, and he was 6th fastest overall which included the 1000 cc class.

Larry is ripping through the course in his Rhino 700

The Adelanto Grand Prix takes you through open desert and then a

crowd pleasing moto section with jumps, mud and more.

Want improved handling on your Raptor 125 or 250? Axles, wheel spacers, A-Arms and Shocks

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:17:11 +0000

Axles and Raptors

If you ride a Yamaha Raptor 250 or Yamaha Raptor 125 you probably noticed that you could use some more stability. There are a few ways to make your Raptor more stable. The idea here is to make the vehicle wider–the wider your Raptor is (up to a point) the more stable it will be. It is best to widen both the front and the rear of the vehicle equally for the best overall handling, however if money is not unlimited (like most of us) and you can not do it all, the rear end will give you the most bang for the buck. The rear shock will not need to be changed which saves a substantial amount of money. You will notice a big difference with only doing the rear end.

There are two ways to make the front of the quad wider. The best way is accomplished with the addition of front A-arms which are wider than your stock arms. Typically the arms will be two inches wider per side for a total of four inches increased overall width. Pricing for A- arms can range from $350.00 up to $800.00. When you widen the front arms your front shocks will get much softer due to the additional leverage the wider arms provide. Depending on rider weight this can be good or bad. Most stock shocks come extremely stiff from the factory. If you are watching your money try the stock shocks and see how they work. If they are bottoming out you will definitely want to look into a set of aftermarket shocks. It is recommended that you replace your shocks with some that are properly set up for the extended arms. There will be a big difference in how the quad performs. If you don’t want to spend the money on new A- arms then wheel spacers are a good alternative. These are economical and easy to install. They should cost between $55.00 and 75.00. Be careful of widths. We recommend using spacers no more than 1-1/4″ width each. This gives 2-1/2″ width increase overall. The reason we don’t like to use wider spacers is due to bump steer. This is dangerous and happens when you move the wheels further out from the ball joints (this does not happen with wider A- arms).

The widening of the rear end can be accomplished by a couple different methods. Either an aftermarket extended axle or wheel spacers. The extended rear axle is the best choice. The reason the extended axle is the better choice is that it is much stronger. The stock axle is already weak and intended for recreational riding. When you add wheel spacers to the end of the stock axle and space your wheels further outward you are increasing the leverage on the axle and increasing the load it is under. If you are jumping the quad wheel spacers are not a good choice as you will increase the chances of breaking the axle. Aftermarket axles are made of chromolly and are hardened which makes them perfect for the application. You will be able to do some major jumps and deal out any punishment (ride hard) – it will take it. But like all things the right way to fix the problem is the expensive way. Wheel spacers range from $50-$150, and a rear axle will run you about $180-$500. There are several axle companies making extended axles for the Raptor. Alba Racing, Durablue, and Lonestar. They are all very high quality and have lifetime warranties. These axles can be found online on sale for roughly $180 for the Alba, or $300-320 for the Durablue or Lonestar. Bang for buck the Alba racing axle is the clear winner. It is proven to be just as strong as Lonestar and many think it is stronger and prefer it to the Durablue. As far as installation goes the axle is more work than the wheel spacers, but if you ride hard and/or like to jump go for the axle, it will be worth it in the long run.

Extended Axle for Raptor 125/250

Riding and Racing Pics

admin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:59:55 +0000

Our picture gallery is finally up! We will be sharing pics of Alba riders and racers. If you have a nice shot, please send it to us and we will include it in our gallery. Click ‘more info’ to see the Alba Racing Gallery. We have some customers with engine kits and other mods, lots of cool riding shots and racing pics.

Polaris Ranger and RZR Fuel Pump Problem: Is your Polaris Running Poorly?

admin — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 22:40:01 +0000

We really like the ride of the Polaris UTVs. Unfortunately, we have noticed that Polaris built the RZR, RZR-S, and Ranger XP with an unreliable fuel pump. In fact, the fuel pump is one of the main problems we see at our service and performance shop. The symptoms you typically experience when your pump is failing are poor upper RPM performance, a loss of top speed and poor acceleration. This definitely makes your Polaris much less fun to drive, but even more importantly, a fuel pump problem can cause your engine devastating damage by not supplying enough fuel. When your engine doesn’t receive the required fuel it will run lean.

This creates heat which can cause detonation in the combustion chamber. The worst case scenario (and we have seen this many times) is that the intense heat will actually melt a hole in your piston. Here is what happens. After some usage the pump will wear and then drop from the factory PSI setting of 39 psi, to the low 30s. When your upper revs are sluggish you just aren’t getting any fuel. To test this install a fuel pressure gauge at your tank outlet. You can buy these at NAPA or PEP Boys. It is necessary that you rev your engine when testing because many times the pressure will be good at idle but not at the upper RPMs.

To replace your pump with the OEM fuel pump you will need to spend upwards of $600. The high price is because it is only available with the complete fuel tank assembly. Fortunately you can purchase a replacement fuel pump which will work on most Polaris S X S vehicles. Replacement pumps come with color instructions and include everything you will need for installation. Generally they can be installed in about 30 minutes with simple hand tools. The pump plugs right in with no wiring needed.

Replacement pump from Alba Racing

If you are experiencing poor performance with your Polaris Ranger or RZR this may be your problem. Check out your fuel PSI and if needed get a replacement fuel pump. You bought your Polaris to have some great times. Now you can get back on your UTV and enjoy its top performance once again. As a sidenote this same problematic fuel pump is used in many of the fuel injected Polaris quads. If you own a Polaris ATV and you are having similar symptoms simply follow the same procedure for testing the PSI. Replacement pumps are also available for the Polaris Sportsman.

Patrick Hove manages Alba Racing, a service and performance center for motorcycles, ATVs and UTVs in Santee, California. The company has 20 years of experience working with factory race teams for major manufacturers and also oversees the factory race prep for SCORE race team, Team Matlock.
If you’re interested in increasing your performance and the riding experience (improve stability or handling) you can reach company at 858-413-2598 Pacific Time or view the website at http://teamalbaracing.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patrick_Hove