Get Started in Youth ATV Racing

After test riding for ATVScene for more then a year, Ethan Wingate is ready to try his hand at racing. Read on as we go through what it will take to get both him and his machine ready for competition. Undoubtedly, getting your child involved in the sport of ATVing opens the door to an entire world of exercise and outdoor adventure. In this age of PlayStation2 and X-Box 360, many children would be far better off if they would get that ever expanding hind end off the couch.

As with most activities, once participants gain experience and confidence, the need to compete often arises. Competition gives the opportunity for an individual to test themselves and their skill against other people. For young riders wanting to try their hand at racing, competition also gives the opportunity to teach sportsmanship, the ability to deal with success and failure and builds friendships that can last a life time.

With another season already underway, we thought we would take a basic common sense look at what it takes to get a young rider ready for their first race. We’re going to look at what techniques to practice, what gear to purchase, and what it takes to build a beginner level race machine. So read on for some expert advice from our staff and Mini KB Performance Warehouse as we help you get a grip on what it will take to get your youngster and his machine ready for that memorable first race.

Before you start this project, remember that external mods aren’t allowed in the ATVA 50cc stock production class for four and five year olds. If you race outlaw, or your child fits into the six to eight year old crowd in the 50cc production class, than standard production rules apply. The Kasea 50 is a very popular machine and its anemic stock performance makes it the perfect candidate for this project.

Our first time racer
You might remember Ethan Wingate from our Kymco Mongoose 50 test back in 2004. Well, Ethan is a bit older now and has several years of riding experience; however he has yet to race an ATV. Ethan has plenty of riding experience at local tracks with other kids and has spent plenty of time play racing with ATV Scene editor Joe (Magoo) Tolle. Ethan has shown plenty of aggression when it comes to jumping and has demonstrated good judgment along with excellent control over the machine. He is definitely a good candidate for competition and has expressed interest in getting out there and battling with the other kids.

Your child’s first race should come about due to their desire to compete, not because dad wants to Jr. on the racetrack. Through the years, we have seen a few kids that look like they have no desire to be out on the track. A child who wants to race and feels comfortable on the track with the other kids will be much less of a danger to themselves and others, than a child who is being forced to race by his parents.

With the above said, if your child has been riding a while and you would like to see if they have an interest in racing, we suggest you take them to a race and see if it creates interest. Seeing other kids their age competing will often be all the encouragement they need to give it a try. Checking out the racing footage on ATV Scene and print magazines is also a good way to introduce the idea of racing to your young rider. We would also recommend taking your kid to your local track on practice day too see if introducing your child to other young riders brings out a competitive attitude. No matter how you introduce your youngster to the world of racing, just make sure that when it comes time to line up for your first moto, your child is there because they want to be, not because you are fulfilling your childhood dreams through your kid.

Basic Riding Skills
Before you take your child to their first race, they should have a good foundation of riding skills. It is important that riders can confidently operate the controls of their machine without thinking. If your rider gets in trouble, it is imperative that he or she can react without thinking. A split second could make the difference between crashing or successfully avoiding an accident.

In order to control an ATV at high speeds, the rider must use proper body english. Hammering down a rough straight requires a rider to stand in the proper attack position with elbows up and knees and back bent. Acceleration and braking require the rider to more forward and rearward on the machine respectively. Turns are about the only time that a racer’s rear end should touch the seat. Even at this time they should be holding much of their body weight on their feet, allowing them to move around to counter weight the machine as they drive through corners. Practice proper use of the body positioning with your rider. Proper body positioning should be a natural part of riding before you take your child out for their first race.

Most kids don’t need direction in finding the throttle, so it is important to work with your young rider on braking. Many beginners are afraid that using too much front brake will result in going over the handlebars. With the front brakes providing 70% of the stopping power on an ATV, it is important that aspiring young racers make a habit of using both the front and rear brakes at the same time to scrub off speed.

Extremely young racers don’t need to be worried all that much about jumping, however you may want to cover the basics. but don’t get too overwhelming in your detail. Children respond better to small bits of information and are less likely to freeze up due to confusion. Take your child to a track and work with them on small jumps. Make sure that your rider is coming off of jumps while standing in the attack position and let them progress at a pace that is comfortable for them, that is unless they are going in over their head too quickly. Many first timers are intimidated by the face of large jumps, this sometimes causes them to roll onto the face of the jump with no momentum, resulting in them getting stuck half way up the face of the jump. If the track you are going to race at has large jumps that your child won’t be jumping, get them familiar with rolling over large jumps to prevent them from getting stuck and rolling backwards.

You may also consider letting your child learn from someone with experience like Joe Byrd from the Joe Byrd Quad Riding School. We attended his school earlier this fall and highly recommend it, (click for our Joe Byrd Riding School Evaluation). Joe covered all of the aspects of racing. Joe keeps it both fun and educational for his students. He offers a school specifically for mini quad racers that covers all of the basics of racing and let them practice with other kids their own age. Parents will go home with drills that they can then practice with their kids to continue to hone their skills.

Building an Affordable Beginner Race QuadWe decided to go with the Kasea SkyHawk50 for this how-to piece. Besides being one of the most popular beginner level machines out there. The Kasea is somewhat anemic in stock form, making it easy to ride for beginners and the machine responds well to modifications making it a viable choice for competition use.

Since this machine is for a beginner level rider, we wanted to turn our Kasea into a mildly modified machine that would out perform a stock SkyHawk in every way. To point us in the right direction, we contacted KB Performance Warehouse, located in Fremont Ohio. KB Performance set us up with a bolt on motor and suspension package designed to add some zip to the motor’s slow revving stock power characteristics and enhance the machine’s handling everywhere on the track. From there we added a new tire and wheel package, a few items designed to make the machine more comfortable and added the finishing touches to make our machine race legal.

To open up the machine’s intake to match the exhaust, KB Performance sent us a UNI filter (which clamps directly to the carb), carbon fiver reeds and the jetting to set up the carburetor correctly. KB says adding a larger carburetor will further enhance performance, but is not necessary in order to make the machine run with the opened up intake and exhaust.

KB Performance Motor Mods
Modifying a mini quad isn’t as simple as hopping up many larger ATVs. It takes more then a pipe to make most minis rip, so KB Performance sent us the basic parts needed to give our Kases’s motor a personality adjustment. At the heart of the package is a Mini Quad Racing exhaust system. We instantly noticed that the three piece exhaust system looks slick on the shop bench with the chrome pipe and black exhaust.

To complement the exhaust on the intake side, KB sent a UNI filter that clamps directly onto the carburetor. Most mini quads have poorly designed air intake systems with tiny filters. The clamp-on UNI should do a lot to increase airflow into the engine. KB Performance also included a set of carbon fiber reeds. The reeds should allow for quicker throttle response and a slight increase in power throughout the powerband. To tie all of it together Mini Quad Racing sent the necessary jets to dial the carburetor in for the freer breathing engine.

Along with sending us the parts to wake up the power producing part of the engine, KB Performance also sent us a completely new clutch setup which included the clutch, variator, different weight rollers and clutch spring. You will never be able to take advantage of the extra power provided by top end bolt ons, if you don’t re calibrate your CVT transmission to match the machine’s new power output. This is one of the trickier parts of getting a mini racing quad dialed in, and we are glad to have KB Performance there for technical support.

Chassis/Suspension Mods
The stock suspension on the Kasea is far from race ready and although the machine’s stock dimensions are fine for casual riding, it’s a bit narrow for high speed cornering. Starting out with the width, KB Performance sent us a pair of their +2+1 chromoly A-arms. These arms are designed to work with either stock or aftermarket shocks. Since the front stock shocks are so over sprung for the stock A-arms, KB Performance feels that they can actually work with their longer A-arms, as long as the rider isn’t extremely aggressive in the rough stuff. We didn’t want to spend a fortune on an axle at this point so we decided to use wheel spacers to achieve our desired width in the rear. Ricli, a subsidiary of Kejo LTD, offers wheel spacers for almost every sport ATV on the market and offers a set of +1.5in wheel spacers for the Kasea 50. One call to Kejo and we had a set on the way.

While the stock front shocks might work with KB Performance +2+1 arms, our rider is aggressive enough that we felt he could really benefit from more capable aftermarket suspension, so we ordered a set of I Shock suspension for our machine front and rear. These piggyback reservoir shocks feature progressively wound springs, preload and rebound adjustability. And look trick. These shocks are available exclusive through KB Performance. I Shock hasn’t done any testing with their Pit Bike shocks on mini quads, so they don’t currently sell them directly.

 

Wheel PackageTo reduce unsprung weight and improve the looks of our machine we went with a set of Blue Label Douglas wheels all the way around. The Blue Label rims aren’t strong enough for racing applications on big quads, but work pretty well on the minis.

We didn’t want to go with a large motocross front tire, (more on that later) so we went with 8 inch rims all the way around. The Kasea has some clearance issues with the brake adjustment system up front, so we had to run +2+4 offset rims up font for clearance purposes. Out back we combined our Ricli +1.5 wheel spacers with +2+4 rims to balance the machines width front and rear.

A lot of parents make the mistake of replacing smaller front tires with large 19 inch motocross tires too soon. Most six year olds are overwhelmed by the extra weight and bump steer caused by the larger wheels, so we went with 16 inch Carlisle Knobby tires all the way around. The tread is similar to the machine’s stock Duro tires, but the tread pattern is wider spaced allowing for better traction and easier tread cleaning. These tires should work considerably better than the stock tires on the tacky clay-based tracks.

 

New controls
To make our Kasea race legal, we added a set of Battlebarz, aluminum pro-peg style nerf bars from K-Fab. These nerf bars feature an aluminum foot pegs that offer a much more secure platform to stand on, especially compared to the machine’s stock rubber foot pegs. These nerfs also feature a tubular heel guard and rear kick up to protect a young racers foot in the event their foot slips off the peg. Another feature that we noted about these nerfs was the webbing, which comes sewn to the nerf bar. This eliminates any need to install the nets, but you lose your ability to loosen of tighten the nets. On a machine with no shifter, this may not be a big deal. .

At the top of the cockpit we went to work on the flight controls replacing the machines stock steel handlebars with a set of FMF 909 handlebars. The stock bars are a bit more swept back than we would like for aggressive riding. This straighter bar should aid in getting the riders elbows up and getting into the attack position. We will cut these CR low bend bars down a bit once we install them on the machine.

Since the handlebars are a too low of a bend, and the stock bar clamps wont accept a 1 1/8in bar, we are going to install a set of ROX Speed FX anti vibration bar risers. The ROX bar risers will raise the bars two inches which should have them at just about the desired height. In addition, the bar risers can be swiveled forward or rearward giving us the ability to dial in the machine’s ergonomics. Finally, there’s the bar riser’s anti vibration rubber mounts. Using the same rubber bushings as the Honda CR250 dirt bike, both us and our rider Ethan are hopeful that these can filter out some of the machine’s annoying vibration from the handlebars.

Numbers
Most tracks require ATVs to have a front and rear number plate. To make sure everyone knows who we are we ordered a set of custom made number plate backgrounds from BRM Offroad (brmoffroad.com) for our Kasea. When they arrived, they were just as we had ordered, Black backgrounds with white numbers outlined in blue.

The kit includes front and rear number plate backgrounds, pre installed on hard number plates for mounting to the front bumper and grab bar and two precut number plates for the rear fenders. We are very happy with the looks of these and cant wait to get them on the machine.

Gearing up for race day
With all of the machine’s parts in hand, we went ahead and ordered all of the riding gear necessary to make sure Ethan’s first race was as safe as possible. Starting at the top, we ordered an AFX FX-87 helmet with a satin blue and silver chrome finish. The helmet is DOT and SNELL approved offering quite a bit of protection at a bargain price.

Ethan has worn this brand of helmet since he started riding, so we stuck with it since he is already comfortable with its fit.

To handle eye protection we ordered a pair of Scott Voltage R Pro goggles. These goggles are designed for youths and riders with smaller faces.

They feature a dual density foam strap and Scott’s WORKS lens, which features tear off pins built in. These goggles had all the features we were looking for in a competition goggle at a very reasonable price and considering how hard kids are on goggles we were happy so keep the price down.

Covering the rest of our rider is a brand new set of FOUR Profile gear. FOUR’s Profile line is so affordable that there is no excuse to skimp on protection. Along with the new Profile pants, jersey, and gloves, which are all designed specifically for ATVers, we ordered a pair of FOUR VRX boots.

These affordably priced boots offer great protection for the money with the reinforced ankle and shifter plates and the treaded boot sole which makes walking and pushing the quad around much easier than a normal slick MX boot sole. See the complete FOUR profile and VRX boot Test .

We looked at Ethan’s current chest protector, which was made by HRP, and decided to use it a while longer.

It’s not broken and still fits fine so we saw no need to replace it. We were glad to hear that HRP is offering a $30 trade in deal for riders looking for new chest protectors and we plan on taking advantage of this deal once Ethan finishes outgrowing his current one.

 Part 2
I n the second part of our article, we will assemble our machine and see what it takes to dial it in. Then we’re off to see how well the machine works as we let test rider Ethan Wingate run his first race ever at Earlywine’s Indoor Motocross. We will also have test riders Austin and Trevor Miller take our machine for a spin to get their opinion.

 

ATV Price
Kasea SkyHawk50	$1999
Modification Prices
Technigas Exhaust Pipe	$325
Uni Filter	$25
Carbon Fiber Reeds	$16.99
50cc Variator	$56
Lite Weight Clutch Assy.	$64
Main Clutch Spring	$6
Various CVT Rollers	$18.50
I Shock front and rear shocks	$585
KB +2+1 A-arms (includes A-arm & tie rods)	$285
FMF 909 Handlebars	$104.95
Rox Speed FX Anti-Vib Bar Risers	$149.95
Douglas Blue Label Wheels	$41.90
Carlisle Knobby Tires	$185
KB Performance CDI Rev Limiter	$90
BRM Off Road Graphics	$52.50
Ricli +1.5in Wheel Spacers	$80
Total	$2085.79
Ride Gear Prices
AFX FX-87 Blue Chrome Helmet	$104.95
Scott Voltage R Pro Goggle	$34.95
HRP Flack Jack 2 Chest Protector	$119.95
FOUR Profile Jersey	$21.99
FOUR Profile Pant	$59.99
FOUR Profile Glove	$14.99
FOUR VRX Boot	$119.99
Total	$476.81
Grand Total	$4561.60

Contacts
KB Performance Warehouse
ROX Speed FX
Douglas Wheel
Carlisle Tire
BRM Off Road Graphics
FMF
FOUR
AFX Helmets
HRP Sports
Scott USA

 

Tags:

Comments

comments