It is always a pleasure to see that CFMOTO people across the world are experiencing together more with us.
This time, we are delighted to witness the success contributed by not only the ranking, but also by love and friendship.
Micheal Butters (“Mike” in below), a new CFMOTO family member from the USA, purchased the first ZFORCE 950 in March of 2021 and immediately became a fan of us. When being interviewed, he said:
“It is fair to say that I was born for racing. When I was 11 I started downhill Alpine skiing. From 12 till 20 years old I was mountain bike racing. The passion for racing has always been there. I guess I first started getting into side by side racing was by watching YouTube videos. In 2018 I convinced my fiancée to go check out a race with me on my birthday. Watching the race in person and talking to some of the drivers and spectators I realized that this was something that I could do. So, five weeks later my fiancée and I entered our first race. A two-hour endurance race in the pouring rain and the dark! We were not able to finish the race but we were hooked and knew that this was something that we wanted to continue!”
We must say, Mike and CFMOTO ZFORCE are perfectly made for each other.
Mike joined the UTV RALLY RUSH, the premier UTV racing series in the Northeast of the USA. It offers a competitive hybrid endurance style of racing. The tracks are a mix between woods rally and moto cross, with lengths ranging between 4 to 8 miles. Rally Rush is made up of two classes; R1, for more experienced racer, and R2, for the entry level racer.
In Round 1, like an old saying goes: The first step is always the most difficult. Obviously, Mike’s excitement was beyond words thus pushing his ZFORCE a little too hard. “It is the maiden voyage of my ZFORCE, he was so looking forward to his fantastic performance. However, sometimes higher expectation does not necessarily bring a good result. We broke the steering rack in Round 1 and finished 15th.” said Mike.
In Round 2, after having fixed the broken steering rack, Mike, together with his fiancée Kaytee, took a 4th place finish.
Round 3 was a complete mud bath and a double points race. People were over heating left and right with how much mud was caking onto their rigs. Everyone had to come into the pit after every lap to clean off their radiator. But nothing more should be expected after two days of straight rain.
Round 4 was all done by Mike himself. The race was full of surprise. On the first lap he came out of the woods section of the course onto the motocross track and sent it to hard onto a tabletop. Mike landed on the front tires and luckily bounced back to all four instead of flipping, made the “Jump of the day” and his pictures on the UTV Rally Rush Facebook page though. On the last lap he had a chance of making third on the podium but halfway he started to overheat from the mud on the course and had to stop to cool off. He ended up taking the 4th place. At this point he was comfortable with his ZFORCE, his lap time was picking up and he was confident that he could compete in the pro division.
Going into Round 5 he was sitting fifth in points. There was only a three-point difference from fourth to sixth place. Round five was his time to finally put ZFORCE on the podium. He lined up on the starting line with the points leader right beside. He knew that his SXS being turbo charged was going to take the hole shot, but no big deal. By the end of the race he had worked his way into the third place with a broken rear axle and all. He was so excited! It was a long time coming racing the SXS and finally being able to stand on the podium. He really feels like the CFMOTO ZFORCE is a great vehicle.
We are glad to witness the achievements of our riders. Mike involved his life into his performance and showed us a fantastic result. Meanwhile, we are so happy to see him immersed in love and friendship and finally built the success that truly belonged to him.
This is a very nice article!