The Coos Bay UTV Takeover is now in its tenth year and continues to see growth every year in attendance as well as corporate support. You can come down for any or all of the five days that there are events happening. It is the largest UTV community event on the west coast.
Coos Bay UTV Takeover
Coos Bay UTV Takeover
So, what do you do there?
No matter what your vehicle, your age, your budget or your enthusiasm level there is something for everyone to experience. Within the smaller area around Boxcar Hill Campground is where you can find competitive events for all ages, demo rides with UTV manufacturers Speed, Segway and Polaris, vendor rows with every aftermarket gadget imaginable for a UTV, raffles, food trucks, axe throwing and maybe even rub elbows with or compete against the likes Robby and Max Gordon, RJ Anderson, Casey Currie or Blake Wilkey.
Day rides, night rides, poker runs, get-togethers, cornhole, show and shines both day and night, tire toss competitions for adults, teens and kids, a Stereo War and the ATC 70 Olympics. You like racing? Competitions like drag racing, short course racing, slalom, wheelie fest and huck fest (jumping your UTV), pit stop competitions, barrel racing are all on the schedule.
Coos Bay UTV Takeover
What were the highlights?
Beside the beautiful views of dunes, ocean, bay, wildlife and mountains, which were numerous if you took the time to notice? I was struck by the general community feeling of the event, everyone was saying hello to each other in passing, there was a feeling that everyone would help out anyone in need. The only limitation to your doing anything and everything you wanted was your own stamina. From the Coos County Sheriff’s Office to the park rangers, to the campground hosts there was a feeling of cooperation.
Coos Bay UTV Takeover
Did you mention racing?
I might have, yes.
Racing is one of the bigger draws at the UTV Takeover, three events are crowd favorites based on spectator turn out. Wheelie Fest, Huck Fest and short course racing. Wheelie Fest is probably self-explanatory, Huck Fest is jumping the furthest, and short course is side by side racing on equal distance racecourses in heats until there is a single winner.
Due to being kidnapped by a UTV manufacturer your intrepid reporter missed the Wheelie Fest and King Kong UTV driver Chuck taking the victory.
I was returned in time to catch the short course racing. The course was set up in a large bowl between dunes sending competitors up and down walls of sand as well as through tight sections.
The UTV Takeover staff were on the ball and had the whole event ran efficiently keeping the thousands of spectators entertained with some wild action. The races had everything you would expect from rollovers to snapping steering and suspension pieces and some wildly exuberant driving.
It did not matter your skill level, age or equipment, everyone ran heads up, including a ten-year-old girl, a 15-year-old girl, a 15-year-old boy, father and son professional racers Robby and Max Gordon and everything in between. And there were surprises, the 10-year-old, Aurora Horn, went very, very deep into the races before being knocked out. There could very well be a future in big time off-road racing for Miss Horn.
In the end it was very little surprise to see the final come down to Robby and Max Gordon in their Speed UTVs, Max in a Baja Bandit and Robby in an El Diablo. The final was a best of three heats show down. Max took the first, Robby took the second and Max closed out the win in the third.
Huck Fest is probably the most popular event of the week, and no wonder it was on the final day. The Gordon’s were in attendance, as were the aforementioned kid racers. In the Huck Fest there are two classes, one for turbocharged UTVs and one for normally aspirated. Everyone gets the same amount of run-up to the top of the hill where the actual “jumping” takes place.
The undeniable top turbocharged Hucker was obvious from the first round when the King Kong UTV Polaris sent it an incredible 136 feet. The next closest was another Polaris at 115 feet. Although King Kong UTV driver Brenden did send it much further in the penultimate round by a suspension failure nullified the jump. It did not matter in the end as the winner was clear.
Sage Parker, 12-years old, was the winner jumping 65 feet in the normally aspirated class and has a great stage presence celebrating his win.
Coos Bay UTV Takeover
At the end of the week was it worth it?
The UTV Takeover in the Oregon Dunes Recreation Area is absolutely worth your time, effort and money. You can commune with (unofficially) 13,000 UTV owners and gawk at some insane builds. You can carve your mark into the dunes or find a vantage point on a dune and watch the show from on high.
The information you can glean from all the aftermarket parts suppliers alone is hard to put a value on. Maybe you sent it a little too hard, there are repair stations that will gladly help you get back in the dunes.
Sad you missed the Coos Bay event. In August there is another gathering just north of there in Winchester Bay. In October there is the final Takeover of the year in Hurricane, Utah at Sand Hollow State Park. We will see you on the sand!
