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POWERFEST 2008

Ten Year Anniversary Event Draws From Far-Far Away

Editor: Eric Bewley Photo: D. Arnold, B. Bagwell, D. Cappel

FOREST GROVE, OR - The Tillamook State Forest OHV area has been a Mecca for 4-wheeling enthusiasts for many years. Recently; however, there has been a dark cloud over the management of the OHV area and many trails as well as people's patience has suffered. I'm happy to report that those days may be over. There is new management in Forest Grove that seems to understand the needs and desires of the OHV community better. It appears that myopic gaze toward the timber industry that the Oregon Department of Forestry is know for may be correcting and our brand of recreation is beginning to again be viewed as a legitimate use of our public lands.

DONKEYWORX Video Of The Event (Large download)

From humble beginnings where four Suzuki owners gathered 10 years ago at the sand shed just outside of Roger's camp in February for a little fun and camaraderie to an event that draws participants from as far away as Alberta Canada, the ZUKIWORLD PowerFest hasn't forgot it's roots as a relaxed family outing where people get a chance to hang out and have a good time while they are wheeling some of the best 4x trails in the area.

Saturday morning and participants began rolling and checking in for the day's adventure. We offered two distinctly different guided trail rides for people. The "Easier" group led by Davey Arnold from the Mid-Valley Crawlers and the "Harder" group led by Keith Willison from the Oregon Bushhackers. After waivers signed, moneys exchanged, and t-shirts distributed, the groups were off on their way.

The plan for the "Harder" group was to go to the lower entrance of the infamous Crushers trail after running a bit of Fire Break #5 but unfortunately there was a dead full size vehicle wedge in the entrance that was not moving and would turn out to be quite difficult to extract. The group decided to skip the Crushers and head on to other challenging parts in the area.

The "Easier" group's plan was to head all the way out to the beginning of the Archer's trail and to then run it back towards Brown's camp. This turned out to be an excellent idea as we heard from many people they really enjoyed to day and the trails they ran.

Trails were run and there was only a couple of major casualties this year. One participant blew his airbags on his late model Vitara while another rolled a really clean fuelie Samurai while attempting the 'rocky uphill' section of Archer's. Yes, that was the "Easier" group's trail.

Around 5pm people began getting back to the base camp at Brown's campground. All were treated to a lovely cooked dinner and several door prizes were given out from sponsors like: Oakley, P.S.C., Petroworks, 4-wheelparts, and Cabela's. After dinner, some stayed around the campfire to swap stories and some went out for an informal night run and had a blast.

Discussion forum:

http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?board=34.0

GUY HAMMER MEMORIAL ADVENTURE CHALLENGE

New to this year's available activities was an Adventure challenge named after one the original participants in the first PowerFest the late Guy Hammer who was known as an early adopter of GPS navigating in his Samurai.

Participants had a traditional "rallye" style course where the checkpoints were proven simply by taking a picture of the vehicle at the landmark with their digital camera. The most checkpoints correct wins. Tie braking was done by using an ideal time that contestants tried to get the closest to.

This year's winner found all of the checkpoints and was a little over 1 hour and 10 minutes off of the perfect time. The first place team won a set of nice Oakley Sunglasses for their effort. Way to go!

Thank you Volunteers: Sara Bewley, Davey Arnold, Brian Bagwell, Greg Mikkelson, Brian Bewley, Gayle Bewley, Keith Willison, Aaron Harding, Jason Hoff, Robin Fuller, Greg Fuller, and Jason Hutchison.