EVENT: 2021 UTV TAKEOVER OREGON

A week of fun in the sand By Juli Moore/Dirt-N-DunezPhotography.com

The photo illustrates what we love about UTV Takeover and Coos Bay, Oregon. Great UTV action with spectators, pines and water in the background. It doesn’t get any better.

A herd of fun-loving UTV owners funnel down from an open dunes area to a narrow corridor through the trees. This looks like UTV heaven to those with local dunes in the burning desert.

UTV Takeover Oregon for 2021 did not disappoint. Once again Coos Bay, Oregon, was filled with side-by-sides of all makes and models. Boxcar Campground was the epicenter of the event. UTV Takeover has honed their skills throwing huge sand events over the years, but Boxcar Campground is where UTV Takeover originally took shape. What truly started as a sand-family Thanksgiving cookout and ride weekend has turned into so much more. Each summer motorheads converge on Coos Bay for a week of fun in the sun and sand.

One of the popular UTV Takeover events is the wheelie contest. This machine is vertical! It seems like this would be a good trick with a CVT-motivated machine, but drivers get it done.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The name says it all—UTV Takeover. That is what happens. Enthusiasts fill the dunes with all types of sand toys but specifically UTVs. A large vendor row offered tons of parts and accessories, along with a good variety of food purveyors. UTV Takeover has something going on from dawn till dusk. With sand drags, hill-climbs, wheelie competitions, short-course races, ATC 70 Olympics and Huckfest, the days are packed full of entertainment.

Young Ruslan Yankilevich is a phenom in the jump contest that Takeover calls Huckfest. Like usual, he went big, but unusually he tumbled the landing. He still celebrated.

Just to name a few, UTV Takeover not only offers competition options, it has treasure hunts, rock-and-roll bingo and tire-toss contests. New this year was a monster truck exhibition on the short-course track after the racing was over. To be honest, everyone turned into a kid when that thing fired up. There is something about pure horsepower and straight headers that just get your attention.

The Takeover short-course event is a track marked out in the dunes to give folks who like more than straight-line performance an event to crave. It looks like fun.

Once the adrenaline fix is taken care of, a huge number of participants head for the massive vendor row. It was worth the visit.

Sand drags are a big part of the Takeover experience. Massively powerful Yamaha YXZs are always in the mix. It takes talent and good setup to launch them, but they fly!

Takeover’s night ride is so popular that it is held every night at the event. The light trails through the dunes are very cool. The lights are a mixture of headlights and lighted whips.

The who’s who of the UTV world showed up for this event, with big jump legend Al McBeth and Blake Wilkey, along with kid phenomenon Ruslan “Grease-Hands” Yankilevich, in attendance. Vendor row was bursting with everything from manufacturers offering demo rides and Packard Performance displaying their 500-horsepower drag UTVs.

Another fun Takeover competition is the Hillfest. Fortunately, the dunes are loaded with hills. Supply and demand at work.

COME FOR THE RIDE

The beautiful Oregon coast offers riders everything from open dunes to tight-tree trails leading to the beach where you can ride the shoreline for miles on end. A real must-do, or at least see, is the night ride. Scheduled each night at 9 from Boxcar Campground, it heads north roughly four miles across the dunes to Hauser. We are sure someone has a count, but we would venture to say at least 1000 UTVs participate every night, with the top 100 cars going full tilt from start to finish. They stop on the north end at Hauser sand access for a quick break of 10 minutes so everyone can rejoin the group and head back south to Boxcar Campground. With all the lighted whips and headlights at night, it looks like a giant ant trail coming across the dunes. It is truly a sight to be seen.

We know, it isn’t a UTV. UTV Takeover is not limited to UTVs. There are many quads, motorcycles and even three-wheelers attend. There is even a fun ATC 70 race.

Whether you are a vendor or an attendee, you won’t be disappointed going to a UTV Takeover in your area. And, UTVs are not a requirement; plenty of quads and bikes of all styles show up with riders of all ages. Watch for a UTV Takeover event in your area. The 2021 schedule includes events in Virginia, Oklahoma and Utah.

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