Tsunami Reef



Ocean Rush

 * Checkpoint Race
 * Motorcycle
 * Each Difficulty ... +1 star, +1260 FUEL
 * Any Difficulty ... (Moto)Cross Helmet, Classic (Moto)Cross Helmet design, Vista Doppler
 * The Riot can dominate this race, but Legendary may be a stretch for it. The race starts off tight, and fellow racers are good at finding short-cuts. If you can follow them and keep up, then later check-points (around 4+) provide some clear short-cuts through long stretches of woods that give you an advantage while the AI takes the long way around. You can complete this on Legendary with the Riot, just be careful of scummy AI flying past you at the very end with their sudden, mysterious bursts of speed.

Sun Strike

 * Checkpoint Race
 * Trucks
 * Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +2550 FUEL
 * Any Difficulty ... Tank Top, Tribal Swans Tank Top design, Afterburner Maverick
 * Your starting line-up of purchaseable trucks (Lucha Libre, Bone Crusher) can handle Rookie and Expert, but Legendary will need an absolutely perfect run and no AI cheating at the end to squeak by. You may need to wait until you unlock better trucks to swing back and kick Legendary to the curb. The AI will run bipolar, slowing down like idiots one moment and blowing past you the next. There aren't very many short-cuts to abuse, and the AI's good about abusing them with you. Your best trick is to drive the areas between sand dunes, that way your truck hugs the terrain instead of catching air and slowing down.

The Asphalt Medusa

 * Raid A-2-B (only Finish checkpoint)
 * Muscle Car
 * Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +1730 FUEL
 * Any Difficulty ... Shorts, Coarse Fabric Shorts design, Liveries Doppler
 * Unlocking the Wild Wolf from "Riders On The Storm" will make Rookie & Expert easier. It can scrape out a victory on Legendary, too, but be prepared for some rage-inducing restarts. A street race with a few dirt roads towards the end. You can cut a few corners and road shoulders to get by, but you have to guage it well or off-roading will sap your speed fast. The turns on this race make it difficult to use vehicles that lack control and skid too much. The road splits several times, but there's no huge advantage to either route. So, pick the one that's the easiest to transition to (ie: that'll keep you moving straight w/o sliding into the weeds to turn onto it). The biggest problem is your competitors. The front pack jet off ahea while the rear guard swerve all over the place, getting in your way, or (worse) slamming into you and sending you into the weeds/obstacles. If this happens, especially on Legendary, you may as well restart, because there aren't enough short-cuts to make up for lost time. If you can blow past them early on, then the race will be much easier. Otherwise fighting them every step of the way may induce baby-punching aggravation.

Wild Sand Ride

 * Checkpoint RaceTsunami_Reef_grounded_tanker.jpg
 * Buggies
 * Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +1860 FUEL
 * Any Difficulty ... Aircraft Helmet, Fury Aircraft Helmet design, Spider Wraith Maverick
 * Purchase the Knightmare, and it can carry you all the way through Legendary with a bit of luck. There's lots of boulders on the course, so get your fish-tail on to avoid them. It will be tempting to make a bee-line for the 1st check-point, but if you do you'll get mired down in woods and hills, both of which will slow you down more than just following the course. After you pass the 1st checkpoint, a few more short-cuts open up, and you can get out from behind the pack. When you hit the 2nd checkpoint, you can start to bee-line to the 3rd and 4th/finish, because mostly it's a matter of "pick your road" from there on out.

Tankfully Yours

 * Circuit (Laps)
 * ATV's
 * Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +1350 FUEL
 * Any Difficulty ... Long Sleeve T-Shirt, Challenges Doppler
 * A well-piloted Deathwing will make short work of this race all the way through Legendary. The corners on this race are annoying, but if you can cut them just right you can line up some good straight aways to gain speed on. Avoid using the various small ramps you see around turns. You want your wheels on the ground maintaining speed instead of up in the air losing it. It's also easy to slip into the water on the pontoon bridge after sliding around the coner or getting nailed by a competitor. If it happens you may need to restart. There's really not much else to it. Just solid riding on your ATV is what it takes to win it.

Riders on the Storm

 * Checkpoint Race
 * Buggies
 * Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +1440 FUEL
 * Any Difficulty ... Hockey Helmet, Snake Fangs Hockey Helmet design, One-eyed Jack Maverick, Wild Wolf automatically added to inventory
 * Completing Legendary: 'Humble Beginnings' Achievement
 * You can tackle this race by either completing any difficulty of "Wild Sand Ride" first, chasing down the Spider Wraith and use it, or (if you hate the Spider Wraith's fish-tailing) just use one of your beginner buggies (eg: Psychotic Fox) on Rookie mode to unlock One-eyed Jack to use in later difficulties. While the Psychotic Fox may be slower, it's handling makes it easier to avoid obstacles, and One-eyed Jack also has better control than the Spider Wraith.
 * Weather will play a major factor in the race, making it hard to see obstacles and turns at times. Generally you'll want to stick with the GPS route, but you can find a few short-cuts and cut across the weeds directly to a checkpoint here and there. If you can just avoid the obstacles you'll be doing better than the AI, as there's a lot of oddly placed junk cars in the way on this one. When you see lightning strike the large power line tower, aim for the base, because it will lay down on the road with it's legs in the air for you to go under. Also, there will be an uphill, dirt-road, hair-pin turn. Recommended to follow the road around it, that way you don't cut it too close, getting stuck on a very steep slope that will kill your momentum and cost you valuable time getting going again.

Speed Run

 * 1 Entrant
 * All Road (asphalt, dirt roads)
 * Quad (Mosquito)
 * Ignore your GPS' arrows at the start. Instead go LEFT into the woods and bee-line towards the Finish marker. You're going to end up on a street. Keep heading towards the Finish marker, but slowly/gently go down the steep hills into the ravine to each level of the street on the asphalt switchback. The goal is to reach the bottom street w/o wrecking your Mosquito in the process. Once you get on the bottom street, make a right and follow your GPS arrows down it until you come to a dirt-road that branches off to the left. Take that, and run the dirt switchback up the other side of the ravine. You'll top out at a large dirt road that goes towards your Finish marker. With plenty of time to spare you can either follow your GPS arrows on roads to the finish, or follow the main dirt road to it's bend and off-road in the stream up the hill to the finish. (There's sometimes a set of +400 FUEL barrels at the start of that stream). Either way, by doing the challenge this way you'll abuse your Mosquito's off-road capability and finish with plenty of time to spare. And, you'll realize that sometimes it's better to map out your own course rather than blindly follow your GPS arrows.

Chopper Chase

 * 2 Entrants (You & Chopper)
 * Mostly Offroad (dirt roads/trails, off-road... follow the chopper)
 * Buggy (Mudhog)
 * Your Mudghog will make short work of this one, because it has tight handling for a buggy. The race starts by weaving through a series of dirt trails (or just follow the chopper off-road if you can weave through the trees). You'll hit a street for a bit then end up on a long stretch of dirt road for the majority of the race. Towards the end you transition to another dirt trail that takes you to the finish.

Seek-n-Destroy

 * 3 Entrants
 * Mostly Road (asphalt)
 * Muscle Car (The Bullet)
 * (If you're using FUEL: Refueled mod, switch it off for this one. Otherwise the Dragonfly will be impossibel to catch.) This race is pretty straight-forward. Just chase two vehicles down the street until you tag-n-bag them. They will stay on the asphalt at all times. You can stay at top speed for most of it save for a a minor curve here and there.

Raid

 * 10 Entrants
 * Mostly Offroad
 * Bike (Riot)
 * The outlined course that competitors follow weaves way far off a bee-line to the Finish, so if you just cut through the woods and fields straight to the Finish you'll win pretty easy. There are some roads and trails to hit along the way, but you'll be spending most of your time dodging trees the first half and boulders the second while off-roading. (Those boulders can sneak up on you in the tall grass while cresting hill tops). The benefit to off-roading is that If you get enough lead you can start screwing around and taking down FUEL Barrels as you go.

Blitz

 * 1 Entrant
 * All Road (mostly dirt roads/trails)
 * Buggy (Avenger)
 * An annoying race with an annoying vehicle. Unlike other vehicles, the Avenger turns way too much if you press / hold the turn keys. It seems to have a delayed turn response, but then when it does start to turn it over-compensates. This will leave you fish-tailing all over the place trying to get back on course. The trick is to tap-tap-tap the turn keys instead of holding them down. Short tap-taps to just stay on course, and a tad longer tap-taps to turn corners. Hitting the brake to slow down to half-speed will help you round sharp corners. The race itself is mostly dirt-roads and trails. The very first turn from the start can be annoying, because there's a big blasted incline in the way. Swing out to the right to round into that turn smoothly. Follow your GPS, and tap-tap-tap your turning to stay on the trails. There's a few obvious short-cuts early on through the weeds that will save you a bit of time. The Avenger's off-roading ability is lackluster, but it's better than weaving all through the dirt roads the GPS wants you to go. You'll come to a checkpoint on a major dirt road that looks like it wants you to turn and go down the major dirt road. This is a trick... you're actually supposed to cross the dirt road and continue down the trail on the other side to the next checkpoint. A final sharp turn with another annoying speed hill in front of it is towards the end. Once you get past all that it's pretty smooth sailing. Just remember to tap-tap-tap your turns to victory.

Checkpoint Run

 * 1 Entrant
 * Mostly Road (switch between asphalt & dirt roads)
 * Bike (City Hunter)
 * The City Hunter is fast, but handles stiff. So, you might have some annoyance on this one as the time limit will get tight if you biff it a few times or cut corners and waste time spinning your tires. From the very start follow the street around the bend, then with momentum gained you can cut through the woods / weeds to get to the 1st checkpoint. You can also cut a bit to get to the 2nd. There will be an asphalt switchback leading down into the ravine. You can either follow it (risking skidding around that hairpin), or GENTLY roll your bike down the steep incline to the street below. Keep humping along the streets, and eventually you'll cut over to dirt road. The dirt-road handling of the City Hunter is still stiff, but it slides/corners a bit better. Stay off the dirt-road shoulders as they'll slow you down quite a bit. Generally it'll just take some good, solid riding to do this one. There's a few more short-cuts here and there (eg: using an off-road slope to jump over to the next part of the street). The risk / reward depends on how much your bike is getting banged up. There will be a turn that transitions from dirt to street. Be VERY CAREFUL on this, because the City Hunter's transition between dirt and asphalt is stark, and you'll go from slippy-slide to tight grip immediately which can cause you to over-turn on the street. Like some vehicles, generally just slow down to 1/2 speed BEFORE you hit a sharp turn, then tap your brake to power-slide into it. On asphalt, try to veer to the outer lane as much as possible to make your swing to inner curves smoother. The time limit may seem very tight, but it is very do'able. However, if you majorly biff it (fly way out into the weeds and are going 20mph), you may need to restart.



Knock-Out

 * 9 Entrants
 * Mostly Offroad (dirt roads/trails, off-road short-cuts)
 * Quad (Mudblaster)
 * As you approach the 1st checkpoint, if you swerve to the left and make a hard-right you can hit the steep incline straight on and ramp up it right to the 1st checkpoint ahead of all competitors, putting you in an early lead. From there just follow your GPS. After the 3rd checkpoint, ignore your GPS and bee-line through the weeds / forest for the 4th checkpoint. This will cement your lead (barring any run-ins with trees and such). There's a few more predictable short-cuts if you just pay attention to the road or mini-map. For the most part you have this race in the bag once you've taken the lead early on with those big short-cuts. The Mudblaster does a decent 80mph off-road, so it's not necessary to follow roads too closely.

Wild Track (2 Laps)

 * 9 Entrants
 * Mostly Offroad (mixed asphalt, dirt roads/trails, and off-road shortcuts)
 * Buggy (Psychotic Fox)
 * This is a fun little race where your Psychotic Fox can dominate the competition with lots of off-road shortcuts. Follow the pack to the 1st checkpoint, and power slide through. Then, cut left and off-road over the hill to the 2nd check point, letting the competition take a bit longer on the road. Careful flying through the 2nd checkpoint, because there's a tiny bush RIGHT IN THE WAY of where you might land, and it will stop you dead in your tracks (and bust up your Fox some). If you can avoid it, then you can swing towards the 3rd checkpoint and bee-line it instead of following the roads. If all went well, you'll be ahead of the pack with a slight lead. There's going to be a hair-pin turn, so lay off the gas to slow down to about 1/2 speed and you can powerslide around it without getting stuck spinning your tires at a stand-still. If you off-road a bit there will be a pair of trees looking like goal posts with the next checkpoint smack dab in the middle. Fly through them, and hit the next checkpoint. The checkpoint after has a bunch of trees in the way, so it may be safer to follow the roads/trails. Another hair-pin shows up, so lay off the gas to 1/2 speed again to do a good powerslide around it. Then, just follow the trail a bit, and cut off-road if you feel like. Finish is near, so head through and wash-rinse-repeat for the next lap while the competition is dogging it far behind.

Checkpoint

 * 9 Entrants
 * All Road (asphalt then dirt)
 * Truck (Bone Crusher)
 * Pretty straight-forward truck race to blow through. The Bone Crusher handles a bit stiff, but it comes in handy on this race to help cut the corners off small twisties. You should be able to blow past a few folks from the start simply because the AI wants to drive dumb. After the start a bit there will be a quick right-left cornering area where you can cut the corners straight through and fly past any other folks in front of you. Towards another checkpoint there will be a large field you can cut through. Because of the Bone Crushers lackluster off-roading performance you may not be gaining yourself much by doing it though. Basically just stick to the course for the most part. Cut a corner here and there. Midway the race will go from asphalt to dirt-road. The transition can be a bit stark as the Bone Crusher handles looser on the dirt, but nothing you can't handle. After the 5th checkpoint you can gently roll down the steep decline of the switchback right to the finish, cutting off any of the herd that may have been giving you a hard time.

Endurance

 * 8 Entrants
 * All Road
 * SUV (King Arthur)
 * Pretty lame endurance race for SUV's, b/c most of it takes place on asphalt. From the start, ignore the competition, and angle off to the left about 45 degrees to aim for that main aspahlt road. Once you hit it, follow it and take the left branch. The competition will dick around on some off-road and dirt trails, but eventually meet up with this main asphalt road, because that's where the main course is plotted. By hitting the asphalt early you can push yourself to 90mph+. Up to the first checkpoint, just follow the asphalt road. While it looks like you can make a nice short-cut in the sandy area, it's littered with trees (which are a pain for the Arthur to miss), the sand limits its speed quite a bit, and the sand dunes will have you catching a bunch of air slowing you down more. So, it's faster to just take the curve on the road to the left as plotted. Cut in and hit the checkpoint, then follow the trail towards the Finish. You'll see another asphalt road up ahead to intersect with. Get on it as soon as possible, because it'll basically lead you all the way to the finish. The competition will generally follow the plotted course, but you may see a few diverge off onto dirt roads. They're not really taking short-cuts. Again, you have a higher top speed on the asphalt, and can generally keep the KA topped out around 90mph for the whole race. When you get close to the Finish you can cut through the woods or take a dirt road or trail. You've pretty much won the race regardless.

Vista Points

 * Blue Cove
 * Blue Hedgehog's Forest
 * Hell's Anteroom Forest
 * Sioux Coast
 * Sun Reef
 * Hermit Isle

Liveries

 * Nitro Burst — Avenger
 * Classic — The Enforcer
 * Lightning — Riot
 * Skyfire — Bonesaw
 * Skullburst — Twinfreaks
 * Splash — Mudblaster
 * Flames — Mosquito
 * Plain Body — Wild Wolf
 * Flame Thrower — The Enforcer
 * Eagle Lines — Mudblaster

Trivia

 * Blue Hedgehog's Forest is a possible reference to green hill zone from Sonic the Hedgehog series.
 * It's zone setting and whole landscape is in Southern Texas USA.