From the vague description you gave my first thoughts are piston slap or detonation.
is the motor stock,modded,if so what mods,new build recently,whats your jetting,temps outside,leakdown,compression,plug chop just to name the basics.
And i dont know about your town but in my town we ride around town too the cops dont mind side streets on the way out to the river or woods but ive gotten a ticket for an atv on a public high way they dont want us on the high ways at all!But you can have golf carts and all that in town due to township ordinances so i cant bust your balls on that since its ok here and very well may be there too.Ive not drove my atv in a truck to any local riding spots in years because i live near an acess road and the cops told me where its ok to ride.Now if you ride in someones yard its over they will pop you with a 250.00 ordinance fine and a 75.00 citation.But theres a lot of kids around that do what you do sojust be smart and have fun.Its funny though at caseys all the kids take their atvs up there and hang out most of them dont have licenses yet lol