Been quite awhile since I've posted in this forum and after an exciting few weeks I thought I'd toss up a post and share some details.
LazyBoy's race season has been off to a steadily improving and confidence gathering pace. There were some concerns after last season's injury and having to move up to the 125 this year. Starting the season with solid mid teen finishes the first few races his form, confidence and speed slowly started to reappear the last few races. Prior to this past weekend Troy had finished 6th overall in his 125 class 2 weeks in a row and had managed top tens in his Open (GP) class both of those weeks. This weekend we had a 2 day race at our premier facility (Grunthal Centennial Raceway) and Troy was ready for some more improvement. On Saturday Troy Opened with a solid start and ride for a 6th place finish in 125 cc Moto#1. He quickly followed that up with a 9th place finish in his Open class in Moto#1. The afternoon saw another pair of solid starts and a repeat of his 6th in 125 and an 8th in Open. While the increased speed was nice to watch the highlight for everyone (grandparents and friends had come out to watch) was the fact the Troy's 6/6 was good enough for 5th Overall and the final trophy in his 125cc Class! This is Troy's first ever Moto trophy and while he tried to play the "cool" teenager I am certain he was as excited as everyone else in the family was for him at this accomplishment.
Sunday saw Troy hit the track for practice and he was flying! In fact he started hitting a huge infield double and made a go at a triple that he's never tried before and was putting large ground between himself and the riders he normally bunches up with. Come Moto#1 in 125 class Troy got a soso start maybe 15th out of the gate and was charging hard by mid lap where I was pitting for him he was up to 8th and on the move. By the time he came past the pitting area again he was near dead last. He went down 3 times in 4 laps in a couple of slick areas and had to fight his way back for a 23rd place finish. In his morning moto in the Open class he got a poor start but managed to charge his way back to 8th with a solid ride. He added a solid 7th to the Open class in the afternoon which left him 6th overall for the day in Open which was a season best in that class. In his afternoon 125 moto Troy seemed very focused and ready to roll. He got a good start (top 10) and seemed to be in god shape until the 3 leaders wadded up the first triple together and Troy got stuck behind the pile momentarily. He dropped back to about 17th but was making quick work of the pack and by mid lap was up to 8th. By the end of the first lap Troy had blown by another group of riders following each other on all the inside lines and was now in 3rd place! He rode a strong moto and was quickly reeling in the first two riders who had a chance to check out when they slipped by the first pile up. The day ended without any Trophies but with a season best overall in the Open class and a Moto best 3rd place in his 125 class and a kid who was all smiles all the way home.
Now for the ride stuff. As some of you now I recently picked up an 02 RM250 and finally had a chance to put some time on it this last week. My riding experience in the last 20 years has been about 15 rides 2 seasons ago on a 86 RM125 prior to that goes back to my teens. We hit Shadow Valley Raceway for 3 days of riding and camping. I figured this would be the perfect track for me to return to riding on as it's not full of SX type jumps and has some great elevation changes etc. We got to the track and got our pit area setup, got the kids (LazyBoy and a buddy we brought along) setup and ready to ride and the time had come. I got geared up and fired up the 2 fiddy for the first time. I hit the track and did a slow sighting (yeah that's it sighting ;) ) lap to check everything out before hitting the throttle. 1 lap later at what still seemed to be crawling speeds I was back at the trailer with forearms so tight I couldn't hang onto the bars. I knew wind was going to be a problem for my severely out of shape self but never figured on having troubles hanging on! The days progressed to where I could do 2 or 3 laps at a time under speed (it's all relative right?)and still manage to hang on but I was pretty much grounded when it came to the jumps. This being the first modern 250 I've ridden I'm still wondering if I bit off more than I can chew. More than a few times I found a 125 type wick of the throttle hand me clamoring for the brake to bring the front end back down. All in all it was 3 fun days with the family, I got to ride instead of watch and by the 3rd day I managed to draw up enough nerve to clear one of the 60 foot tables on the track and a 10 ft double that doesn't even deserve that title :laugh:
This week I also got to run at GCR which after a weekend of 2 race days was as rough as anything I would ever want to ride on, someone needs to open an always smooth and groomed track for the FOG rider. It's starting to comeback to me a little bit although I'm still not sure about what to do with rip your arms out hit/power this 250 has on tap. Bottom line is I'm having a blast and it's way more fun to chase the kids around than to watch from the sidelines!
LazyBoy's race season has been off to a steadily improving and confidence gathering pace. There were some concerns after last season's injury and having to move up to the 125 this year. Starting the season with solid mid teen finishes the first few races his form, confidence and speed slowly started to reappear the last few races. Prior to this past weekend Troy had finished 6th overall in his 125 class 2 weeks in a row and had managed top tens in his Open (GP) class both of those weeks. This weekend we had a 2 day race at our premier facility (Grunthal Centennial Raceway) and Troy was ready for some more improvement. On Saturday Troy Opened with a solid start and ride for a 6th place finish in 125 cc Moto#1. He quickly followed that up with a 9th place finish in his Open class in Moto#1. The afternoon saw another pair of solid starts and a repeat of his 6th in 125 and an 8th in Open. While the increased speed was nice to watch the highlight for everyone (grandparents and friends had come out to watch) was the fact the Troy's 6/6 was good enough for 5th Overall and the final trophy in his 125cc Class! This is Troy's first ever Moto trophy and while he tried to play the "cool" teenager I am certain he was as excited as everyone else in the family was for him at this accomplishment.
Sunday saw Troy hit the track for practice and he was flying! In fact he started hitting a huge infield double and made a go at a triple that he's never tried before and was putting large ground between himself and the riders he normally bunches up with. Come Moto#1 in 125 class Troy got a soso start maybe 15th out of the gate and was charging hard by mid lap where I was pitting for him he was up to 8th and on the move. By the time he came past the pitting area again he was near dead last. He went down 3 times in 4 laps in a couple of slick areas and had to fight his way back for a 23rd place finish. In his morning moto in the Open class he got a poor start but managed to charge his way back to 8th with a solid ride. He added a solid 7th to the Open class in the afternoon which left him 6th overall for the day in Open which was a season best in that class. In his afternoon 125 moto Troy seemed very focused and ready to roll. He got a good start (top 10) and seemed to be in god shape until the 3 leaders wadded up the first triple together and Troy got stuck behind the pile momentarily. He dropped back to about 17th but was making quick work of the pack and by mid lap was up to 8th. By the end of the first lap Troy had blown by another group of riders following each other on all the inside lines and was now in 3rd place! He rode a strong moto and was quickly reeling in the first two riders who had a chance to check out when they slipped by the first pile up. The day ended without any Trophies but with a season best overall in the Open class and a Moto best 3rd place in his 125 class and a kid who was all smiles all the way home.
Now for the ride stuff. As some of you now I recently picked up an 02 RM250 and finally had a chance to put some time on it this last week. My riding experience in the last 20 years has been about 15 rides 2 seasons ago on a 86 RM125 prior to that goes back to my teens. We hit Shadow Valley Raceway for 3 days of riding and camping. I figured this would be the perfect track for me to return to riding on as it's not full of SX type jumps and has some great elevation changes etc. We got to the track and got our pit area setup, got the kids (LazyBoy and a buddy we brought along) setup and ready to ride and the time had come. I got geared up and fired up the 2 fiddy for the first time. I hit the track and did a slow sighting (yeah that's it sighting ;) ) lap to check everything out before hitting the throttle. 1 lap later at what still seemed to be crawling speeds I was back at the trailer with forearms so tight I couldn't hang onto the bars. I knew wind was going to be a problem for my severely out of shape self but never figured on having troubles hanging on! The days progressed to where I could do 2 or 3 laps at a time under speed (it's all relative right?)and still manage to hang on but I was pretty much grounded when it came to the jumps. This being the first modern 250 I've ridden I'm still wondering if I bit off more than I can chew. More than a few times I found a 125 type wick of the throttle hand me clamoring for the brake to bring the front end back down. All in all it was 3 fun days with the family, I got to ride instead of watch and by the 3rd day I managed to draw up enough nerve to clear one of the 60 foot tables on the track and a 10 ft double that doesn't even deserve that title :laugh:
This week I also got to run at GCR which after a weekend of 2 race days was as rough as anything I would ever want to ride on, someone needs to open an always smooth and groomed track for the FOG rider. It's starting to comeback to me a little bit although I'm still not sure about what to do with rip your arms out hit/power this 250 has on tap. Bottom line is I'm having a blast and it's way more fun to chase the kids around than to watch from the sidelines!
