Budds Creek National (my race recap?)

MXSparx

Mr. Meltsomeglass
Jul 25, 1999
3,724
71
NoVa
Sunday was a marvelous day (Happy belated Fathers Day to all you dads), not a cloud in the sky, high 80’s, nice breeze and so-so humidity (usually an oven with humidity so high you can punch a hole in the air). Saturday was a complete wash out. They got the amateur practices in and 1 moto of the women’s MX before the sky opened up and wiped out the rest of the days scheduled events, torrential downpour, thunder, lighting, the worx.
Somehow, Beasley and crew had the track back in excellent shape for the Annual Fathers Day event. All pro qualifiers had to be run on Sunday because of severe weather Saturday. I missed all that, because of working parking lot all morning.
125 moto 1 Brown was riding like a man possessed. He was flying, riding on the edge. Reminded me of the way Voland rode a couple years ago when battling RC for the title. Brown looked like he could go down at any minute but at the same time looked in complete control. Kinda hard to explain. He was railing the 180 degree off cambers wide open, jumping 4 –5 bike lengths further on the downhills than anyone else, hanging damn near off the back of the KX on the uphills. We quit timing his laps when he went from 7 seconds to a 15-second lead in less than ½ a lap. The guy is insanely fast. Pastrana riding to the roar of the hometown crowd just couldn’t contend.
125 moto 2 Ward came around in 1st, pulling away from the pack. I guess he got the lead when Ramsey’s pipe fell off? I know by lap 2 the pipe was gone and he was beginning to fade away. Pastrana and Brown were pretty far back. But Brown was getting it again. He must have had a not so good start. It looked like Ward was gonna run away with this one, but Brown just kept getting closer and closer each lap. Some guy (sponsored by EZWider) on a YZ diesel pig crashed in front of us, took him forever to get the bike restarted.
Before the 30-minute plus 2 lap moto was over, Brown had caught and passed Ward. I guess riding in Europe really helped him out. Browns teammate Bonds looks like he is headed for a bright future also, he wasn’t blistering fast, but he was consistently quick.
250 moto 1 I hung out in the 1st corner turn. Man, the sound and vibration that radiates through you at that spot is wild. The mixture of 2 stroke and 4 stroke woohoo what a rush. The Honda 4 stroke sounds NICE. Different sounding than the YZ, better actually. But, I don’t think Hughes has what it takes to race the CR450 to a win. Not this year anyway. RC had a babe holding an umbrella over him on the starting gate. God I wish I was him, not cuz of the umbrella babe, but because he looks so fluid when he rides. Ole Tim Ferry sure looks mighty comfy on the YZ too. LaRocco just looks like he is waiting to kick someone’s ass when he reels em in on the track. It must be his build and riding stature or something I guess.
250 moto 2 was the best race of the day. The gate drops and you can hear the engines roar to the 1st turn (cant see cause I’ve relocated to my favorite and usual section of the track, only htis time I am inside the fence) Off in the distance I see a white bike running with the leaders. As they work their way closer and closer, down the hill next to me, around the 180-degree corner and up the hill I’m on, I about fell over. To my surprise (shouldn’t have been surprised but) yes, yes it is a white YZ250 piloted by District 17’s very own Tommy Hofmaster #98 (keep an eye on this kid, he’s gonna be somebody) in 4th place. Lap 2 he’s still there. So here you have two factory guys cheering for Windham and 1 weird looking guy spazzin for #98, made for some interesting conversation. Eventually he began to fade (like Windham in moto 1) but still did great. Ryno faded too so what the heck, right? Windham pretty much ran away with the moto slowing down to wave at the crowd on the final lap. He was still going fast, but you know what I mean. Dowd still has it too. You look in through his goggles and into his eyes and you can see the desire driving him still. Its amazing, but you can tell who are gonna be your front runners at the end, by looking into their eyes early in the moto.
Other than that it was nice to get roosted, again and again. Gotta love being close enough to taste the dirt.
:D
 
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Okiewan

Admin
Dec 31, 1969
29,555
2,237
Texas
#98? As in Hoffmaster? Poor is right compared to the factory riders... and that means what? He's comming-up, hide and watch.
 

OldManIn

Member
Mar 12, 2001
72
0
MotoXsparx, I was at the race also. It couldn't have been a better day. For the main moto's I was over beside the uphill jump just before the old starting location. It was a great place because a lot of the passing was taking place around this part of the track. It was also pretty cool watching everyone take the uphill jump and then WOT down the next hill with loose dirt up to their axles. It was amazing watching Brown. I thought for sure he was going to lose it going down that hill a few times but he just kept it pinned and kept the bike under him.

All in all a great day.:cool:
 
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