This is my first ever post in this forum and is related to my son's first ever race, I wish it was also to commemorate my first race but that will have to wait until I can afford a more recent bike to at least not get me laughed off the track :) . The day started with a 4 AM wake up call, boy do we need to get a camper so we can camp the night before in the pits! Got my son and the rest of the family mobile and we were on the road for 5AM after a short pit stop to pick up my son's buddy and fellow race rookie.
We arrived at the track and after much searching found a spot in the pits and proceeded to registration which was a somewhat longer process than I expected I guess trying to get 421 racers registered is quite a task. Next came a short church service (race held in a small religous Mennonite community) and then the riders meeting, I watched as my son and his friend took in everything the referee had to say very attentively and then found myself asking other parents some of the questions I had such as do they come around the pits announcing who's up for practice and which race is about to stage etc and got these incredulous looks , these folks must have been thinking what a rookie.
Next I took the boys out for a walk of the track to impart my limited wisdom about racing (hey I tape all the mx on TV :) ) to them. I was immediately concerned when I saw the track which we had ridden a few days earlier had been disced and was watered to the point of puddles in most areas, you basically couldn't walk the track without rubber boots on or a big scraper for your shoes when you were done. The boys at this point were getting nervous as well since neither of them had ever ridden a track in this condition. We watched practice for awhile since we were fourth to last and saw the ATV's go out first (I guess if your going to ride a sofa with wheels you may as well soak up most of the moisture and mud before the real riders get out there :) ) and then we watched a few of the other larger bike classes practice all the while me getting more nervous for how the boys would fare on the track. The moment of truth arrived and off they went for practice as I nervously watched from the sidelines, all was well for approx. 30 seconds until my son got to the third turn a sharp step up righthander to which he had slowed to almost no speed and basically fell over but he got the bike up and started and practice finished without incident.
Our race was the third last moto of the schedule and I quickly realized that this was not going to be a short day but I was really enjoying the comraderie of the pits and folks you had never met before gladly exchanging pleasantries and conversation. I was also quickly aware of why the track had been watered so severly before hand as we had not even made it through the first half of the morning moto's and the track was quickly becoming a dust bowl!
The time came to head to the staging area and my son drew #32 for gate selection while his buddy pulled #1 so they quickly ended up on opposite sides of the gate which I think made them both more nervous as there was something comforting to having a buddy close by I think. I gave them both some last minute best wishes and told them just to run at the pace they were comfortable and we would worry about speed some other time once they had a few moto's under their belts. I left my son who was now white as a ghost and more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs and headed back to the spectator area to see the drop of the gate for the first ever 85cc 7-12 yo class that my son was in! The board went sideways and the anticipation grew and finally the gate dropped! As I watched excitedly I saw my son stall it in the gate and his buddy almost loop and get tangled up with the rider beside him before crashing 8 feet out of the gate there we had it our first moto start and a memorable one at that! :) . My son got his bike started and rode the rest of the race very cautiously en route to a 33rd place finish out of 35, his buddy got up from his starting crash and rode alot harder and even with another major get off (endo in the whoops) managed to finish 32 both a lap down. I met the boys at the pit entrance and they were both grinning from ear to ear and were especially pleased to hear that they had got their names announced by the track announcer at the start (1 for stalling and the other as a downed rider LOL).
We spent the next few hours getting beat on by the sun and trying to keep the boys hydrated in the 90 degree heat and sun all the while watching some fantastic racing. Then moto 2 came up both boys got off to a somewhat better start near the back of the pack but at least without a stall or crash :) and rode fairly cautiously once again and while my son missed getting to stay on the lead lap by crashing 50 yards from the finish line and getting lapped by the leader his buddy just nipped in and was able to run all the laps. My son finished 35 out of 35 this time while his buddy crashed on a step up on the last lap and ended up 34th after running about 25 for most of the race.
Both boys were somewhat pleased with the day while my son did express frustration with the fact he knows he is faster than he ran but he says he couldn't bring himself to get on the gas more but the bottom line was when asked if they had fun both boys stated emphaticely YES!
With the day in the books we packed up the pit and started for home I was expecting some excited post race rehashing of events but it took about 6 minutes for every one in the van to fall asleep except for poor old dad who had to man the wheel!
Next week is an off week so we will take the next few Tuesdays and Thrusday evenings to try to get to the next track for their practice days and hopefully the boys will be more comfortable out there and start to ride a little further up in the pack as their confidence grows.
We arrived at the track and after much searching found a spot in the pits and proceeded to registration which was a somewhat longer process than I expected I guess trying to get 421 racers registered is quite a task. Next came a short church service (race held in a small religous Mennonite community) and then the riders meeting, I watched as my son and his friend took in everything the referee had to say very attentively and then found myself asking other parents some of the questions I had such as do they come around the pits announcing who's up for practice and which race is about to stage etc and got these incredulous looks , these folks must have been thinking what a rookie.
Next I took the boys out for a walk of the track to impart my limited wisdom about racing (hey I tape all the mx on TV :) ) to them. I was immediately concerned when I saw the track which we had ridden a few days earlier had been disced and was watered to the point of puddles in most areas, you basically couldn't walk the track without rubber boots on or a big scraper for your shoes when you were done. The boys at this point were getting nervous as well since neither of them had ever ridden a track in this condition. We watched practice for awhile since we were fourth to last and saw the ATV's go out first (I guess if your going to ride a sofa with wheels you may as well soak up most of the moisture and mud before the real riders get out there :) ) and then we watched a few of the other larger bike classes practice all the while me getting more nervous for how the boys would fare on the track. The moment of truth arrived and off they went for practice as I nervously watched from the sidelines, all was well for approx. 30 seconds until my son got to the third turn a sharp step up righthander to which he had slowed to almost no speed and basically fell over but he got the bike up and started and practice finished without incident.
Our race was the third last moto of the schedule and I quickly realized that this was not going to be a short day but I was really enjoying the comraderie of the pits and folks you had never met before gladly exchanging pleasantries and conversation. I was also quickly aware of why the track had been watered so severly before hand as we had not even made it through the first half of the morning moto's and the track was quickly becoming a dust bowl!
The time came to head to the staging area and my son drew #32 for gate selection while his buddy pulled #1 so they quickly ended up on opposite sides of the gate which I think made them both more nervous as there was something comforting to having a buddy close by I think. I gave them both some last minute best wishes and told them just to run at the pace they were comfortable and we would worry about speed some other time once they had a few moto's under their belts. I left my son who was now white as a ghost and more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs and headed back to the spectator area to see the drop of the gate for the first ever 85cc 7-12 yo class that my son was in! The board went sideways and the anticipation grew and finally the gate dropped! As I watched excitedly I saw my son stall it in the gate and his buddy almost loop and get tangled up with the rider beside him before crashing 8 feet out of the gate there we had it our first moto start and a memorable one at that! :) . My son got his bike started and rode the rest of the race very cautiously en route to a 33rd place finish out of 35, his buddy got up from his starting crash and rode alot harder and even with another major get off (endo in the whoops) managed to finish 32 both a lap down. I met the boys at the pit entrance and they were both grinning from ear to ear and were especially pleased to hear that they had got their names announced by the track announcer at the start (1 for stalling and the other as a downed rider LOL).
We spent the next few hours getting beat on by the sun and trying to keep the boys hydrated in the 90 degree heat and sun all the while watching some fantastic racing. Then moto 2 came up both boys got off to a somewhat better start near the back of the pack but at least without a stall or crash :) and rode fairly cautiously once again and while my son missed getting to stay on the lead lap by crashing 50 yards from the finish line and getting lapped by the leader his buddy just nipped in and was able to run all the laps. My son finished 35 out of 35 this time while his buddy crashed on a step up on the last lap and ended up 34th after running about 25 for most of the race.
Both boys were somewhat pleased with the day while my son did express frustration with the fact he knows he is faster than he ran but he says he couldn't bring himself to get on the gas more but the bottom line was when asked if they had fun both boys stated emphaticely YES!
With the day in the books we packed up the pit and started for home I was expecting some excited post race rehashing of events but it took about 6 minutes for every one in the van to fall asleep except for poor old dad who had to man the wheel!
Next week is an off week so we will take the next few Tuesdays and Thrusday evenings to try to get to the next track for their practice days and hopefully the boys will be more comfortable out there and start to ride a little further up in the pack as their confidence grows.
