? for the vet guys

Switchback raceway

KSHAFFER said:

lonewolf---what tracks do you ride at? i live near you and ride high voltage, switchback and plumcreek.

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What is Plum Creek like? I've raced Switchback alot. I'm currently winning the Vet A points in the Hare Scrambles there. The Supercross track at Awitchback isn't bad except for the Triple/Triple right in front of the grand stands.

plum creek is nothing special, but it's another place to ride. it's mostly open and they have some jumps. i ride switchback every thursday. it can be pretty rough and rocky and the jumps aren't too hard. high voltageis the best track i've been to, besides steel city and high point. come up to practice on thursday nites. my bike's in my truck this morning to go there tonight but it's raining now. lonewolf, turn your pm's on. the first triple isn't bad, just 3rd wide on my 450F, now the second triple i haven't worked up to do yet.

kshaffer, i usually go to r&d tuesaday and thursday evenings for practice but i maybe will try to make it out to switchback sometime because i would im getting a little bored with r&d. are switchback and plumcreek grommed and prepped at all? im getting starting to get a little irritated with the fact that the track owners are prepping the grooming the tracks, r&d was really nice early in the spring but now it is like rock hard blue groove cement. i dont understand why hardly any of the ama district 5 tracks have practice days, i would love to ride high point, steel city, pleasure valley, field of dreams, etc.. but they dont have practice days.

switchback is usually hard pack also, especially on practice nites. they usually don;t groom it. if your used to district tracks then you probably won;t like switchback. if you do go look for #24 on a yz450f. it's a rare ocasion if i'm not there thursday nites and saturday race days. i was only to plumcreek twice and once was a mud fest. they don't really have good topsoil there either.

The only D5 track I ride at is R&D raceway because most of the other D5 track dont even have pratice days and I cant understand why not. R&D is nice when it is prepped for a race but there hasnt been any races held there for awhile so there hasnt been a whole lot done. I plan on doing some D5 races next year just so i can ride on tracks like High Point, Steel City, Pleasure Valley, and Field of Dreams to name a few. There are a few tracks in Ohio I may check like Crow Canyon and Dirtworld.

fox raceway in marienville is nice and pymatuning is really nice, they take excellent care of the track.

Lonewolf and KShaffer

I live in Charleroi, which is fairly close to you guys as well. I'm only about 15 minutes from R & D and from Creekside, too. I've been to all the tracks you mentioned. I think that High Voltage is the best of the bunch. It is about an hour away for me, but I think it is well worth it. Definitely lots of fun.

Lonewolf, is the 100' double you are talking about at R & D the one that is in the far corner of the track from the finish line? There is an uphill section, a left turn on top, a downhill section, a tight right hand turn, a small double, then the double you are talking about? If so, I've never even seen anyone attempt it, let alone clear it. The two jumps I'm thinking of are fairly small, and so widely spaced that I wonder if they are even doable.

A lot of the D5 tracks are fun, especially Pleasure Valley and Steel City. Challenger is a lot of fun as well.

I broke my foot at Creekside on May 30 on the first of the two ski jumps along the top section - the one that follows the hairpin left turn and what can best be described as a mound of dirt. I've cleared that jump many times, including on each of the laps I'd run before the accident. I clipped my back wheel on the landing ramp, which knocked my left foot off the peg. My toe hit the ground, which pulled it under the back wheel. It was a weird thing, because I didn't even go down. But the stress of it broke a chunk of bone off of my instep. Last weekend was my first weekend back on the bike.

Anyway, if you guys are at one of these tracks and see a CRF450 with number 56 on it, stop by and say hello.

Mike

ml536 the double in the back corner of the track you mentioned is the 100ft. double i am talking about, it wasnt there last year and the first few times i was there in early spring. i have seen people clear it though, a ktm 450 and 250f's. the guys on 250f's are local pro racers, when they clear it the have a heck of a time slowing down in time for the turn and almost go into the woods. actaully a crf 450 came up a little short on tuesday and his linkage broke on the landing, the shock was hanging out the bottom of the bike and tire was runbbing on the back fender. the one guy i ride there with was talking to randy the track owner and he said he is expanding the track, is sounds like it is going to become a jumpcross track instead of a motocross track which is what i concider high voltage to be. what is it about the place that you like, the layout, jumps, soil? i like the soil, it actaully has a little loam.i think that place is far from being a safe track though.

GP it!!!!!!!!

what do yoiu mean by gp it?

there is an article about this same topic in the april issue of dirt rider magazine, it is a pretty good article, i wish track owners would read it.

Lonewolf - There are a few things that I like about High Voltage. I like the layout with its elevation changes. I like the fact that it is well-maintained. The soil is nice there as well- R & D gets very hard packed sometimes. I like most of the jumps at High Voltage, although I roll a few of them. I'm 34 now, and while I'll try most jumps, I know my limits. I also like the fact that they have an ambulance there in case of a serious accident. Creekside, for example, does not.

I used to go to Switchback on Thursday nights, but haven't been there this year, because it is almost 100 miles one way for me. There are (or at least were) some fun jumps on that track. KShaffer, do they still have the "elevator" jump up the hill? That thing was exiting, if nothing else because of the speed you need to hit it with to be able to land on top of the hill. The big infield tabletop is fun, too.

Where is Plum Creek, anyway?

they still have the elevator jump in the back. plumcreek is between kittanning and indiana on route 422. i can get you the website.