- Oct 20, 2000
- 2,969
- 2
It's been right at a month since I rode my 1st MX ever. For those who haven't read or know anything about me I'll fill you in a bit. FWIW in another thread, I'm a young 42 years of age and never raced in my life till last month. The last bike I owned till last year was a 73 Yamaha 80 enduro that my Dad bought me brand new. My 1st race last month I placed 6 over all with 8 riders in my class, I was happy to just complete the race unscaved. Since I've been there and done that I figured it was time to take it to the next level.
Today's race report is as follows.
Me & Tigger got to the Waco Eagles track last night about 20 minutes before dark, I was excited about the race the next day cause I had been practicing and felt pretty comfortable on the track. As we pull in I notice the tractor and bulldozer scraping the ground where the hair pin S curves and finish line jump had been, I had just about mastered them on Thursday. In their place was a 40' table top, about 40 more feet then a double that looked incredible then immediately a 80' table top. I didn't have time Sat. night to try before dark so I watched the only two guys on the track try it. One guy just kept sizing it up but never actually did it. The other guy jumped it every time but it launched you almost straight up in the air making it hard to judge the speed needed to comfortably clear it without over jumping.
After an almost sleepless night (too close to the train track) I woke up this morning to a dense fog. I gassed up the pumpkin and geared up to run my practice. The track felt good and I felt surprisingly good then the new section of track. Nobody was attempting to jump this thing. I figured "why do I need to roll this thing, just commit to it and do it." I nailed the berm, jumped the tabletop then stayed on the gas all the way up the face of the new double. Wa la, I cleared it and it felt good. The crowd was in augh. I impressed myself. I made about three laps of my practice and headed to the RV to conserve my energy.
Headed over to the riders meeting and got the race order, oh man, I'm race 11 out of 12. The races started with the D class and these guys were wild. On the next to last lap one of the guys over jumped a 50' table top and bailed instead of letting the bike soak up some of the impact, wrong thing to do. He ended up laying on the track for about 45 minutes with 2 broken ankles.
My 1st moto came at 11:55am, the sun was good and hot and the damp ground had turned to dry powdery dust. The gate dropped and I took 2nd in to the 1st turn. Another rider quickly passed me and that put me in 3rd place for 4 out of 5 laps. I made a mistake in a turn headed for the whoops and was passed again. I never could quite catch him again. Ended up with a 4th spot and 8 guys behind me.
2nd moto, 3:30pm. I figure I need a good start and I can at least place 3rd. The gate drops and I'm right there with 4 other guys right before the 1st turn. The guy on my left slams into me and knocks me into the guy on my right. Our forks somehow locked together but neither one of us were going to let off. The 2 of us ended up going straight instead of turning before we and suddenly got free. The amazing part is we somehow managed to get straightened up and back in mid pack in the next 100 feet. The first tabletop was there & I nailed it with authority and passed a couple of guys. Down the long sweeping straight away to a step up and I passed another on over that jump. By this time I was in 5th and balls to the wall. On the 3rd lap I had been watching the 4th place rider in front of me and I was on his tail. Using the experience I picked up in moto one I pulled off an amazing block pass in the S corner and I was gone. By the 4th lap I noticed I was almost half a lap in front of 5th but still a long way behind 3rd. Since I'm an old guy I just decided to maintain my pace as I was getting tired. Ended up with a 4th over all and my first trophy.
In summary I had a great time. It was flattering and almost funny to a point at the people wanting to go ride with me next week to learn some tips and pointers. If they only knew.:confused:
Today's race report is as follows.
Me & Tigger got to the Waco Eagles track last night about 20 minutes before dark, I was excited about the race the next day cause I had been practicing and felt pretty comfortable on the track. As we pull in I notice the tractor and bulldozer scraping the ground where the hair pin S curves and finish line jump had been, I had just about mastered them on Thursday. In their place was a 40' table top, about 40 more feet then a double that looked incredible then immediately a 80' table top. I didn't have time Sat. night to try before dark so I watched the only two guys on the track try it. One guy just kept sizing it up but never actually did it. The other guy jumped it every time but it launched you almost straight up in the air making it hard to judge the speed needed to comfortably clear it without over jumping.
After an almost sleepless night (too close to the train track) I woke up this morning to a dense fog. I gassed up the pumpkin and geared up to run my practice. The track felt good and I felt surprisingly good then the new section of track. Nobody was attempting to jump this thing. I figured "why do I need to roll this thing, just commit to it and do it." I nailed the berm, jumped the tabletop then stayed on the gas all the way up the face of the new double. Wa la, I cleared it and it felt good. The crowd was in augh. I impressed myself. I made about three laps of my practice and headed to the RV to conserve my energy.
Headed over to the riders meeting and got the race order, oh man, I'm race 11 out of 12. The races started with the D class and these guys were wild. On the next to last lap one of the guys over jumped a 50' table top and bailed instead of letting the bike soak up some of the impact, wrong thing to do. He ended up laying on the track for about 45 minutes with 2 broken ankles.
My 1st moto came at 11:55am, the sun was good and hot and the damp ground had turned to dry powdery dust. The gate dropped and I took 2nd in to the 1st turn. Another rider quickly passed me and that put me in 3rd place for 4 out of 5 laps. I made a mistake in a turn headed for the whoops and was passed again. I never could quite catch him again. Ended up with a 4th spot and 8 guys behind me.
2nd moto, 3:30pm. I figure I need a good start and I can at least place 3rd. The gate drops and I'm right there with 4 other guys right before the 1st turn. The guy on my left slams into me and knocks me into the guy on my right. Our forks somehow locked together but neither one of us were going to let off. The 2 of us ended up going straight instead of turning before we and suddenly got free. The amazing part is we somehow managed to get straightened up and back in mid pack in the next 100 feet. The first tabletop was there & I nailed it with authority and passed a couple of guys. Down the long sweeping straight away to a step up and I passed another on over that jump. By this time I was in 5th and balls to the wall. On the 3rd lap I had been watching the 4th place rider in front of me and I was on his tail. Using the experience I picked up in moto one I pulled off an amazing block pass in the S corner and I was gone. By the 4th lap I noticed I was almost half a lap in front of 5th but still a long way behind 3rd. Since I'm an old guy I just decided to maintain my pace as I was getting tired. Ended up with a 4th over all and my first trophy.
In summary I had a great time. It was flattering and almost funny to a point at the people wanting to go ride with me next week to learn some tips and pointers. If they only knew.:confused:
