I saw Jeff's post and figured I'd do a short one on my own experience this weekend as well. This was my first "real" race as a 250 C rider and also my first race in nearly 3 years. Since I've gone active in the military my priorities have changed and I've become a "Pro Practicer" instead of a "Weekend Warrior". I've got a good friend here in Mississippi that's also in the service that is also addicted to the sport. He's an A rider from way back when in upstate New York, raced up and down the east coast with many of today's stars, but has also been out of the groove for 5 or 6 years or so. After running into each other, the passion for riding has grown and we ride every chance we get. So, the natural progression of things has led us to vow to run the Alabama Spring Series (or at least as many races as possible). Unfortunately we missed round 1 due to training requirements, but were just able to make the second round at Mill Creek MX in Pell City, just outside of Birmingham.
Well Saturday morning I made the early rise at 3 am in order to brush my teeth slip on some sweats and make the drive across town to load Rich and his bike. It was way too early and I hadn't slept much the night before. Pulled up at Rich's at 4am got him loaded and we headed east on I-20 toward Pell City. It's normally a 2 1/2 hour drive for us so we planned an extra 30 minutes for breakfast and miscellaneous in order to arrive by the 7:30 sign up. At 7:00 we decided to grab an exit for sandwhiches and it was at that point that amidst all of our gabbing we had turned off I-20 past Birmingham and headed Northeast on I-59, for almost 20 MINUTES!! We ran into a gas station, grabbed a map and discovered we were a mere 10 minute drive from Pell City via some back country roads. What a great way to start the day!
We got to the track got unloaded, sign up complete (Rich in the 250 A, myself in the 250 C), checked the schedule of the days events, walked the fenceline to get an idea of the track layout, stuck our heads in at the riders meeting, then headed back to gear up. We had the 3rd or 4th practice so headed down to the staging area once the 2nd practice kicked off. The track was awesome! Huge hills, rolling terrain, a couple sx style jumps, couple tabletops, etc. Supposed to be clear skies, 65 degrees, soil was great..a little moist but VERY tacky! I knew then we were gonna have a ball!
After practice, Rich made a couple adjustments then headed back to the staging area for his first moto (he was the first race for the day). He got second through the first turn behind southeastern pro Drew Askew (who promptly checked out) and held his position convincingly for the six laps finishing an impressive 2nd out of 9. My moto came up a little while later (#8) and I quizzed Rich on the track...any tricky sections, mud, basically if there was anything out there that had gotten bad since practice. I got the 6th gate pick and lined up with 13 other riders for my first race. I visualized slipping the clutch and rolling on the throttle as my bike quickly accelerated forward up the uphill start, switching to 3rd about halfway up and leaning the bike over as I swept into the lead and through the lefthand first turn and then leaning right, switching to 4th as I sweep through the 2nd turn and up the back hill. But, the 30 second board quickly brought me back to reality. Eyes on the gate, check to ensure I'm in 2nd gear, feet in front of the pegs, throttle at 1/4 turn, clutch halfway out and front brake in. Gate drops, I pop the clutch, shut off the gas, and...........I stalled it. :think: Dang, kick,kick,kick,kick,kick vroom! Look up and everyone is already coming to the top of the back hill, boy I'm embarrassed! I'm flying now, more out of humiliation than for any other reason....Rich is on one of those hills right now, filming me, probably laughing like an idiot with everyone else...I've got to make something happen! I go over the triple (of course it's a double-single to me) and around the lefthand turn that follows and lo and behold there's a rider down trying to get his bike started, I'm not going to be last!! Through the right hand turn over the elevator (of course this is a small jump with a rock wall after it that I have to climb) then through the back turn and back down the mountain. I'm starting to catch up to people now! At this point I'm riding way over my head, but by the grace of God, I never get out of shape or go down and to quote Brandon Jessemen on The Great Outdoors "I felt like everyone was going in slow motion, except me, and it was so easy to pass them." I'm blowing by guys, setting them up two turns in advance, but all too soon our 4 laps were done and we get the checkered flag. I managed to pass 8 guys to finish in 5th!
Well, hours later, intermission came and went, I had taken a half hour nap had some lunch and was ready to redeem myself. Rich's moto came up, he got off to a decent start, 4th out of 9 in the first turn but 3rd coming through the 2nd turn. Drew Askew got the holeshot and promptly checked out similiar to the 1st moto. Rich stayed in 3rd about 4 seconds behind 2nd and 15 seconds or so ahead of 4th for the rest of the moto. Pretty uneventful race but impressive to watch nonetheless, those guys fly! My moto crept up and found myself in the staging area again. 3 of the guys that finished ahead of me showed up late so I got 2nd gate pick and decided on something a little more conservative towards the middle, vice the inside where everyone else preferred. I figured if I could at least get to the 1st turn with everyone else, I had a good chance for a top 3 finish. I was the farthest to the outside on the gate and someone even lined up next to me...so close in fact our hand grips kept bumping into each other. I did a quick look over of his bike.....CRF450 w/ black excels, FMF pipe, ARC levers....lots of bling-bling and now we're locking bars on the start gate...not good for the first turn! 30 board goes up, quick check I'm in 2nd, eyes on the gate, quarter throttle, clutch barely engaged......gate falls and I smoothly roll on the throttle as I slowly let out the clutch.....I'm actually moving forward this time! But wait, my bars are in front of the guy next to me! Slip of the clutch and snick into third, throttle is still wide open and I pull even farther ahead of this guy! First turn is quickly approaching and I'm to the far outside, I glance to my left and I'm in front of everyone, bang, holeshot! Grab another gear, start leaning to the left for the gentle left hand sweeper, then swap it to the right for the right hand sweeper that immediately follows, that I'm on the inside of leading up the hill and into the next right hand 180 that follows and I've secured 1st for the moment. We race half a lap or so and there's one guy right on my back wheel. I'm diving into the inside lines on the corners and holding the throttle open as long as I dare, but down the front hill toward the rhythm section he slowly pulls by me. Through the right hand turn, into the the rhythm section, he slows noticeably and I pass him back convincingly! He follows close behind as we negotiate the track, approaching the right hand 180 (3rd turn after the start) I start hearing "Brrrr, brrrrr, brrrr" and quickly look over my right shoulder. He had tried to dive to the inside of my line going into the turn, rubbed my rear tire a couple times, then dumped his bike! Here's my chance to open a gap and secure 1st! About half way through this next lap I look over my shoulder and 2nd is FAR behind me! At this point I go into cruise control, get the white flag and just maintain a steady/consistent pace. Until......the last turn before the finish line table top. I do the stupidest thing. It's a right hand bowl turn at the bottom of a small hill and all day I've gone wide approaching the turn, aim for the inside line going into it and squaring off on the outside of the bowl and darting up the hill to the finish line table. But, for some reason, maybe the planets were out of alignment, it snowed in hell, cats and dogs played together, whatever the reason, I turned the bars to the right to square off the turn, but the bike refused and I continued straight ahead off the back side of the bowl. :eek: It was awful! Maybe a 10-15 foot drop almost straight down, but fortunately it was so silty/powdery that my bike just sunk in this stuff about 1/4 of the way down. I look around for the quickest way out and realize there's no way I can turn my bike around and ride straight back up...the only way is to parallel the top of it for about 15 feet, then use a tree that had fallen on it as traction and jump back onto the track. So I start musceling the bike around throwing a goofy roostertail of silt and paddling like a beginner as I head toward the tree and the finish line. I can see 2nd 3rd and 4th place coming down the hill at this point approaching the bowl turn and panic set in! I finally build up enough momentum as I reach the tree to use it as a small kicker and hop back onto the track and in sheer desperation cut completely across the track to ensure everyone behinds me knows that I'm going to win this race or take everyone out in the process and cross the finish line in first.
All in all, it was a great day! We had a lot of fun and am really looking forward to the next race! Rich, the dog, made 90 bucks in winnings....for 3rd overall. I went 5-1 for 2nd overall! :aj:
Well Saturday morning I made the early rise at 3 am in order to brush my teeth slip on some sweats and make the drive across town to load Rich and his bike. It was way too early and I hadn't slept much the night before. Pulled up at Rich's at 4am got him loaded and we headed east on I-20 toward Pell City. It's normally a 2 1/2 hour drive for us so we planned an extra 30 minutes for breakfast and miscellaneous in order to arrive by the 7:30 sign up. At 7:00 we decided to grab an exit for sandwhiches and it was at that point that amidst all of our gabbing we had turned off I-20 past Birmingham and headed Northeast on I-59, for almost 20 MINUTES!! We ran into a gas station, grabbed a map and discovered we were a mere 10 minute drive from Pell City via some back country roads. What a great way to start the day!
We got to the track got unloaded, sign up complete (Rich in the 250 A, myself in the 250 C), checked the schedule of the days events, walked the fenceline to get an idea of the track layout, stuck our heads in at the riders meeting, then headed back to gear up. We had the 3rd or 4th practice so headed down to the staging area once the 2nd practice kicked off. The track was awesome! Huge hills, rolling terrain, a couple sx style jumps, couple tabletops, etc. Supposed to be clear skies, 65 degrees, soil was great..a little moist but VERY tacky! I knew then we were gonna have a ball!
After practice, Rich made a couple adjustments then headed back to the staging area for his first moto (he was the first race for the day). He got second through the first turn behind southeastern pro Drew Askew (who promptly checked out) and held his position convincingly for the six laps finishing an impressive 2nd out of 9. My moto came up a little while later (#8) and I quizzed Rich on the track...any tricky sections, mud, basically if there was anything out there that had gotten bad since practice. I got the 6th gate pick and lined up with 13 other riders for my first race. I visualized slipping the clutch and rolling on the throttle as my bike quickly accelerated forward up the uphill start, switching to 3rd about halfway up and leaning the bike over as I swept into the lead and through the lefthand first turn and then leaning right, switching to 4th as I sweep through the 2nd turn and up the back hill. But, the 30 second board quickly brought me back to reality. Eyes on the gate, check to ensure I'm in 2nd gear, feet in front of the pegs, throttle at 1/4 turn, clutch halfway out and front brake in. Gate drops, I pop the clutch, shut off the gas, and...........I stalled it. :think: Dang, kick,kick,kick,kick,kick vroom! Look up and everyone is already coming to the top of the back hill, boy I'm embarrassed! I'm flying now, more out of humiliation than for any other reason....Rich is on one of those hills right now, filming me, probably laughing like an idiot with everyone else...I've got to make something happen! I go over the triple (of course it's a double-single to me) and around the lefthand turn that follows and lo and behold there's a rider down trying to get his bike started, I'm not going to be last!! Through the right hand turn over the elevator (of course this is a small jump with a rock wall after it that I have to climb) then through the back turn and back down the mountain. I'm starting to catch up to people now! At this point I'm riding way over my head, but by the grace of God, I never get out of shape or go down and to quote Brandon Jessemen on The Great Outdoors "I felt like everyone was going in slow motion, except me, and it was so easy to pass them." I'm blowing by guys, setting them up two turns in advance, but all too soon our 4 laps were done and we get the checkered flag. I managed to pass 8 guys to finish in 5th!
Well, hours later, intermission came and went, I had taken a half hour nap had some lunch and was ready to redeem myself. Rich's moto came up, he got off to a decent start, 4th out of 9 in the first turn but 3rd coming through the 2nd turn. Drew Askew got the holeshot and promptly checked out similiar to the 1st moto. Rich stayed in 3rd about 4 seconds behind 2nd and 15 seconds or so ahead of 4th for the rest of the moto. Pretty uneventful race but impressive to watch nonetheless, those guys fly! My moto crept up and found myself in the staging area again. 3 of the guys that finished ahead of me showed up late so I got 2nd gate pick and decided on something a little more conservative towards the middle, vice the inside where everyone else preferred. I figured if I could at least get to the 1st turn with everyone else, I had a good chance for a top 3 finish. I was the farthest to the outside on the gate and someone even lined up next to me...so close in fact our hand grips kept bumping into each other. I did a quick look over of his bike.....CRF450 w/ black excels, FMF pipe, ARC levers....lots of bling-bling and now we're locking bars on the start gate...not good for the first turn! 30 board goes up, quick check I'm in 2nd, eyes on the gate, quarter throttle, clutch barely engaged......gate falls and I smoothly roll on the throttle as I slowly let out the clutch.....I'm actually moving forward this time! But wait, my bars are in front of the guy next to me! Slip of the clutch and snick into third, throttle is still wide open and I pull even farther ahead of this guy! First turn is quickly approaching and I'm to the far outside, I glance to my left and I'm in front of everyone, bang, holeshot! Grab another gear, start leaning to the left for the gentle left hand sweeper, then swap it to the right for the right hand sweeper that immediately follows, that I'm on the inside of leading up the hill and into the next right hand 180 that follows and I've secured 1st for the moment. We race half a lap or so and there's one guy right on my back wheel. I'm diving into the inside lines on the corners and holding the throttle open as long as I dare, but down the front hill toward the rhythm section he slowly pulls by me. Through the right hand turn, into the the rhythm section, he slows noticeably and I pass him back convincingly! He follows close behind as we negotiate the track, approaching the right hand 180 (3rd turn after the start) I start hearing "Brrrr, brrrrr, brrrr" and quickly look over my right shoulder. He had tried to dive to the inside of my line going into the turn, rubbed my rear tire a couple times, then dumped his bike! Here's my chance to open a gap and secure 1st! About half way through this next lap I look over my shoulder and 2nd is FAR behind me! At this point I go into cruise control, get the white flag and just maintain a steady/consistent pace. Until......the last turn before the finish line table top. I do the stupidest thing. It's a right hand bowl turn at the bottom of a small hill and all day I've gone wide approaching the turn, aim for the inside line going into it and squaring off on the outside of the bowl and darting up the hill to the finish line table. But, for some reason, maybe the planets were out of alignment, it snowed in hell, cats and dogs played together, whatever the reason, I turned the bars to the right to square off the turn, but the bike refused and I continued straight ahead off the back side of the bowl. :eek: It was awful! Maybe a 10-15 foot drop almost straight down, but fortunately it was so silty/powdery that my bike just sunk in this stuff about 1/4 of the way down. I look around for the quickest way out and realize there's no way I can turn my bike around and ride straight back up...the only way is to parallel the top of it for about 15 feet, then use a tree that had fallen on it as traction and jump back onto the track. So I start musceling the bike around throwing a goofy roostertail of silt and paddling like a beginner as I head toward the tree and the finish line. I can see 2nd 3rd and 4th place coming down the hill at this point approaching the bowl turn and panic set in! I finally build up enough momentum as I reach the tree to use it as a small kicker and hop back onto the track and in sheer desperation cut completely across the track to ensure everyone behinds me knows that I'm going to win this race or take everyone out in the process and cross the finish line in first.
All in all, it was a great day! We had a lot of fun and am really looking forward to the next race! Rich, the dog, made 90 bucks in winnings....for 3rd overall. I went 5-1 for 2nd overall! :aj:
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