Smitty
Alowishus Devadander
- Nov 10, 1999
- 707
- 0
This Sunday was the 2002 OCCRA opener at Lake Murray and my 2nd race on the 450. Murray always attracts a lot of nonmembers and Texas racers and this year was no exception. In fact we set a new attendance record of 304 racers. The Pro class ended with 15, a handful more than normal. The weather was fantastic and the course was fun (Me and some buddies layed it out).
First turn I came in tight inside around 6th or 7th out of 15, however, on the exit I tried to get a drive for the big straight and overpowered the rear. Result lowside washout right in front of Adam Carroll. Wham! Direct blow to head from an RM250 and bike got snagged pretty good too. I was fine though and after checking for all my limbs and any bike damage (front brake line guide was broke) I fired it up and took off about 20 seconds back. Luckily Chris Tucker (OCCRA King and nice guy) had wiped shortly after the start and was just getting going. I passed him before the first woods section and we quickly caught up to a freight train of 5 or 6 guys. We intentionally layed the course out to allow use of the dozens of varying lines at Murray. So I locked in behind Chris and his incredible ability to pick lines and was able to get through that pack into 6th. The second and third laps I had caught up to Carroll in 4th and was not having much trouble dogging him in the trees. After the 3rd lap he stopped for gas and I was able to pass him. He was able to get me back that lap and I finished in 5th Overall and in class after 4 laps.
The rest of the top 5 was 1-Chris Tucker (It wouldn’t be so bad if he ever revved his bike up or did something unsmooth like the rest of us.), 2-Corey Steele (Not bad, dude. Glad we got that pumpkin jetted so you could run away from me!), 3-Adam Carroll (MX guy, great ride, nice guy.), 4-Eric Hillhouse (Fast guy in TCCRA and a character for sure). The course was great since we incorporated an open area with some high speed and rocks as well as the traditional tree sections. The soil varied from some slick hard pack to good sandy dirt to bottomless sand whoops.
Through all this that CRF was just awesome. I run the idle high and just leave the clutch out for most turns, with the idle high I can just brake against the motor to set up the turn and twist the throttle to motor away. It also makes for some spectacular straight away displays, like squaring up a turn at the start of a 5th gear straight then carrying a power wheelie 50 yards through some bumps. The end of the day kind of dragged out with the new scorers having a tough time getting scores up. Overall a great start to the year and hopefully a #3 or so for next year.
Gruber is this weekend. Put some crappy tires on @ about 20 psi and survive the rock run.
:cool:
First turn I came in tight inside around 6th or 7th out of 15, however, on the exit I tried to get a drive for the big straight and overpowered the rear. Result lowside washout right in front of Adam Carroll. Wham! Direct blow to head from an RM250 and bike got snagged pretty good too. I was fine though and after checking for all my limbs and any bike damage (front brake line guide was broke) I fired it up and took off about 20 seconds back. Luckily Chris Tucker (OCCRA King and nice guy) had wiped shortly after the start and was just getting going. I passed him before the first woods section and we quickly caught up to a freight train of 5 or 6 guys. We intentionally layed the course out to allow use of the dozens of varying lines at Murray. So I locked in behind Chris and his incredible ability to pick lines and was able to get through that pack into 6th. The second and third laps I had caught up to Carroll in 4th and was not having much trouble dogging him in the trees. After the 3rd lap he stopped for gas and I was able to pass him. He was able to get me back that lap and I finished in 5th Overall and in class after 4 laps.
The rest of the top 5 was 1-Chris Tucker (It wouldn’t be so bad if he ever revved his bike up or did something unsmooth like the rest of us.), 2-Corey Steele (Not bad, dude. Glad we got that pumpkin jetted so you could run away from me!), 3-Adam Carroll (MX guy, great ride, nice guy.), 4-Eric Hillhouse (Fast guy in TCCRA and a character for sure). The course was great since we incorporated an open area with some high speed and rocks as well as the traditional tree sections. The soil varied from some slick hard pack to good sandy dirt to bottomless sand whoops.
Through all this that CRF was just awesome. I run the idle high and just leave the clutch out for most turns, with the idle high I can just brake against the motor to set up the turn and twist the throttle to motor away. It also makes for some spectacular straight away displays, like squaring up a turn at the start of a 5th gear straight then carrying a power wheelie 50 yards through some bumps. The end of the day kind of dragged out with the new scorers having a tough time getting scores up. Overall a great start to the year and hopefully a #3 or so for next year.
Gruber is this weekend. Put some crappy tires on @ about 20 psi and survive the rock run.
:cool:
