Report On Dirtweek Happenings

[Pokie]

Thump beat everyone by a day! arrived Sunday and had a marvelous day on Monday practicing (chasing?) with a lone local rider and a quad

Monday: Okie clan arrived albeit a little late due to some technical difficulties (alternator problem with the RV and a detour on the expressways of south suburban Chicago, more on that later)

Tuesday: set up the big top with theh help of the California wagon train (TTRGuy,Billywhop, GoSpeed, FarmerJohn 36 hours of driving !)... just in time for the rain and thunderstorms lasting until midnight....no riding this day!

Wednesday by midmorning the GP track was ridable and became very ridable with the likes of Thump, Billywho, TTRguy and a bunch of others drying out the track, provididing ruts and berms for the rest of us to take advantage of...Jeff Fredette had the enduro track laid out in a jiffy and promised that it would not be tougher than last year.....late afternoon AJ showed up with more bikes than riders.... Dhoward harem arrived and prompty joined in the fun... woods guys disappeared into the woods... Even tough the "Tejas Team" (Billywho, Thump and Patman, Twinnie; Patman on injured reserve and twinnie could not make it to DW)) sort of disintegrated before the event, Billywho certainly showed that that the Texas Team would have been anwesome.....but the world is waiting for Billy & Thump and the Yankee Team (AJ and Wardy and Okie, plus OT who alas is also on injured reserve) to be on the track at the same time: this is a 'must watch'....the rest of the 166 riders will be watching from the grandstand..... the MX track was being groomed in the afternoon, but still too muddy to ride; all available quads were pressed into service to provide some lines for the 2-wheelers..... lots and lots of riding in the woods and the GP track until sundown. After a "cocktail" session under the big top, we all moved to the bonfire which was expertly lit and stoked by TTRGuy (he also cooks a mean steak!), assisted by Jeff Allen who hand carried a cord of wood to the focal point of the evening..... Pokie and Shiftless left for a cozy hotelroom while about 50 were still huddled around the bonfire...stars were shining brightoy in the sky, a good omen for another good day of ridingmore tomorrow.,..
the camp is an impressive sight with a few 'big rigs' bordering the big top... and a host of tents in the woods area... a regular convoy of of rigs of all sized were seen pulling into the park in a continiuous stream all evening... as if this were some major event; we're only missing the ESPN crew ....... best surprise of the day: Gomer is coming after all, but promised he would behave... Mike B did the neighborly thing and drove to Indianapolis airport from Casey to pick up Canadian Dave...
good night... gotta rest up and be at the 8:00 am riders meeting with President AJ...first event will be a Poker run, then a Tag Team event and an evening Poker run; wanna bet?
Pokie

 

[Shaw520]

Pokie, Thanks for the report, I am one of the less-fortunates that got caught by the 9 to 5, (except in my case its 7 to 4).
Non-the-less, I will enjoy keeping up on the reports,and trying to get the feeling of 'being there'........
......I'll just sit here making BRAPPPP! noises and wishing I was there!

 

[Wolf]

Braappp!!!:(

 

[TwinSpar]

Sniff, Sniff, wipe of the nose... and I'm off for a weekend of camping south of Big D with rain in the forecast... all freaking weekend. Worst part... I have been officially notified that the bike is off limits. Ya Know... Never have been one for rules. :p

 

[fremontguy]

Rain and mud, forgot what it looks like. Good report, I knew my week at work was miserable for some reason:)

 

[Pokie]

Thursday started at about 8am with AJ's riders meeting, followed by the singing of the Star Spangled Banner by Leann Rimes (...no, not in person!)... goose bumps were noticed aplenty on arms extended in the traditional citizen salute.....leading into an emotionally charged Poker Run, efficiently run and befitting a 9000 member organization (results will be posted elsewhere)..... The afternoon Tag Team was a smash hit, ably run by the energetic Nikki (Regional Women's MX Champ) and assisted by Crispy (Okie's sister) and Fast4ward( Crispy's squeeze) .......the weather was near perfect all day until late at night, dumping another inch or two on the tracks; so the GP track got a good working-over as the MX track did not see its first riders until mid afternoon...... the quads made a token effort to get some ridable lines going...... several woods riders found some sharp objects as evidenced by a flurry of flat tires; FarmerJohn and TTRGuy must have each fixed two, making inner tubes a hot commodity. Another bonfire, this time with smores (something like marshmallows)...... and a big surprise for Shiftless for whom a huge cake had been arranged by Oldguy with a picture (yes edible) of the lady on her "shiftless" quad....that woman will cry happy tears at the drop of an act of appreciation.... it was her birthday (39 I think?)...

Friday repeated the AJ and Leann Rimes routine which got us ready for the first of the two "big" days.... however, the brief overnight rain again made the MX track unuseable so the GP track and the woods trails saw another swarm of riders. Harescrambles in the morning..... followed by the Ladies Only race at 1:30. Pokie did his best trying to even out the talent by making the "B" circuit shorter and simpler, a little too simple as the B riders were leading the A riders for the first three laps; a quick decision was made to score them separately (6 A and 4 B riders). Trudy, Mrs Oldguy took our "dare" and rode in B after only 4 hours on a dirtbike in her life! OT's protege, Jennifer, also succumbed to "pressure" and signed up for A after only a few months of practice on a dirtbike, of course it helps to have "The Legend" (OT) as a teacher! The other surprise was the demure Scooter taking top spot in the B cloass.... nobody has ever seen her ride so fast since she began to take lessons from her man (Okie) earlier this year. In the A class, Stacy took top honors with flying colors. "Most Improved" honors must go to Gospeedracer..... it helps to practice and learn from respectable riders, TTRGuy, in her case. More on the race in another thread. Nikki could not participate as she injured herself the day before....

Patman and Oldguy followed suit with the Juniors, also divided into 2 classes.... Eric (son of Oldguy) took the field by storm and was the clear winner of this event.

Eric Gorr and Jeremy Wilkey and Rich Rohrich combined their seminars and kept about 50 people spellbound for almost two hours. Unfortunately, due to track conditions Wardy could not hold his famous MX school.... although he masterfully made lines in the muddy mess so that others could have a chance to ride...

But the day was not done until the Night Time Poker Run was accomplished. Must have been about 50 bikes, some with lights, some with pretend-lights. It was quite a sight to see all those lights buzzing about in the GP track valley, lit up light a Christmas tree....Jay as usual did a masterful job!...

well my short term memory is starting to fail, so I'll say good night until tomorrow ...

Lots more stories will be told between now and the next DIRTWEEK...

 

[smb_racing]

wooohooo!
just got back from dirtweek and it was a blast!!! :) :)
compliments to okie and everyone involved, perfect riding except for the rain thursday night which made a heck of a mess friday morning. I wouldn't trade a minute of it, it was really good to put faces to all the names, althought I didn't see you around pokie, where were ya?

 

[Pokie]

smb...I was there since Monday evening...hanging around the 'big top' between riding the GP track, holding the ladies' race and helping out with the two Poker Runs.... and other admin chores. I had #74 on my YZ250F which I entered in the C class race.

the Grand Finale was indeed spectacular!!!

 

[Dead eng start]

Well just got home from dirt week. What a fun time. I ride at Casey all the time but, that was the most fun I have ever had at LTM. I sure hated for the week to be over. However everyone sure needed to take a shower. :eek:
The races were all alot of fun. The night time poker run was great. I sure wish I would have not went that extra lap. I ran out of gas:( That sure sucked. Good old Pokie took care of me though. He carried me back down with some gas to get going again. Thanks Pokie:D The team H.S. had the best loop that LTM has ever had. Nice job guys. Sure wish they had loops like that all the time at LTM. I had a good partner. I sure wish I could rember his name, sorry. He was from Oklahoma on a gas-gas. Very nice guy. We had a great time. They gave away all kinds of cool stuff. ALOT of stuff. A buddy that went with us he won a $275 pair of Oakley's and then a set of tag bars. What luck... Met some very cool people and some that were just nuts. Well I know I could go on and on but, I can't wait to get to sleep. It was a blast.:)

 

[Ol'89r]

I am not jealous.
I am not jealous.
I am not jealous.
I am not jealous.
I am not jealous.

BRAPPP!;)

 

[AJ Waggoner]

DES-
Glad you had a great time!
The very cool HS loop was "cut" by

Mully ,
Jeff,
and Ofroader.

I'd like to thank those guys for the time they spent out there laying it out!

everyone coming thru motoxsparx and my "OB check" had big grins :)

 

[KXKen]

Originally posted by Dead eng start
I ran out of gas:( That sure sucked.

Your not the only one I ran out to.

 

[smb_racing]

Sorry I missed ya Pokie, maybe I'll run into you at DW'02 :)

 

[BUK0138]

Great Time

Just wanted to let ya all know what a great time that Donny,Max (the dog) and myself had at Dirt Week. We met alot!!!!! of great people and had a blast ridding in the events ...cant wait till next year. Thanks to all you guys out there for the great weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stacy (BUK0138) :p

 

[motometal]

Dead eng...I think you were referring to the infamous justql on the Gas Gas.

In unrelated news, I heard he could whip up some grade A chili.

 

[Pokie]

GRAND FINALE - Saturday

Leann was back singing Old glory one more time and wake up all the sleepy heads who stayed at the fire pit til dawn!!!

GROUP PHOTO at 10:00 took a few minutes...... per click; keep in mind David Kennel a.k.a. OffRoadWarrior took about 100 clicks on his digital camera. He plans to splice his own face onto some unsuspecting spode in that picture and, furthermore, plans to pick from the hundred pictures the best facial expression of each spode..... so as to create the most perfect spodely crowd, and mostly to make sure that no customer complains about having blinked or scratched at the exact moment.... well you get the picture? Old Glory was part of the picture: a couple of old guys (Mully, Okie and OldGuy) were hiding behind the flag in the front row, while Shiftless was trying to be inconspicuous in the back of the mass of muscles and machines waving that proud symbol..... the "smile" muscles got the best workout of the week during these 100 shots; in fact all left the camp with that smile frozen in place..

While Jeff Fredette was giving a lively class on the finer points of woods riding such as avoiding trees and tree stumps, flying through the forest like those sci-fi machines in the movies, the MX crowd was busy practicing for the MX races. OT was in top form in the announcing tower, displaying wit and charm, providing the bar-to-bar commentary, keeping track of all the racers and their numbers and names..... you see OT could have stayed home and nurse his injured knee, but he was hopping around the grounds not only on his monster quad (650cc) but also on his YZ426 riding slowly enough so that Pokie could keep up with him.....for a few laps. But I digress, sorry. He was ably asssisted by a top notch crowd like Okie, Gomer, Scooter and another person who refused to be publicly identified.

The "C" class roster was 60 names long, requiring two qualifiers: 20 from each moto. The final was run after the A/B class and the Lighted Bikes brigade. Results will be posted in another thread, but suffice it to say that, to this observer, the emotionally charged battle to watch was the A/B class: Billywho, riding Thump's YZ400 (that's another story!) was beaten in the holeshot skirmish by TJwho on a Cannondale thumper who lead most of the first lap.... you could hear the crowd asking who is this TJ?..... well, Billy came first over the finish line and took top honors over the other 5 riders which included Mike Zimmerman and Jeff Fredette, both acquitting themselves very well. What's wrong with this picture? Jeff and practically no trees near his bike? he got extra wide handlebars for this event, and for better turning leverage. Then, he got right back in line for the Lighted Bikes show, where he did battle with Jay the Offroadr guy of DRN fame; both placed in the top 40.... or was it top 4?....well check the results thread!

There was a sad note to report in the "C"class final.Thump surely would have won, had not Billywho "finished" Thump's thumper in that A/B class and therefore could not compete..... he wisely refused a Montessa Trials bike that Patman offered for the occasion..... you see, Thump likes to sit down (a lot) while riding furiously fast and jumping high for which a seat and long suspension travel are recommended. But this story is not complete if we don't mention (or am I repeating myself?) that Billy had blown up his own blue machine the day before, necessitating this spodely gesture of a 'loaner'. Rumors have it that the pressure washer that Okie made available was likewise "blown" about the time that Billy was using it.... but this is pure speculation absent any facts. Oldguy is going to have to use his badge to investigate.

Too bad Billy did not win the Generac Washer raffle, he could have donated that one to poor Okie. Trophies were handed out, plaques were presented, and a raffle was held by the ever-peppy Mully, .... right as I was carving the turkey for the mods (those turkeys!). So I will have to go look into the appropriate thread to read about the winners myself.

And so, the story of this year's event ends...... Only a couple of guys got hurt enough to be checked out by the medical facilities in the area....both were sent back as not requiring nursing, just an aspiring. Jeff Allen (Mr Headplant) already posted that he is back home, safe and sound and planning next year's vacation actiivities.

Prizes were plentiful this year; many manufacturers donated a lot of stuff.... see the Prize post for details. Jim Krieger won the Jeremy Wilkey suspender job; Eric Gorr handed out gift certificates for all riders.... Asterix, in the person of Billywho (now the good guy), provided at least one set of knee-saving braces. Oakley goggles and designer sun glasses; handlebars and grips, Tuff provided a lot of riding pants and jerseys (through OT's efforts)...
Plano Honda came in with a big $certificate.... I can't remember them all.
Winners of these items should send the respective manufacturers and/or dealers a thank you..... as I expect they would again be generous next year.

We saw many many faces from last year's event and met a lot of new ones this year..... about 170 actually showed up......the parting memory in each case is a smily face....until the next time....be cool!

Pokie

 

[justql]

It was a great time. If only Dead Eng Start would've ran first in the Team Harescramble, you guys would've been in trouble. Making an enduro rider do that 38 bike start is cruel. I did ok till I missed an arrow. It was still a ball.

The back to back motos were a little much seeing as how it was my first mx. I ran the lighted bike class and the C main. I've never been so scared in all my life. As I rolled off the track happy to be alive my mx coach, mx547 quickly told me "Never look back" I guess I looked back once or twice. I had a ball.

 

[mx547]

Originally posted by justql
As I rolled off the track happy to be alive my mx coach, mx547 quickly told me "Never look back" I guess I looked back once or twice.

yeah, once or twice in every turn.:)

 

[justql]

It wasn't the guys in front of me that scared me, is was the ones behind me that wanted to run me over.
:)

 

[Lorin]

As posted by JustQl

It wasn't the guys in front of me that scared me, is was the ones behind me that wanted to run me over.

Now I finally understand your riding strategy: If you let two or three people pass you every other turn, than before long there wont be anyone left behind you to run you over. The only problem with that is the lappers will catch up to you and the circle will start all over again. I would have been happy to point that out to you, except that I had a cold and was unable to ride.