VCMC Qualifier 5-16

[scar tissue]

Well?

It's Thursday already, and we haven't heard any race reports.

I typed I a nice long report, then my computer froze and I had to reboot. I was pissed so I didn't retype it yet.

It was good to see the guys out there, OldnSlow listed the usual suspects that made it. We pitted next to/ with Brett as well. I believe soem of the TWMC crew was there but we didn't run into them.

Loop 1 was fun but uneventful, There was a really nice downhill on dust covered concrete with very sharp turns in it. That made for an e ticket ride. My tire combo wouldn't slow down, and you just had to manhandle the bike to make the turns. it was in a special so the speeds we up.

Loop 2 started out in a special (like last year) there was some nice sponsorship money to be had out there. Appearently someones pack came open and some Green was lining the course. It was in a special so I didn't stop. it didn't look like much. $$$, just interesting to see.

Thumbs got to witness an nice front brake washout of mine. Man that ground is hard out there. (If anyone has a tire combo for rock hard, chewed up ground wih a fine layer of loose dirt over the top let me know.) Instead of Thumbs cruising by laughing (AKA Bundy style) he asked if I was OK as he roosted by me :nener:

Up into the forest the race went. Some nice single track is always fun. We were not in a special and I was catching back up to Thumbs to make my route checks when I came out of a sharp left hander and I noticed a guy on XR about 5ft down the cliff. he crawled back up to the trails edge and I hugged the right edge to give him some space. Then WHAM :bang: My right handlebar clips a tree, which throws my bike back left, I accedently grab a handfull of thottle and lauch off the cliff over the XR. I cartwheeled to a stop maybe 15 - 20 ft below. :yikes: Luckily the ground was very soft and steep, (like the Phelan sand hill, lined with bigger trees shrubs and some rocks.)

After collecting my thoughts for a few, the XR pilot says, thats exactly what he did althought the handfull of throttle lauched my 300 2 stroke farther than his XR. It was also upside down and by the time I recovered a lot of my gas had spilled (more on that later)

We debate about dragging the bikes back up hill or bulldogging down a never before riddin area that we can't really see the bottom of. I new it would be an all day event dragging my bike back up as I could barely stand up on this hillside. so I decide to go down. Thinking I could turn was a joke, I left the bike in gear and held the front brake locked with my feet planted on the side and still was sliding down at 5-10 MPH. I just plowed through shrubs and small trees, as there was no turning possible.

I made it down and at the bottom I could tell where the rainwater washed down. I fired up the KTM and headed left up the dry creek. Man there was a buch of crap - debris in it, I made it back to a previousy riddin section of trial - race course and back to the race course. I came back to the crash site and the XR guy was still trying to drag his bike that same 5 ft. It was almost a dead lift with no footing. I told him to follow my tracks as I made it and I took off.

Most of the rest of the way I cruised having spent 90% of my energy getting back on track. About 2/3rds of the way throught the loop in a high speed sand wash, my bike quits. I figure I fouled a plug and proceed to change it out. No fire, I monkeyed around with it for a while and finally pulled off the fuel line, no gas is coming out although there is still some in the tank. I shake up the bike and turn the petcock to on, off , res still no gas. I repeat and still no gas, finally after a while some gas started to flow and I took off. (Appearenlty my researve pick up in clogged) I made it back on fumes nursing it through the last of the course.

I believe I missed one route check with my off course activities so I might get a DNF. We did see a few more snakes and critters on the course this year.

Final Score:

VCMC Gorman

2 getoffs
1 broken Rad shroud
1 crushed radiator
1 broken fender
1 broken helmet visor
1 pair of torn pants
1 torn jesrery
1 scratched up google

Scar

1 Winners pin ( I think we all got one, there must have been a lot of classes) :clue:
1 Good time with my friends

Well worth it if you ask me. :aj:

I believe Eel broke a hand gaurd and Thumbs decided to complete the race 1/2 shirtless.

 

[brett r]

I took 2 months off the bike but I have been surfing and lifting alot of weights and VCMC is the easiest race of the year but by Sunday night I was so sore it hurt to sleep. I found out the best way to get in shape for racing is on the bike. Monday morning I had a hard time driving because of the blood blisters on my hands. I crashed more sunday than I have all year, nothing bad just stupid mistakes, I even went over the edge on that left turn with the bricks and bent my radiator. The course was good, almost the same as last year but backwards.

 

[Sorudne]

I took 2 months off the bike but I have been surfing and lifting alot of weights and VCMC is the easiest race of the year but by Sunday night I was so sore it hurt to sleep. I found out the best way to get in shape for racing is on the bike. Monday morning I had a hard time driving because of the blood blisters on my hands. I crashed more sunday than I have all year, nothing bad just stupid mistakes, I even went over the edge on that left turn with the bricks and bent my radiator. The course was good, almost the same as last year but backwards.

Yeah, but you sure look good in the Grumpy photo Brett!

 

[thumbs]

Yeah, but you sure look good in the Grumpy photo Brett!

You do mean the one where he is dragging his leg behinde him like cans from a newlyweds limo. :nener:

 

[nonickname]

Well, at least my day was better than Scar's... ;)

I had a pretty busy weekend since I was at Sea World on Sat. with the family until about 9:00 PM. Left SD at 11:15, got home about 12:30, asleep by 1 AM, back up at 5 AM, drive to Gorman, sign-up, unload, sound-test, suit-up, and be ready to race by 8:02 AM. :ohmy: I was pretty nervous, but I actually got all of that done with about 30 minutes to spare.

After Vikings, I was starting to think I was kinda fast... this race cured me of that notion. I love riding the bermy trails up there, but I think I need to log some track time to ride them fast. Being on minute 2, I got to see a bunch of really fast guys pass me in most every special. Some of them I could hang in their dust for a bit. Others, like Nicholas Blais, would pass me and just be gone...

The first loop was pretty fun but uneventful. My pants started to fall off about a mile in because I guess I was in to much of a rush to zip them up. We weren't in a special yet, so it didn't cost me anything (where's Grumpy when you need him). The long special in the mountains on the second loop was probably my best chance for a decent time, but I boiled my rear brake about halfway in. Now I usually brakeslide for turns, and this wasn't a good race for not being able to turn. I crashed twice by grabbing too much front brake, and I almost did what Scar did twice before I decided I'd better cruise it a bit. The brake came mostly back for the final special, but I got lost briefly and lost some time.

We had an Senior Expert 250 (Daniel Graham, HBMC) on our minute that was consistently running about 30-secs quicker than me in the specials (he got me by a couple of minutes in the special where I lost my brake). No idea how that will hold up against my class, but I would guess not well. Some guys know that area like the backs of their hands. I'll just have to wait and see...

 

[tator]

The results are up on venturacountymc.com

 

[scar tissue]

The results are up on venturacountymc.com[/QUOTE

All that screwing around out there and I still came in mid pack in my class (C Vet open) with a 9th.

It looks like Thumbs WON his class :cool: :cool: 1st place out of 1 rider. Nice work. (you had a much better overall score than me)

Eel took 2nd out of 3 riders and had the best score on our minute. :worship:

Is it just me or do we all think there are two many D37 classes.

Check out the sandbagger..... The guy who won my class ( C Vet Open), would have won the B Vet Open, better yet he would have come in 3rd. place in the A Vet Open. :think:

I would have won the class had I sandbagged and entered the D Vet open, but what fun is that.

 

[the Eel]

DirtRider magazine has a 30 minute show each week on SPEED channel called "DirtRider Adventures". It's usually incredibly bad but this week's episode looked inside the DirtRider 24-hour torture test for this year, which they held at Hungry Valley. It focused on 11 bikes - 8 of which were full-on factory off-road bikes (Barry Hawk's YZ250, Chuck Woodford's bike, Scott Summers' CRF450, Fred Andrews' RM250, Mike Lafferty's Ktm 250, and a few other GNCC pro's bikes) and 3 stock 250CC thumpers - WR250F, CRF250X and KTM's 250 4-stroke. They rode these bikes for 24-hours on the same trails we rode at the qualifier. The riders included guys like Dick Burleson, Randy Hawkins, the list goes on. Anyway, what struck me was watching the guys slide all over the place, just like us. It was funny, and several of the test riders commented about the difficulty of the riding there ... slippery hard pack, huge sand whoops, etc. Gorman is so cool because all that stuff is great practice plus you've got a good 50 or so miles of single track forest trail to ride ... more east coast style stuff which isn't real easy to find down here. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there since the place obviously presents a challenge for anyone who isn't familiar with it including guys like Randy Hawkins. FYI ... this is the closest place for me to ride and it's kinda my summer break riding spot ... so anyone who wants to ride there over the break, just say when. There's a ton of forest stuff we didn't see at the qualifier.

Anyway, I had a great time riding with you guys at the qualifier ... a fun day for sure.