truespode
Moderator / Wheelie King
- Jun 30, 1999
- 7,980
- 249
I ran the +25c/d and the 250D again. They swapped the order so the +25c/d was my first race. In the heat I got my usual bad start but didn't get last place!! On the last lap the leader collided with someone else and went into a mud pit. I motored around and got 4th out of 6 (1 didn't run).
After the race he came over and was COVERED from head to toe and was wore out b/c he couldn't get it started. He asked me to start it and I got it kicked within 4 kicks. Funny thing is right before I tried I comicly said "I'm not sure I can start one of these weedeaters" <vbg>
On the start of the 250D heat I was on the farthest outside to the right. The gate dropped and the front wheel went very, very high. Oh well, I will ride the outside.
Yeah, right!!
Somehow someone got on my right side and another slammed into me on the left. The guy on the right fell pretty quickly but the guy on the left got his lever stuck in my kidney belt and kept banging me leg as he was losing control. I just kept going straight and tried not to fall. Finally he fell but as he broke free he pulled me hard to the left and I thought I was going down but I hit the berm just in time.
I was 3rd to last out of the start and about 4 bike lengths from the closest person. I ran hard to catch them but there was a pack of 4 in front and I couldn't find a line. Wrench was in the pack and did a good job holding us all off. Wrench got 9th and I got 12th.
In the +25c/d main I kept up with the leaders until the turn before the whoops. It is the longest I stayed with them. They walked away from me in the whoops even though I doubled all the way through. Only 4 of us started the race so I got my lapper award but this time it was one position higher <g>.
In the 250D I got a really bad start but better than in the heat race. I passed a couple of people and caught up with a pack of 4 others. The 5 of us battled for all the good lines... ok, so we battled for the lines we liked, whether they were actually good or not I don't know b/c we all seemed to be the same speed no matter what line we took.
Finally the one guy ahead of me started to tire out. I tried taking him on the inside but couldn't get enough momentum out of the turns. I battled with him for 2 laps and I had more speed but not enough to pass cleanly. The other 3 guys gapped us but not by much.
I ended up 9th out of 15. The bad thing is that the 4 others who finished ahead of me were no faster... but I was no faster than them either :( They trophied 8 positions.
We ended the night at Krystal's... as usual. We got to bed so we could get up and ride TNT the next day.
A few from DRN showed up to play at TNT... JamesP and LinusB... of course their names are James and Linus <g>
We hit the new intermediate track at TNT. It is small and has a lot of turns. It has a KILLER whoop section. Not killer in that it is tough but killer in that it is so much fun. You have to skim through them as best as possible and you really can't mess up enough to hurt yourself.
There wasn't a jump out there that I felt I could not do. They were pretty cool. It is a great track to practice for the JMX racing.
James let me ride his 2000 CR250 and I was jumping it pretty well but couldn't figure out how to stop the darn thing. I'm so used to engine braking that I about blew every corner. While riding the CR I got to watch Danny (Gomer's oldest) jump the step up which is about 25ft. He was doing one footers and landing a good 10 feet past the landing. It was awesome.
Of course, he wasn't jumping the double which was smaller but he was making the step up look easy!!
After that I got to take a spin on McMenagrath's CR450F. The bike was a lot of fun and I was pretty comfortable on it. The footpegs seemed a little too high but as long as I was standing I didn't notice it too much. I took it on the small track first and did every jump out there on the first lap. I was really comfortable on it jumping and turning.
I rode a KTM520 before and feel the power of the KTM is smoother but the 450 turns so much better it isn't even funny.
I then took the CR450 to the big track and there is a section of 3 jumps. One is a step up followed by a step down that jumps you out of a small gully over a table top. On the first lap I did it with no problem. I even went inside (which I never do on my YZ250F) and overjumped the stepup.
After a few more jumps I took it on the trails.
That is where I missed my bike. The CR450 had too much power for me on the trails and I really noticed the absence of a steering damper. The suspension was pretty good on the trails and really good on the track and I don't think the suspension was holding me back on the trails as much as my confidence was. The bike had plenty of power but I was tentative with it and couldn't get used to the controls.
It wasn't the weight either. The 450 is really light. I didn't notice the weight difference between it and the CR250 at all.
I may be able to get used to a 450 in the woods but my YZF is so much more versatile that I'm now confused... again... as to whether I want a new bike next year. The first time out on my bike after I bought it I raced a HS and felt very comfortable on it.
My overall opinion of the 450 is that if I was racing only MX I'd buy it in a heartbeat. However, I'm going to hold out until I ride a few other bikes before upgrading since I want to ride some more HS and such.
After that we bs'd a little, I went home and mowed the lawn, did some weed eating and now I'm about to go to bed and hope that I enjoy racing next weekend as much as I enjoyed riding at TNT today :)
Ivan
After the race he came over and was COVERED from head to toe and was wore out b/c he couldn't get it started. He asked me to start it and I got it kicked within 4 kicks. Funny thing is right before I tried I comicly said "I'm not sure I can start one of these weedeaters" <vbg>
On the start of the 250D heat I was on the farthest outside to the right. The gate dropped and the front wheel went very, very high. Oh well, I will ride the outside.
Yeah, right!!
Somehow someone got on my right side and another slammed into me on the left. The guy on the right fell pretty quickly but the guy on the left got his lever stuck in my kidney belt and kept banging me leg as he was losing control. I just kept going straight and tried not to fall. Finally he fell but as he broke free he pulled me hard to the left and I thought I was going down but I hit the berm just in time.
I was 3rd to last out of the start and about 4 bike lengths from the closest person. I ran hard to catch them but there was a pack of 4 in front and I couldn't find a line. Wrench was in the pack and did a good job holding us all off. Wrench got 9th and I got 12th.
In the +25c/d main I kept up with the leaders until the turn before the whoops. It is the longest I stayed with them. They walked away from me in the whoops even though I doubled all the way through. Only 4 of us started the race so I got my lapper award but this time it was one position higher <g>.
In the 250D I got a really bad start but better than in the heat race. I passed a couple of people and caught up with a pack of 4 others. The 5 of us battled for all the good lines... ok, so we battled for the lines we liked, whether they were actually good or not I don't know b/c we all seemed to be the same speed no matter what line we took.
Finally the one guy ahead of me started to tire out. I tried taking him on the inside but couldn't get enough momentum out of the turns. I battled with him for 2 laps and I had more speed but not enough to pass cleanly. The other 3 guys gapped us but not by much.
I ended up 9th out of 15. The bad thing is that the 4 others who finished ahead of me were no faster... but I was no faster than them either :( They trophied 8 positions.
We ended the night at Krystal's... as usual. We got to bed so we could get up and ride TNT the next day.
A few from DRN showed up to play at TNT... JamesP and LinusB... of course their names are James and Linus <g>
We hit the new intermediate track at TNT. It is small and has a lot of turns. It has a KILLER whoop section. Not killer in that it is tough but killer in that it is so much fun. You have to skim through them as best as possible and you really can't mess up enough to hurt yourself.
There wasn't a jump out there that I felt I could not do. They were pretty cool. It is a great track to practice for the JMX racing.
James let me ride his 2000 CR250 and I was jumping it pretty well but couldn't figure out how to stop the darn thing. I'm so used to engine braking that I about blew every corner. While riding the CR I got to watch Danny (Gomer's oldest) jump the step up which is about 25ft. He was doing one footers and landing a good 10 feet past the landing. It was awesome.
Of course, he wasn't jumping the double which was smaller but he was making the step up look easy!!
After that I got to take a spin on McMenagrath's CR450F. The bike was a lot of fun and I was pretty comfortable on it. The footpegs seemed a little too high but as long as I was standing I didn't notice it too much. I took it on the small track first and did every jump out there on the first lap. I was really comfortable on it jumping and turning.
I rode a KTM520 before and feel the power of the KTM is smoother but the 450 turns so much better it isn't even funny.
I then took the CR450 to the big track and there is a section of 3 jumps. One is a step up followed by a step down that jumps you out of a small gully over a table top. On the first lap I did it with no problem. I even went inside (which I never do on my YZ250F) and overjumped the stepup.
After a few more jumps I took it on the trails.
That is where I missed my bike. The CR450 had too much power for me on the trails and I really noticed the absence of a steering damper. The suspension was pretty good on the trails and really good on the track and I don't think the suspension was holding me back on the trails as much as my confidence was. The bike had plenty of power but I was tentative with it and couldn't get used to the controls.
It wasn't the weight either. The 450 is really light. I didn't notice the weight difference between it and the CR250 at all.
I may be able to get used to a 450 in the woods but my YZF is so much more versatile that I'm now confused... again... as to whether I want a new bike next year. The first time out on my bike after I bought it I raced a HS and felt very comfortable on it.
My overall opinion of the 450 is that if I was racing only MX I'd buy it in a heartbeat. However, I'm going to hold out until I ride a few other bikes before upgrading since I want to ride some more HS and such.
After that we bs'd a little, I went home and mowed the lawn, did some weed eating and now I'm about to go to bed and hope that I enjoy racing next weekend as much as I enjoyed riding at TNT today :)
Ivan
