Below might not make any sense to you but I’ll post it anyhow. Normally Joe and I drive to races togehter but this time around our work schedules differed too much. Here is a note I dropped to Joe the day after the race:
Didn’t get the chance to share race notes on the drive home after Kewaunee so I’ll do it here.
I was a little bummed that Clayton caught us so quickly on the opening lap. I got the holeshot and battled with Ben B for a few turns but I could hear a four stroke behind us and assumed it was Flea. I took the time to look over my shoulder because I wanted Flea in front of me – he knew the course and would be easy to follow. But when I looked and saw Clay, my stomach dropped.
Clay got by Ben B somewhere and pulled up to me. I started thinking I wanted him to do the work up front if he had so much pace. He probably didn’t know the course any better than me that early in the race and was going fast by just hanging it all out. I pulled to the side of the trail on one of the grassy sections and let him by. He looked over at me on his way by. Who knows what he was thinking.
I jumped on his wheel hoping I had enough pace to keep him in sight. I don’t know if he slowed from the pressure of being up front or just didn’t have the balls/energy to ride as fast as he did in the opening minutes of the race but I could stay on his wheel pretty easily. I did get tangled with a lapper in the woods section that cost me 5-10 seconds but I reeled Clay back in by the time we got to the scoring tent. That reeling gave me lots of confidence and I started thinking race strategy.
I learned a few things about his riding vs. mine in those opening laps. He gets on the gas way earlier than I do when exiting a turn. I carry more corner speed. And the rear end of his bike needs some adjustments because he can’t keep it under control in any of the heavy braking sections. He’s also not as good on the jumps as I thought he would be. He slowed before all the same stuff I did and he didn’t do anything special in air to make or keep speed.
I think he lead for 3 laps before I passed him after a banked turn on the north side of the course. It looked to me like he strained something, based on his body language. I later thought maybe he was tired of me hounding him and he let me by. He said after the race that his back hurt but I don’t know details. Anyhow, when he sat up I rode past checking to see that he was okay and soon afterwards thought I should be putting time on him so I can see what he is made of. I had referenced where he was slower than me and I made sure to keep on the gas and not make any mistakes in those sections. The rest of the loop I tried to stay safe, keep away from the lappers and no make any mistakes.
I didn’t hear or see him for a few laps and wondered if he had to stop for gas. I never did see if he had a big tank or not but so I don’t know if he stopped. For sure he would have had to stop if he had a small tank because we were going fast and the course used up a lot of fuel. His dad took a good hard look at my gas level after the race while I was talking to Clay so I wonder what he was thinking. Did I mention that I don’t like Clay’s dad?
With maybe 3 laps to go I saw and heard Clay opposite me in the woods. I wondered if I had 30 seconds on him or not but feared I did not. I put my head down for a while but really wasn’t making up any ground. The course had started to deteriorate and I was getting tired. I was alarmed at how winded I was every time I dove down that steep hill into the woods. The previous straights and mx track took more out of me than I expected.
At the end I knew it would be close on time for the overall. I recall dreading the thought of winning the AA class with a good ride and being beaten by an A rider on time. That would make the AA win feel hollow. It did. When I pulled up to the timing tent at the end there were 2 riders in front of me. Paula had no reason to be fast with the scoring because the race was over so I had to wait until she got to me to be read. I think that probably took 3 or 4 seconds and I panicked while the time ticked away. Nothing I could do but wait. In the end I was 11 seconds behind Clay for the overall.
Lots of stuff stands out to me as satisfying about the race, even if I was beaten by a kid with little league dad. My bike was perfect. The jetting was a little lean so it pulled hard out of the turns and ripped across the fields. With my standard suspension settings I was comfy in the creek beds, happy on the mx track and not afraid of the high speeds. I was able to up my game and assess the race situation with ease when asked to, even if I doubted my abilities at first. I’m a good late braker and it helped me make up time on riders in front of me 10 out of 10 times. I only stalled once and it bumped back to life with ease. No crashes and only a few bobbles to speak of for the entire race.
With a few more miles of narrow stuff that could be a great 3 hour race course. Although I only have one GNCC race to compare to, the Kewaunee course felt GNCC-like to me.
I put 30 points on JD because he was racing in PA somewhere. I’m glad he was off frying bigger fish yet sorry he wasn’t here in WI / D16 keeping us honest. Maybe next time. That puts me firmly in the lead of the AA points chase with 4 races to go. Pressure is on.
