Joe and I have driven past Crandon several times during our summers racing D16 hare scrambles but this past Saturday was the first time we have raced there. Crandon is known for its huge off-road truck and buggy race track – not for its MX or HS courses. There is a huge MX track in the making there, by the way.
While the loop we did was short in length, it had plenty of fun aspects. The wide open, 5th gear main straight was cool just because we don’t often get to do that kind of stuff. And the back side had a few paddle-your-bike-between-the-saplings tight spots that slowed me down more than I want to admit.
Joe and I opted to sit the Sparta GNCC roundout with all the real life issues we have on our plate this month. We hope to hit the GNCC circuit again after the summer break.
Local D16 rider Matt Herrington did the 200A class in Sparta. We were cheering for him from afar by watching his lap times on the Racer Productions live timing. Congrats Matt!
JD, Strangfeld, Flea and Michigan Ben were all the Crandon race. After riding mountain bikes around the loop before the race I had an idea of where I could finish based on how these guys ride and what the course was like. I hoped for a top 3 finish just so I could re-coop some of the fuel costs it took to drag our stuff up there.
I was 3rd into the woods but went wide in the first turn that mattered and Ben snuck by. Later that lap Ben was tangled up in a tight woods section and I got past him. That put JD and Strangfeld out front and me chasing like mad to get back in touch. I caught them but didn’t know how long I’d be able to keep that pace. After following them I realized there were places on the course that I was quite a bit faster than they were. I tried to really take advantage of that knowledge and push hard when we got to those sections.
A few laps in and we caught a string of lapped riders. JD and Strangfeld are better at getting through traffic than I am so I started losing time and therefore had to work too hard in between the lappers to catch back up. Eventually I stopped pushing so hard when I did have open trail and focused on riding smooth, picking good lines and making the best of the sections I knew I was fast.
Late in the race I came by the scoring tent and saw Strangfeld gassing up. Thank god no one makes an oversized tank for his Gas Gas. The sections I was fast in came early in the lap so pushed hard to put as much time on him as I could. I never expected to catch JD but I did hope to keep a gap on Strangfeld.
I finished 2nd but was several minutes down on JD. I’m somewhat okay with that but wish I could lose by less of a margin that I so often do. I could be more aggressive getting by lapped riders but then I’d be too much like the A riders at a GNCC. I don’t want that reputation. Or, I could get better at riding my motorcycle in the woods and hope it all comes together for me some day.
My RM250 was just about perfect. The attention Joe and I have paid to jetting set ups and suspension tuning is paying off. Thanks to Shane at Suzuki for the jetting tips and thanks to Factory Connection for building so much confidence into my bike.
Who knows when Joe and I will race again. Joe has a schedule of local races he plans to do during the July / August break but I can’t make some of those events. I might have to settle for some trials bike time in the back yard for a few weeks.
