It had been a long time coming but it finally arrived: race day! It’s a little embarrassing to be so emotionally attached to my hobby but I’ll cope with the abuse I take from friends and my wife. I’m not alone, obviously, since there was 16 other AA riders on my starting line and 140 others behind us. We all love to ride in the woods.
It rained hard the nights before the race and it seemed a little threatening the morning of but that all passed by the time we lined up. I was a little wound up on the starting line, more so than I had been at GNCC races last year. Seems there is something to doing well on home turf and its tough for me to just ride and enjoy when the gun goes off.
A friend at work (do-all guy Ray Waxham) helped me tune up my holeshot device late on Friday afternoon. That thing is pretty important to me and it helped me get the holeshot. I hope someone got a picture of that. The guy to my right got the jump on me but his front end lifted and he had to back off the gas. Next thing I knew I was leading the field onto the MX track.
I raced the Montecello round of the D23 hare scramble series a few years ago. I learned then that there are some wicked fast guys in that series and it seems they all came to Arkansaw to race. This was a co-district race with D23 and D16 sharing timing, refs and venue. I recognized before the race started that a podium finish would have been the best race I ever had so I started thinking realistically and pictured that a solid ride with no mistakes would be satisfying enough. This was, after all, only my 4th real ride of the year!
But I pulled the holeshot, doubled and backsided all the somewhat big jumps on the MX track, lead up the loose rocky hill out of the pit and even kept a small lead into the first woods section. I saw JD was on my tail some where in those opening minutes and remembered that he had walked the entire course before the race. I had only seen the first 1/2 mile and we were well past that by the time we got into the first woods bit. I considered letting JD by and in fact knew that wast the smart thing to do but I didn’t make it happen.
Our compound
About the time I thought about JD I managed to plow right into a pile of logs that were blocking a closed trail. Dunno why I did that, really, since the ribbons were obvious and the logs were meant to be a formidable barrier. There went my trail position. Only after picking my self up and firing up my bike did I realize that the front end of my bike was badly twisted. I rode about 10 seconds before stopping to bump my front wheel on a tree to straighten things out. I jumped back in the race behind all the AA guys and just barely in front of the lead A guys.
The dirt was INCREDIBLE. I mean there was grip everywhere and no dust and no puddles. Just point and shoot all the way around the 30 minute loop. Although I had thrown away any chance of placing well, I chased hard and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the race. I only made a handful of minor errors but didn’t fall or stall the rest of the time I was in the woods. Great fun.
Vesrah Suzuki Offroad team bikes
I worked my way up to 8th but don’t know how. I didn’t pass many AA guys so the back of the group must have been having bigger problems than me. One A guy caught me so I let him by and followed for a while but he crashed big time off a small drop so he wasn’t any use to me any more. I needed someone to pace me back up to speed while I gathered my thoughts. Luckily I had by the time he took himself out.
Freshly groomed Arkasaw motocross track!
The motocross track at Arkansaw is doable, even for hare scramble guys. The jumps are wide and safe and you can see most of what is coming your way. I wouldn’t have lost much time if chose to roll the jumps but I opted to try to clear as many as I could. There are two big table tops that are easy to do as long as you commit to hitting them at speed. The first time I backsided one of those big tables was almost enough to call it a day. It felt so sweet. But in the air I thought that I had never flown that far or high on a motorcycle. I image it wasn’t that impressive to onlookers but I felt like I was high in the sky for a long way.
To ice the cake, JD finished 7th, just in front of me. I think he had an off day or else there’s something in the water in D23. JD can usually keep the neighboring district’s riders in sight but not this past Sunday. So where would i have finished had I let JD lead for while and not ridden off into the weeds?
I’m super stoked with my fitness, race nutrition, Suzuki RM250, Moose XCR clothing and state of mind. I’m excited to race again and keep honing my 40 year old skillset some more. See you at the opening round of the WIXC serice in Rhinelander!
