High Lord Gomer

Poked with Sticks
Sep 26, 1999
11,790
34
Last week I saw that they were having a race within 30 minutes of our house so I decided to go. The more I thought about it the more I realized I'm not a very good spectator. If I was going to go, I was going to need to race so Saturday morning I skipped our USPSA shooting competition and worked on getting Tommy's KX85 and Danny's CRF250R ready. I barely got them ready, everything loaded, and to the track by the 4:00 registration. Danny was working so he wasn't able to go. He gets off in time to make the next one, though.

Entry was $10 each and then $20 for the first class, $15 for second. Since we hadn't raced in 4 years and neither one of us in really in shape, Tommy and I each only signed up for one class. Tommy did 85cc 7-11 and I did Vet B/C. I think Tommy had 7 in his class and I only had two in mine. Parking is on the flat track portion of the mildly banked oval with all of the track in the infield. We did sign-up then walked the track. The first thing I noticed about the track was how well they prepped it. The jump faces were all hard-packed clay and perfect. Everything between the jumps was roto-tilled for a fluffy 6" layer of heaven!

The start was small...maybe 20 gates. It was well laid out with a sweeping left 180 turn that led to a step-up tabletop/double. Like most of the jumps there, you could land anywhere and be fine. There were 2 seconds where you could go left or right and take different lines. One had steeper double-double on the inside with a tougher triple on the outside. The other option had a rather tough set of whoops (steep, but not very tall) on the inside with a triple on the outside. They only let the kids/beginners take the outside triple on that one (so they wouldn't crash in the whoops).
After that option section was a tight 180 left followed by a double-double-double that I was only able to double/case the first set then bounce through the rest. After that was a banked 180 right with about 80'
of run at a 60' steep, peaked double. Several 450s made that one, a 125 or two, and one kid on an 80. That whole section (option, d-d-d, and catapult
jump) was new and off-limits to the quads since I don't think it was packed well enough to withstand them. After that was an anthill with no landing then a neat, easy, high speed step-on/step-off that led to a slight bend left to an easy 40-50' tabletop, a sweeping left to a small double then a small camelback that you could either double or triple into a left 180, another small double, and then a 180 right that led to the finish line. The finish line jump was a tabletop with 2 landings. The first was at 40-50'
and then it stepped down further at 70-80 feet. Decent hang-time for the guys who were jumping it. I didn't do it but Pat would. Tom and Paul could get it laid pretty flat on that jump as there is plenty of smooth approach.
Side note...The fastest guys there were about T&P's speed, so you guys could come in two weeks and make some money.

In practice they required everyone to not jump anything the first lap. I thought that was incredibly smart. Very few crashes in practice, largely because of that. I followed the guy I thought was in my class for the first
2 laps then decided to pass him. I got closer than I thought and might have bumped him...oops! After 3 laps I figured I had the track memorized and I couldn't feel my hands so I pulled off.

Tommy was up in the 7th race and I was 8th, so I went with him and watched what I could from the starting area. He couldn't hear his bike, dumped the clutch, and stalled on the start. He rode conservatively and finished in last place. My first moto I tried starting in 2nd and realized that a 250F wasn't enough to pull my fat butt through the soft, tilled ground without slipping the clutch A LOT. Next to last into the first turn, but at least the other guy in my class was behind me. I rode hard for about half a lap and looked back when going around a tight turn. I had left him by a little so I eased off a little bit. He caught back up to me so I had to push a little harder. Whenever I noticed I had left him a little it seemed like he caught back up. We ran 4 laps and as we were approaching the finish line the leaders were coming to lap us. I tried to slow down enough to let the leader pass me without letting my competitor catch me. I didn't slow down enough and crossed just ahead of the leader, which meant another full lap with just me on the track.

Second moto Tommy had a better start, but still rode very carefully and finished 7th of 7. I was very happy that neither he nor I crashed all day.
The second moto my other guy didn't show. I still pushed hard (for me) for the first two laps, but cruised on the 3rd so that the leaders from the other class could lap me and keep me from having to do that 4th lap that my old, out of shape self didn't feel up to doing.
 


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