Just another LONG-WINDED race review from me! lol
#1
09-10-2007, 02:07 PM
Just another LONG-WINDED race review from me! lol
After worrying about bad weather last week, yesterday turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day for my local XC race. Other than some bad luck with a bottleneck situation, I had a fun time. Below is my race write-up...hope you enjoy!
THE TRACK
The race was held in Alto, TX at an atv park called Shiloh Ridge. For me, this is one of the closest races of the season (only a 2 hour drive to get there).
The track was approximately 7.5 miles long and overall, it was very rough and technical. The rough stuff including straight-aways through the pasture areas that were completely filled with deep (2' or so) whoops and woods that filled with tons of roots and ruts. The technical part was in the woods where the track took us up and down several hills, off camber trails and muddy/slippery creek-crossings.
I raced this same track last year, but lost a lot of time when I got completely sideways between 2 small trees at the top of a short, but slippery hill climb that came right after a muddy creek crossing...I didn't even finish in the top 5 at that race. To avoid having any traction problems this year, I ran the entire race in 4wd...this worked great and I never had any major traction problems this time around. Of course, the downside is that running in 4wd requires more steering effort and wears me out that much faster.
THE UTE CLASS
The Ute Class had another good turn-out with 10 quads lined up for the race, including 1 Renegade 800 (driven by a GNCC Pro racer), my Twin Peaks 800, 1 Grizzly 700, 1 Prairie 700, 1 Grizzly 660, 1 BF650sra, 1 Honda 400 (driven by Smokin' Willie) 1 Yam. Wolverine 350, 1 Yam. Bruin and a few other mid-sized utes.
THE START
The start of our race was a short distance (approximately 60 feet) to a hard left-hand turn. By the time I got to the starting line, I had 2 choices...take the far left (inside) spot or the spot on the far right next to the Renegade 800. The left spot looked a little smoother, but I chose the spot on the right so I could race next to the Renegade (driven by the GNCC pro rider). I have already won the holeshot against this guy's renegade at least a few times this year, but never got to start directly beside him before. Finally, they waived the green flag and off we went! My quad fired right up, and I quickly pulled away from the renegade. I easily won the holeshot with approx. 2 quad lengths over the Renegade...that was a bigger lead than I was expecting in such a short distance. Once again, the BBK seems to really pay off on the starting line...I think of my BBK as a "holeshot guarantee." LOL
LAPS 1 & 2
After I made the first few turns, I continued to hold the lead with the Renegade chomping at my heals. It wasn't long until we hit some whoops and that is when I slowed down and the renegade blasted right on by me like the whoops weren't even there! lol The track ran us thru a short section of woods and then out into a pasture area where we ran thru a fun series of continuous S curves with high berms...it kinda reminds me of a MX track except these turns ran together in an S curve fashion continuously for about 50 yards.
About 2 miles into the first lap, I finally caught up with the Renegade...unfortunately, it that was only b/c a sport quad was broke down in the track and caused a bottleneck with at least 10 quads behind him...soon to be 20 quads once the entire ute class arrived. Some of us saw an alternate route to the right, so we went for it... only to discover the alternate route comes back to the track right behind the stuck quad...so we were all stopped. Finally, the sport quad got out of the way, but everyone lined up on the main track got took off down the track and the folks in front of me didn't move until they were all gone! Argggh! All I could do is and watch as 5 utes passed me! I went from 2nd place to 7th place in just a few seconds. Finally, we got going again and I had my work cut out for me to regain some positions.
I continued to ride hard and try to pass as many utes as I could. One by one, I passed 3 utes and made my way back to 4th place behind Smokin' Willie.
Later in the lap, I ran across a sport quad that somehow ran off the track and into a pond...I quickly stopped to see if he needed assistance, but I discovered 4 other quads (including Smoking' Willie) were already stopped to help him out. I realized that they didn't need my help and the rider did not appear injured, so I continued on. A little ways down the track, Smokin' Willie caught up to me...I took the left side of a very whooped out section and he tried to pass me on the right side...He seemed to be losing control over the deep whoops (he normally rides fast and crazy tho)...that is when I thought to myself, this guy is going to lose control and crash on those whoops...a second later, I saw his quad BOUNCED very high and all over the track...next thing I know, his quad flies off the track and down into some thick bushes on the side of the track. I stopped to ask if he was ok and he said yes..I saw throw it in reverse and start to back up...so I hit the throttle and off I went again. Eventually, he caught me again on another section of whoops and I let him go by once he got on my tail...I didn't want to risk getting tangled up with him if he wrecked again...this was only the first lap, so I wanted to ride smart and clean (we must finish at least 1 lap to get any points for the race) and I figured there might be other opportunities to pass him down the track.
Including Smokin' Willie's wreck into the bushes, I witnessed 3 utes flip or crash their quad in the first lap...after the race, I found out that another ute ran off the track into the same pond where I earlier saw the sport quad...like I said above, it was very technical and dangerous.
LAP 3
At the end of lap 3, the heat and rough course had taken a toll on my old bones. I was feeling pretty tired and to make matters worse, my right (throttle) thumb was having problems with poor circulation...it was hurting , but I couldn't let off the throttle very long at a time to wiggle it and get the blood flowing again. I wanted nothing more than to see the checked flag...but alas, no such luck! At the scoring schute, I saw the solid white flag, which meant 6 more weeks of winter! lol Actually, it meant 1 more lap. I found out after the race that the overall leader passed the scoring schute about 20 seconds behind me! Arggggh! If I had known that, I would have stopped and let him pass me right before the scoring schute so I could call it a day! lol
LAP 4
Lap 4 was grueling, but I pressed on and tried to run a clean, fast lap. I never caught up with Smokin' Willie or anyone else in my class. By now, the track was littered with broken down sport quads all over the sides of the track...which was a nice reminder that I'm lucky to still be in the race and not be broken down.
THE FINISH
The Renegade took first (as usual), the Griz 660 took 2nd, Smokin' Willie took 3rd and I took 4th. This was my worst finish of the season, but I enjoyed racing on this track and the physical challenges that came with it. Bad luck in the bottleneck was obviously my downfall, but hopefully luck will be on my side next time around.
Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
THE TRACK
The race was held in Alto, TX at an atv park called Shiloh Ridge. For me, this is one of the closest races of the season (only a 2 hour drive to get there).
The track was approximately 7.5 miles long and overall, it was very rough and technical. The rough stuff including straight-aways through the pasture areas that were completely filled with deep (2' or so) whoops and woods that filled with tons of roots and ruts. The technical part was in the woods where the track took us up and down several hills, off camber trails and muddy/slippery creek-crossings.
I raced this same track last year, but lost a lot of time when I got completely sideways between 2 small trees at the top of a short, but slippery hill climb that came right after a muddy creek crossing...I didn't even finish in the top 5 at that race. To avoid having any traction problems this year, I ran the entire race in 4wd...this worked great and I never had any major traction problems this time around. Of course, the downside is that running in 4wd requires more steering effort and wears me out that much faster.
THE UTE CLASS
The Ute Class had another good turn-out with 10 quads lined up for the race, including 1 Renegade 800 (driven by a GNCC Pro racer), my Twin Peaks 800, 1 Grizzly 700, 1 Prairie 700, 1 Grizzly 660, 1 BF650sra, 1 Honda 400 (driven by Smokin' Willie) 1 Yam. Wolverine 350, 1 Yam. Bruin and a few other mid-sized utes.
THE START
The start of our race was a short distance (approximately 60 feet) to a hard left-hand turn. By the time I got to the starting line, I had 2 choices...take the far left (inside) spot or the spot on the far right next to the Renegade 800. The left spot looked a little smoother, but I chose the spot on the right so I could race next to the Renegade (driven by the GNCC pro rider). I have already won the holeshot against this guy's renegade at least a few times this year, but never got to start directly beside him before. Finally, they waived the green flag and off we went! My quad fired right up, and I quickly pulled away from the renegade. I easily won the holeshot with approx. 2 quad lengths over the Renegade...that was a bigger lead than I was expecting in such a short distance. Once again, the BBK seems to really pay off on the starting line...I think of my BBK as a "holeshot guarantee." LOL
LAPS 1 & 2
After I made the first few turns, I continued to hold the lead with the Renegade chomping at my heals. It wasn't long until we hit some whoops and that is when I slowed down and the renegade blasted right on by me like the whoops weren't even there! lol The track ran us thru a short section of woods and then out into a pasture area where we ran thru a fun series of continuous S curves with high berms...it kinda reminds me of a MX track except these turns ran together in an S curve fashion continuously for about 50 yards.
About 2 miles into the first lap, I finally caught up with the Renegade...unfortunately, it that was only b/c a sport quad was broke down in the track and caused a bottleneck with at least 10 quads behind him...soon to be 20 quads once the entire ute class arrived. Some of us saw an alternate route to the right, so we went for it... only to discover the alternate route comes back to the track right behind the stuck quad...so we were all stopped. Finally, the sport quad got out of the way, but everyone lined up on the main track got took off down the track and the folks in front of me didn't move until they were all gone! Argggh! All I could do is and watch as 5 utes passed me! I went from 2nd place to 7th place in just a few seconds. Finally, we got going again and I had my work cut out for me to regain some positions.
I continued to ride hard and try to pass as many utes as I could. One by one, I passed 3 utes and made my way back to 4th place behind Smokin' Willie.
Later in the lap, I ran across a sport quad that somehow ran off the track and into a pond...I quickly stopped to see if he needed assistance, but I discovered 4 other quads (including Smoking' Willie) were already stopped to help him out. I realized that they didn't need my help and the rider did not appear injured, so I continued on. A little ways down the track, Smokin' Willie caught up to me...I took the left side of a very whooped out section and he tried to pass me on the right side...He seemed to be losing control over the deep whoops (he normally rides fast and crazy tho)...that is when I thought to myself, this guy is going to lose control and crash on those whoops...a second later, I saw his quad BOUNCED very high and all over the track...next thing I know, his quad flies off the track and down into some thick bushes on the side of the track. I stopped to ask if he was ok and he said yes..I saw throw it in reverse and start to back up...so I hit the throttle and off I went again. Eventually, he caught me again on another section of whoops and I let him go by once he got on my tail...I didn't want to risk getting tangled up with him if he wrecked again...this was only the first lap, so I wanted to ride smart and clean (we must finish at least 1 lap to get any points for the race) and I figured there might be other opportunities to pass him down the track.
Including Smokin' Willie's wreck into the bushes, I witnessed 3 utes flip or crash their quad in the first lap...after the race, I found out that another ute ran off the track into the same pond where I earlier saw the sport quad...like I said above, it was very technical and dangerous.
LAP 3
At the end of lap 3, the heat and rough course had taken a toll on my old bones. I was feeling pretty tired and to make matters worse, my right (throttle) thumb was having problems with poor circulation...it was hurting , but I couldn't let off the throttle very long at a time to wiggle it and get the blood flowing again. I wanted nothing more than to see the checked flag...but alas, no such luck! At the scoring schute, I saw the solid white flag, which meant 6 more weeks of winter! lol Actually, it meant 1 more lap. I found out after the race that the overall leader passed the scoring schute about 20 seconds behind me! Arggggh! If I had known that, I would have stopped and let him pass me right before the scoring schute so I could call it a day! lol
LAP 4
Lap 4 was grueling, but I pressed on and tried to run a clean, fast lap. I never caught up with Smokin' Willie or anyone else in my class. By now, the track was littered with broken down sport quads all over the sides of the track...which was a nice reminder that I'm lucky to still be in the race and not be broken down.
THE FINISH
The Renegade took first (as usual), the Griz 660 took 2nd, Smokin' Willie took 3rd and I took 4th. This was my worst finish of the season, but I enjoyed racing on this track and the physical challenges that came with it. Bad luck in the bottleneck was obviously my downfall, but hopefully luck will be on my side next time around.
Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
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