jmetteer
Husqvarna
Pro Class
The husky's were well represented as always at this weekends NMA hare scrambles. It was a complete last minute decision for me as I had my other bike loaded up and was heading up to do some trail work with Kelly. He called as Ben and I were just heading our separate directions and couldn't make it so I decided to load up the husky and head to the race with Ben. Ben had crashed at my place the night before to cut down on the morning drive to the race.
The Husky had a fresh oil change, clean air filter and was ready to race... MX. Wrong wheel set, non o-ring chain, no hand guards, suspension set really stiff... I swapped the chain, threw on the hand guards, packed different gear and we headed out a little bit late.
We go to the track and Ben had about a half hour to get ready and get to the staring line. His race went off without a hitch other than a poor start where he tried to run me over
and I walked around shooting pictures.
This was my worst race of the year last year, it was hot and dusty. I started the race with my suspension set up for the MX portion and it was killing me in the woods. I ended up making an extra pit for suspension changes and it cost me. This is what I remembered from last year, followed by one of he funnest MX tracks I had ridden. It was 2-1/2 hours of heaven and hell.
This year I wanted some redemption. After Ben's race I got my gear on and was headed to the line when they announced the afternoon race would start 1/2 hour late. I took that as a chance to hydrate and relax a bit. The temperature was about 15 degrees cooler than last year and the reports from the short course were wet and slick. Perfect.
I rolled up to the starting gate and waited for the AA and A class riders to start. The third wave was mine 200B and open B. Last year I raced 200B, but now I have the cheater 300 kit so I moved to the open B class. The start was a live engine MX style gate drop and I got a decent jump but there was some bar banging to the first turn. A top 10 start and off onto the MX course we go, picked off a couple guys before the first woods section. One guy washed out in the first corner into the woods.
I settled into a good pace for quite a while and wasn't getting pressure from behind so I just tried to relax and ride. Before long I was catching riders from the A class wave. Eventually I go into a battle with a couple guys on 2 strokes, rm250 and cr250. Generally the MX course was an easy place for me to pass but these guys were both a bit faster than me there. I would reel them in the woods and got past them both eventually.
They both got back by me when I had a hydration pack issue... For a couple laps I could feel something hitting my side and couldn't figure out what it was, then it came completely out and was dangling by the hose. I grabbed and held it with one hand and took a nice long drink before I got back to the MX course. Jumping with one hand isn't exactly safe so I pulled over and took off my hydration pack/leatt brace combo. I handed it to the first guy I saw and told him where I was parked.
I put my head down and charged with an hour left and no water. I was also on a no pit stop strategy with Kelly's IMS Tank. I caught the guy on the RM and passed him when he crashed in the same corner I had earlier. I never did catch the guy on the CR and cruised the last two laps to finish just barely after the cutoff for my 11th lap. I finished 2nd out of 19 in open B and felt much better about my personal performance. Plus I jumped the big tripple...
Wow that is a lot of words... Time for pictures from the short course...
CH member Baucum...
CH member Tim H
Later,
The Husky had a fresh oil change, clean air filter and was ready to race... MX. Wrong wheel set, non o-ring chain, no hand guards, suspension set really stiff... I swapped the chain, threw on the hand guards, packed different gear and we headed out a little bit late.
We go to the track and Ben had about a half hour to get ready and get to the staring line. His race went off without a hitch other than a poor start where he tried to run me over
and I walked around shooting pictures. This was my worst race of the year last year, it was hot and dusty. I started the race with my suspension set up for the MX portion and it was killing me in the woods. I ended up making an extra pit for suspension changes and it cost me. This is what I remembered from last year, followed by one of he funnest MX tracks I had ridden. It was 2-1/2 hours of heaven and hell.
This year I wanted some redemption. After Ben's race I got my gear on and was headed to the line when they announced the afternoon race would start 1/2 hour late. I took that as a chance to hydrate and relax a bit. The temperature was about 15 degrees cooler than last year and the reports from the short course were wet and slick. Perfect.
I rolled up to the starting gate and waited for the AA and A class riders to start. The third wave was mine 200B and open B. Last year I raced 200B, but now I have the cheater 300 kit so I moved to the open B class. The start was a live engine MX style gate drop and I got a decent jump but there was some bar banging to the first turn. A top 10 start and off onto the MX course we go, picked off a couple guys before the first woods section. One guy washed out in the first corner into the woods.
I settled into a good pace for quite a while and wasn't getting pressure from behind so I just tried to relax and ride. Before long I was catching riders from the A class wave. Eventually I go into a battle with a couple guys on 2 strokes, rm250 and cr250. Generally the MX course was an easy place for me to pass but these guys were both a bit faster than me there. I would reel them in the woods and got past them both eventually.
They both got back by me when I had a hydration pack issue... For a couple laps I could feel something hitting my side and couldn't figure out what it was, then it came completely out and was dangling by the hose. I grabbed and held it with one hand and took a nice long drink before I got back to the MX course. Jumping with one hand isn't exactly safe so I pulled over and took off my hydration pack/leatt brace combo. I handed it to the first guy I saw and told him where I was parked.
I put my head down and charged with an hour left and no water. I was also on a no pit stop strategy with Kelly's IMS Tank. I caught the guy on the RM and passed him when he crashed in the same corner I had earlier. I never did catch the guy on the CR and cruised the last two laps to finish just barely after the cutoff for my 11th lap. I finished 2nd out of 19 in open B and felt much better about my personal performance. Plus I jumped the big tripple...
Wow that is a lot of words...
Time for pictures from the short course...
CH member Baucum...
CH member Tim H
Later,
Nice finish 
greencard****************************************!
