Gotlabs
Husqvarna
AA Class
Blue Ridge 1 made the pick for round 5 of the 2012 VCHSS season. Weather was top notch, terrain was sweet and camaraderie was on point! The start was completely different than any other race to date. Picture a 50m wide start line, with your front tire in a 6" deep rut and dead engine. Approximately, 15' in front of the ditch was where you started a uphill pull for about 75m into a 90 degree left hand turn, all the while funneling you into a 20' wide gap. It may sound odd, but worked out really well considering last year there were 5-6 injuries just from the start. We were slated for 3, 14 mile laps.
I managed a 5-6 place into the woods, and made a few more quick passes to settle into 4th. Another dude in my class managed to squeeze pass me about halfway through the first lap, so I just hooked onto him and was cruising nicely along when disaster struck.................his KTM. As I dodged his seat flying by and he slowed down to retrieve it and I twisted a little more with my right wrist to ensure adequate separation. I came through scoring on the 1st lap in 3rd and knew I couldn't be far behind the leaders. I decided to push harder and attempt a lead change, but couldn't make it happen on the 2nd lap. I finally caught them on the 3rd lap and knew the dude in 2nd was ultra smooth and usually mistake free. I tried to push him into a mistake and did just that, he caught a tree and fell. I checked to make sure he was ok before throttleing on. Feeling good, I was letting it all hang out and hoping to catch 1st before scoring when gravity decided I hadn't paid the bill lately.
I was hauling 4th gear hammering it down a rocky fire road that had the little rain diverters in various places. I had been hip jumping one that was on a turn the previous laps, but at much lower speeds, with great success. I knew I was outside my envelope, but had the desire to win! Well, as luck would have it, the hip jump didn't pan out. I'm guessing my speed was too high for my tires to keep traction when I landed, the first thought through my head was "This is gonna suck". I must've slid for 15-20' before stopping, I was surprised to see my bike was still running! The dude that I just passed had seen it all and stopped to make sure I was ok before he pulled away. I picked up my baby to assess the damage and could only see the cycra handguard was mangled and the bars were tweaked slightly. I kicker her to life spun around and headed for the finish line hoping to regain 2nd place at least. Unfortunately, gravity was stronger than me in one last spot. Over the bars, and the bike lands on top of me. I knew I was done and was just hoping to finish in the top 5 now. Another racer behind me graciously stopped to check on me as I was getting up, I'm sure it was a spectacular crash since I was going fairly fast. I knew I was close to the finish, so I hopped on and hauled it across the finish for a 3rd just 42 seconds behind 2nd place. The three of us were pushing hard enough that we were nearly 7 minutes ahead of 4th place!
It was a great race and after we were done, the dude that finished 2nd said my wreck scared him and he was expecting me to be laying on the ground not moving. I have no idea how I came away with no injuries, maybe JC decided I needed to finish it up solid and granted me a pass. Another argument that PPE works! This should put me 5 points out of the lead and tied for 2nd. We still have 10 races to go and I hope to score a few more "Ws" before the seasons over.
Final damage assessment-pipe, rear fender, bars, seat cover, shifter, handguard and pride.
Thanks to my sponsors- Smith Optics, Gaerne, EVS, Cycra, FMF, Twin Air, DeCal Works and Pirelli.
RESULTS!
I managed a 5-6 place into the woods, and made a few more quick passes to settle into 4th. Another dude in my class managed to squeeze pass me about halfway through the first lap, so I just hooked onto him and was cruising nicely along when disaster struck.................his KTM. As I dodged his seat flying by and he slowed down to retrieve it and I twisted a little more with my right wrist to ensure adequate separation. I came through scoring on the 1st lap in 3rd and knew I couldn't be far behind the leaders. I decided to push harder and attempt a lead change, but couldn't make it happen on the 2nd lap. I finally caught them on the 3rd lap and knew the dude in 2nd was ultra smooth and usually mistake free. I tried to push him into a mistake and did just that, he caught a tree and fell. I checked to make sure he was ok before throttleing on. Feeling good, I was letting it all hang out and hoping to catch 1st before scoring when gravity decided I hadn't paid the bill lately.
I was hauling 4th gear hammering it down a rocky fire road that had the little rain diverters in various places. I had been hip jumping one that was on a turn the previous laps, but at much lower speeds, with great success. I knew I was outside my envelope, but had the desire to win! Well, as luck would have it, the hip jump didn't pan out. I'm guessing my speed was too high for my tires to keep traction when I landed, the first thought through my head was "This is gonna suck". I must've slid for 15-20' before stopping, I was surprised to see my bike was still running! The dude that I just passed had seen it all and stopped to make sure I was ok before he pulled away. I picked up my baby to assess the damage and could only see the cycra handguard was mangled and the bars were tweaked slightly. I kicker her to life spun around and headed for the finish line hoping to regain 2nd place at least. Unfortunately, gravity was stronger than me in one last spot. Over the bars, and the bike lands on top of me. I knew I was done and was just hoping to finish in the top 5 now. Another racer behind me graciously stopped to check on me as I was getting up, I'm sure it was a spectacular crash since I was going fairly fast. I knew I was close to the finish, so I hopped on and hauled it across the finish for a 3rd just 42 seconds behind 2nd place. The three of us were pushing hard enough that we were nearly 7 minutes ahead of 4th place!
It was a great race and after we were done, the dude that finished 2nd said my wreck scared him and he was expecting me to be laying on the ground not moving. I have no idea how I came away with no injuries, maybe JC decided I needed to finish it up solid and granted me a pass. Another argument that PPE works! This should put me 5 points out of the lead and tied for 2nd. We still have 10 races to go and I hope to score a few more "Ws" before the seasons over.
Final damage assessment-pipe, rear fender, bars, seat cover, shifter, handguard and pride.
Thanks to my sponsors- Smith Optics, Gaerne, EVS, Cycra, FMF, Twin Air, DeCal Works and Pirelli.
RESULTS!