What a great weekend of racing at Straddleline. Our home town track hosted WORCS for Round 6. Straddleline is a very nice off-road park, with a decent MX track and lots of wooded off-road trails to develop a great off-road course on. The infield area has a large grandstand they host WORCS-X under the lights on Friday night.
I arrived on Friday and decided to not practice on the MX because there were no real changes and I can ride this track in my sleep. So instead we let the kiddos ride some in a small area by where we camped. They had a blast! Saturday morning rolled around for the Unclassified (sight laps), and I hit the track. Having raced a local series called the TPQ3, which had previously raced twice here this year already- I was ready for whatever WORCS could muster for a course. TPQ3-R2 had a very tight and technical track, so I knew WORCS would be a breeze. It was- the WORCS course had a few technical sections but many wider faster sections that made for a fast course to me.
Production race rolls around that morning and it was time to send MK3 out to qualify for the Pro-Am race. He got a great start with the Patriot-HMF motor pulling very hard and putting him solidly into 2nd place. He got hung up later in the race finishing 5th, but easily qualified for the Pro-Am. Open race comes up, its time for me to race. I got a decent gate pick in the middle. I got a SUPER jump on the start getting everyone by about a bike length, but I had problems shifting into 3rd and they pulled me back in. I held hard thru the 1st lap in 3rd place. Then a pile up and me getting hung in the off-road sent me back to 7th. I continued racing hard but some faster racers who had gotten hung up got around me and I wound up finishing 10th(of 15). I did have a great race, I beat the clock by 19 seconds to get a 5th lap in- which is a 1st for me. My training is paying off. Its tough racing in the Open because its a bunch of very talented and younger riders, but I felt pretty good about my finish.
Open fun
Sundays I race in the Vet class- its a great class with good competition and good smart racing (we all to be to work on Monday right?). I got an OK start, but a pile-up in the 2nd corner allowed me to sniper off a few guys. A hard ride thru the MX got me around a couple more before the off-road. I was feeling good and going good. I was in 3rd place the 1st two laps, started getting a little pumped up on lap 3 and fell back to 5th. Picked it up again on lap the final lap and made my way back up to 4th, finishing only 7 seconds behind 3rd place. This is one of my best races, pretty much ever. An old time racing friend showed up right before the Vet race and we had a great time battling each other throughout the race. I had very consistent lap times and rode fairly strong thru the entire race pushing myself hard the whole time. My new mantra for racing is "you really never lose until you stop trying". Overall I have never been too much on how I finish- sure I like to place well, but for me racing is more about the personal challenge to become a better racer and to push myself, the new mantra fits that well.
Vet race- got skid plate?
Im "smiling" back at them!
Sunday Main- its time for the big boys to go. Chris Borich showed up for the weekend and wow that dood is fast. Many people like to take shots at the west coast racers- but honestly I harken it to comparing a amatuer sports team to a pro team. The factory backing, support, sponsorships, and multitudinous riders and riding areas back east put us at a disadvantage out west. We have come a long ways in a few short 4-5 years- but we have a ways to go yet to be on par. MK3 got another great start- 2nd into the off-road, got hung-up somehow and fell back to 7th. He worked up to 5th, looking strong, made it up to 3rd. Keeping strong and consistent and turning the fastest pro-am lap late in the race, worked solidly into 2nd place. He was chasing factory backed Can-Am rider Dustin Zimmerman, pulling him within 7 seconds late in the race. A hang-up in the WORCS-X section lost him some time, but he finished nearly 2 minutes ahead of 3rd place. The back story to this is at about 6pm the night before during servicing, we discovered copper flakes in his oil. Seems another Falicon rod bearing bites the dust. So a mad scramble to get the other bike prepped and ready.
The wrench is on!
The highlight of weekend, MK3 on his Patriot-HMF Honda take a solid 2nd place behind factory backed Can-Am rider Zimmerman.
