VINTAGE
MOTOCROSS HAS ME HOOKED! HURRICANE HILLS, PA - RACE 5 OF THE 2007 ACR SEASON
This time the ride from Haverhill, MA to Clifford, PA took about 5.5 hours. The ride was fun because my father in law went with me. We listened to Sirius Radio most of the way, laughing at the Comedy channel, or trying to figure out what was going to happen next on Dragnet. When we got to the track I took the time to walk the track - the entire track. This is the second track that has really kind of intimidated me. Just as Central Village, the track had no real hills or elevation changes, but it did have jumps - lots of jumps, and a section of 10 whoops that were called The 10 Commandments.
Hurricane Hills was a really different track in other ways, too. The dirt was loamy in the straights, but the corners got rutted and became almost hard pack in feel. You would hook up really well into a turn, then the tires would squirm all over the place in the turn! Weird. In looking at the track it became clear that just like Central Village you would have to do as many of the jumps as possible in order to do well. In pratice I proved to myself that the track had completely psyched me out. I thought I could do all of the jumps on both of my bikes but just did not have the guts to keep the throttle screwed on. After pratice I made the decision to put the thought of crashing out of my mind and just do the jumps. I lined up for my first race with the RM250 and I got a solid start - only to end just before the second turn. A guy fell in front of me hard, with the bike falling right in front of me. I hit his bike and they jammed together. It took us forever to get them apart, and the pack was long gone. He called it quits and pushed his bike off the track. I got mine started and went for it - and I even managed to pass a guy before the checkered flag! I felt pretty good when I lined up for my first race with the RM465. On the start I was in 3 or 4th place when I came up to the biggest jump on the track. Just as I promised myself I went for it, gassing the bike hard. I landed a little short with a hard impact - and broke a footpeg! The footpeg broke cleanly off right at the point where it mounts to the frame. You can check out what the broken peg looked like if you go to my blog. Anyway, I tried to keep going, but after a few turns it was clear to me that there was no way I could continue without endangering myself and most everyone else on the track. With the RM465 out for the day the RM250 would have to be used for the next 2 races - the 250 is legal for both classes I race in, but the 465 is only legal for one (I was lucky). The 250 performed flawlessly - top 3 starts in both races and held onto the track well. This race was the first race where I am now riding past my cardio level - I finally have more confidence! Well, now I have to get serious about my cardio fitness....... For the day, I went DNF - 5 and 10 - 5 in each of my classes. Next race will be on August 18th at Southwick, MA SEE YOU AT THE RACES!
Yes, you read my title correctly - I did not go to race 4 at Broome Tioga in Binghamton, NY. From the chatter on the message boards I missed a great race. Oh well, there is always next year!