Planet X-treme
5/31/03
It was supposed to be a beautiful day! The forecast was for partly sunny skies and a high in the mid 70’s. What we got was overcast and a high in the mid 60’s. I won’t complain though that kind of weather condition makes for good track conditions! Because it was cool and overcast I figured my body could handle riding in 2 classes. So, I signed up for the 250C and the +35 classes.
Moto 1:
The +35 class was up first. Bad start, I felt like I was in slow motion. But as I headed for the first turn the guy in front of me and to my right lost traction on his front wheel and he went down. His bike started drifting into my line so I had to let off a bit to steer around his bike and stay on two wheels. There were 5 of us in this class so I settled into 3rd and stayed there for the whole race. My buddy was behind me on a YZ250F.
In the 250C class there were 9 riders. The most I’ve competed against so far in my “career/hobby.” Again I was bad with the start. Just wasn’t getting the jump I usually do. I got squeezed by the guys on both sides of me and was getting roosted pretty good. I backed off a little and was last into the turn. Somewhere in the race a guy dropped out so I finished 8th.
Despite my low position finishes I was having a great time and really felt as fast as I have ever been. In fact, I was starting to clear the doubles in the section that I crashed in last year. I had always been rolling through it since then so this was a big accomplishment for me. I finally got over the mental wall that was limiting me in this section. I was really concentrating on hitting the jumps a little faster than I have before and staying on the gas longer. I have a tendency to coast too much, especially coming into corners.
Moto 2:
In the +35 I changed my gate position to be further outside in hopes of getting a better start. It felt a little better but not impressive. I was 4th into the turn and maintained that position throughout the race. There was quite a battle for 2nd in front of me and because of it I caught up to those guys. But they finally got it together and started pulling away from me again.
In the 250C I finally put together a good start and was 5th into the corner. I was able to maintain this position for about half a lap then I got passed. Slowly throughout the race the rest of the field passed me, one by one, until I was in last place. I did drop the bike once in a silty corner. The front wheel washed out on me and I just laid the bike down on its left side. I ended up bending the clutch lever, but it’s still usable. I had to shift the bike to neutral to get it started, but it only took about 7-8 seconds. Not bad for a hot four-stroke motor, I thought! This was the first time I have ever raced two classes and finished all 4 motos. So I was a little tired in this moto and faded pretty fast.
All in all, I had a great time! I’m still excited about increasing my skills and becoming more competitive in the 250C class. The bike ran great. Although I still experienced a small hesitation on a few hard landings it was a lot less prevalent than before. I don’t know that I did anything to fix this. I just unplugged all my connectors and reapplied dielectric grease. I also cleaned my relay and the QD’s on my fuel lines.
My next race is this Saturday. I’ve been hitting the treadmill everyday this week in preparation of running 2 classes again. I can’t wait to see if I can improve my finishes!
When Jim gets my photos I uploaded put into my racing album, I'll edit this post and put the link in here.
Here's the pics
