Ok… Event #11 on April 13, 2008 was at Argyll Race Park in Dixon, CA. This track has been changed since the last time we ran it. The track was prepped well, it had some of the original fun parts like the whoop section that you can just sit back and hop across the tops, the grandstand jump and a couple more new doubles. It was about 85 degrees out but with no wind thankfully and we ran 7 laps this time instead of the normal 5. The track rutted out quickly and they hardened into form in most all the turns, but overall it held together throughout the course of the entire race day.
It’s not that this track is very hard and it is not as fast as it was when we first ran it in the beginning of the year, but in my first moto I got out of the gate good, I was on the outside and then turning in I had to hit the brakes and that sent me too the far outside and everyone came inside of me. I ended up about 6 or 7th out. I had a hard time keeping my front wheel in the ruts and getting the bike turned around. I don’t think I was trying hard enough to get down into the turn and making a go at it. That slowed me down a lot. By about the fourth or fifth lap I was way back in the field only finding stragglers that had fallen in front of me once in a while… then the 38+ Novice guys caught up with me and started passing me. I was waiting for the white flag at this point. I was tired.
Moto 2 was much better, I got a good start and was maybe 5th out of the gate, about the fifth turn I connected up with someone’s back tire and it sent me flailing off line but I held it together and didn’t crash out. I dropped back a few more spots and then held my ground until about the third lap and then started losing more spots to the guys behind me. I was attacking the turns much harder, laying the bike into the ruts and keeping on the throttle and rolling thru them under power instead of coasting. This felt much better and way more control. The jumps were feeling really good, some of the braking bumps were hardened up into concrete by this time from the heat but it was still fun. I got passed by the 1,2,3 place 38+ Novice guys right before the finish line and ended up taking the checker flag with them. I was lapped again. Oh well.
There was a great turnout of OTHG, Sierra Old Timers and The Vintage Clubs. The weather was great! (for boating) and the event/track support by Mike Sexton and his crew at Argyll Park was top notch. Thanks Mike!
I ran the 45+ Novice class and these were my stats:
Moto 1: Finished in 5th Place out of 9 riders
Moto 2: Finished in 9th Place out of 9 riders
Overall: 6th Place Finish for the Day out of 9 riders
VINTAGE BIKES!!! VERY NICE!
