CMA Round #2 Hollister

March 10th was the CMA Spring Series Round #2 at the Hollister Gran Prix Course in Hollister, CA. I hadnt been racing at Hollister for about 30 years...

This event was actually promoted by UMA and they were a bit under the gun in organizing this event in most peoples opinion it seems. We arrived for the first practices of the day and the track appeared to be pretty well prepped, groomed and watered. But it was apparent by about the third group of bikes out there that the hard pack had not been ripped correctly and it was simply turning into a concrete pad with some dirt layed across the top of it. This makes for some very slippery racing conditions. It was very dusty and although they tried to make some of it work, there were areas that they just ignored.

The track itself is a good design with many elevation changes, high banked sweeper turns, some very easy tabletops and even some off-camber turns that will surprise you if you aren't careful. The track is very fast and the slick turns made for some good 'flat-tracking' moments but most MX riders aren't looking for that. The hillside turnarounds rutted out just a bit but not real well and the lines were deceiving.

The OTHG moto's were setup with all Beginner Classes running together which included all 30+, 38+ and 45+ year olds at the starting gate together. The 30+ and 45+ would start in Gate 1 and the 38+ would start in Gate 2 about a half track behind us. So my first moto was alot of fun, I got out of the starting gate and went very wide, I came around the outside of the main group of bikes on the power when alot of them had to slow way down to make the turn. I went into Turn #1 making up all but about 5 places. There were I think 14 guys at the start gate. I battled it out for places in that first lap and remember rubbing wheels with a Kawasaki 2-smoker in front of me and thought I was going down at one point but saved it into one of the tables. I passed him finally and kept on going for the ones in front of me. They must have been some younger guys cause they were movin'!!! I settled into I think 3rd place overall and thats where I finished out the race. Found out later that it was 1st Place in my 45+ Class !!!!! so that was really good for me. So all those guys in front of me were 30+ and they finished 1st and 2nd overall and in Class.

By the time Moto #2 came around, the tractor was out there and ripped the turns up where it was hard packed and re-watered the whole track. This made it so much better then the first round. The turns werent as slippery and you could really get on the throttle even with the big 450's.... without sliding completely sideways thru the turns.

I started from the same position at the gate and did the same exact thing as I did in the first moto and ended up about the same in 5th place coming out of Turn #1. This time I kept up with the group and kept the battle going on the entire time during the race. There were 2 other bikes and myself hooked up in a wheel to wheel race. I went past the first guy and then gave up the position again to him, and then getting it back again right at the start/finish line on lap #3 and then went after the guy in front of him. I caught him entering turn #1 of the final lap and went inside of him down low and then we were going through the tabletops side by side into about Turn #3 where I went around on the outside of the turn and passed him for good at that point and ran to the finish line. This was some great racing and the guys ran clean and gave room to race and thats what its all about. I gave them both a big thumbs up as we left the track. Our finishes were good for 4th, 5th and 6th Overall against the other guys. I got 2nd in class for this race. I never saw the guy in first.... So we did pretty good.

So I ended the event with a FIRST PLACE Overall in the 45+ Beginner Class for the first time since starting to race again. COOL!!! I know that its just the beginner class but we all gotta start someplace...

Hollister is a beautiful setting for racing and the track can be very competitve. It requires some good care and no matter what the conditions are, its good to be out there racing and enjoying this awesome sport. Its good to be back there after all these years.

E Street Final Round

March 4 was the Final Round of the WINTER SERIES at E Street MX. This is the day after my 2nd Place Win down at LaGrange and about 200 miles of driving roundabout. The whole family went out to this one, both Scott and I were gonna be racing this day. Myself in the 45+ Beginner OTHG and Scott in the 85cc Beginner class.

It was a beautiful day out and there was a pretty decent turnout, but nothing quite as close to what was at LaGrange. Maybe people were tired, who knows. They missed a great event.

I finished 4th place in both my motos on this day and got 4th overall so it wasn't as grand as my day before winnings, but the racing was just as fun. The track was nicely setup in its mostly original configuration, it was pretty fast and technical and I didnt crash, so that makes for an awesome day overall.

Scott had a pretty decent day too, I think he went down one time in his second moto, but he finished up before the last bike got off the track, so thats better then what he did at Carnegie.

As this was the final round of the E Street Winter Series, the final points standings placed me in 8th Place overall of 22 Riders for 4 events. I rode in 3 of the 4 events and had a great time.

Thanks to E Street MX, Scott and Lyndsey Davis and all the crew out there for making it a great series. Also thanks goes out to Roseville Yamaha for supporitng the series too.

Round #4 Racing At E-Street

Round #4 of the E-Street Winter Series was hosted at their home track February 3-4, 2007 and it was a good showing with the Bay and Sierra OTHG having had their Round #2 Races here also. I missed that race but was going to be ready to run this one. This would be my first time out at E-Street for any event or practice. So it was going to be a learning session for me overall again.

E-Street MX Racetrack is located in Marysville, California and ran by ex-pro racer Scott Davis. He is well known in the area for his impeccable track preparation and design and people come from all around to enjoy what has become best known as "Estreet". The track is sandy loam which gets most of its content from the Yuba River which runs right through the area. "It is a great track" as testified by many pro-riders and amateurs alike that come out and ride here.

This being my first time at Estreet I was asked quite a few times by other people if I thought it was a hard track? And although I don’t think of it as a 'hard' track I do think it is pretty technical and you have to do allot of thinking about what you are doing out there. The sandy soil also adds a certain technical aspect to your riding demeanor and thought process. In the turns (that are ever changing) this is really apparent.

Saturday morning practice was really nice, not many riders at first and the track was prepped great. Thanks to Hoss at FactoryPhoto.com for the photos. He takes some great shots.

During my first "Checkout lap" I ran into the berm at the front jump near the main grandstand cutting too close to the inside edge. No big deal just scrubbed it and got back going and it was all good. Then again in a later practice I hit the berm again... this time was allot harder. I dont remember the exact HIT!, but was quickly made aware of it as I bounced off the berm and felt a searing pain in my knee. My head hit the ground pretty good and I was clearing my vision as people were coming around to help me out.

It started when I came around the first turn leading to the double and single jump right in front of the grandstands and a kid went down head first and his bike was upended rolling over him; I almost ran over him as I passed by so I waved at the flagger and was pointing backwards when I went over the jump... I went into a verticle standup position and when the bike hit the ground I must have hit the throttle and it launched me into that berm on the righthand side..... AGAIN!

Roseville Pete said all he saw was my bike doing a cartwheel in midair with nobody on it!!!! My knee was barely working but I walked it off. I went out for my next practice but I couldnt really make anything work, both my legs, my back and my arms were hurting. I packed it in and went home.

The knee was puffed into a grapefruit by then and so I iced it up. The Next morning.... Race-Day, wasnt much better. Needless to say I didnt make it back to the track to run my motos on this weekend. My left knee, right ankle, right thigh, right ribcage were all not feeling in top form.
Overall I like E-Street, there’s allot of jumps maybe 15 total but a mixture of tabletops and doubles and a couple that some could maybe triple...(?) Not me. But for me with all the jumps it makes it allot more work then something like Carnegie was. I don’t have allot of experience on tracks in recent years and I have probably forgotten more about riding techniques than I can remember at this point in my life. I had a real hard time with the slushy right hand turn down by the river before the whoops, too much sand; I just couldn’t find the right throttle, gear or speed thru there. That was probably my worst turn on the whole track. Most everywhere else I could manage to keep the front wheel under control and keep it coming around.

This place is a work out most definitely!.... I see some physical training in my future and probably some lessons from you guys that know better.