RR: Last Western Reserve short track of the year

 Last Saturday evening the boy and I went short tracking for the last time
this year.  Mark stalled off the line in Novice heat race but won the final,
thus
making him ineligible to run Novice next year.  That means he'll want to
ride the CRF250R in lightweight where I've been trying to win one.
Finished 2nd Saturday but couldn't pass the fast starting 15 year old
I'm trying to get around the outside of here:

http://www.mxfreakspix.com/Art/WRMC-FT-92411/19191407_qNL9zB#1496904392_hDjRjMf

I could ride it in old fart class but won't be competitive - everybody has
450's.

Mark also rode his TTr125 in pitbike, I rode the C&J vintage XL250 in
lightweight
vintage.  He had quite the mashup in pitbike, lots of elbow banging.  The
C&J
reminded me just how much easier it is to go fast on a newer bike.  You
really notice
what a piece of crap it is when you get off it and onto the CRF or vice
versa.

The track was almost perfect, the cushion worked well and you could use
nearly
the whole track, not just the groove.

Nice shot of me mid corner
http://www.mxfreakspix.com/Art/WRMC-FT-92411/19191407_qNL9zB#1496904913_9BSPC5X

Trying out the cushion
http://www.mxfreakspix.com/Art/WRMC-FT-92411/19191407_qNL9zB#1496920394_6ZHsBKx


Mark
http://www.mxfreakspix.com/Art/WRMC-FT-92411/19191407_qNL9zB#1496901851_b2zzR8K
http://www.mxfreakspix.com/Art/WRMC-FT-92411/19191407_qNL9zB#1496927222_kXNp9vB

My buddy Tom on his Chonda
http://www.mxfreakspix.com/Art/WRMC-FT-92411/19191407_qNL9zB#1496905258_bQbVW9G

On a down/crazy note, LowBrow customs had a band and a party after the
races.
There was a guy passed out in the grass that got run over by a 4x4 in the
middle of the
night and died.  We were camping at the opposite end of the track and slept
right
through the ambulances and police.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 

What is this "cushion?" I'm not up on short track jargon, I imagined an
air fence and expected to see you bouncing off the fence...but from the
photo I'm guessing it's the looser soil on the outside of a turn???

--
Charles
'99 YZ250

"It's bad luck just SEEin' a thing like that..."

 HardWorkingDog asks:


Yea, it's partly the stuff thats blown off the inside by the bikes
and partly the original surface that was prepared the whole
way across by the track crew.  If there is enough moisture in
the track and in the dirt, it hangs together and can be ridden
really hard.

There's actually two adjacent pics there of me trying it.  If you
look really close, I'm actually sliding the front, turned the wheel
back into the turn so it slides MORE in the second pic.  That
slows the bike a little and makes it turn.  You can do that stuff
easily (I can do it at all) in the cushion, I guess that's why
they call it something softer and easier.  If I did that down
on the groove where it's stickier, I'd crash as my talent isn't
big enough.  Fast guys can do it in the groove too.  I have
to do what most do and even the fast guys try to do, keep
the wheels in line and rolling, not sliding, in the groove.

Usually the cushion isn't as fast as the groove.  For a couple
hours Saturday it was just as fast.  The really fast line, it
seemed, was on the notch.  That is where the dirt is blown
off and there's a cushion but you try to ride with the front tire
on the groove/clean part and your rear wheel hanging out
in the soft stuff.  I could pull it off semi-consistently.

There was a $2000 pro purse so there were a bunch of fast
guys.  Watching 4-5 of them go at it for 16 laps was pretty
damn cool.  Even Amy the Wonder Wife was cheering and
whistling and clapping.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 

Thanks!

What's your take on the griping I've been reading on cyclenews about
all the bar-banging and unsafe riding going on in the pro circuit? Is
there really a new level of unsafe riding mixing inexperienced riders
with top level riders? Seems like this has always been part of dirt
track racing, but, what do I know...

--
Charles
'99 YZ250

 HardWorkingDog asks:



Not sure what you mean unless it's the article about 450's being
too close on the mile.  There's problems with 450s and miles
as I see it . (I'm just an old amateur so this opinion is worth what
you paid for it - nothing).

1.  Speeds over 100 mph with 16 racers within inches of each other
are scary no matter the skill level of the racers.  It's why turn one
is always scary at a MotoGP, an MX1, you name it.  On a mile,
because the bikes are fairly even and drafting, every turn is turn
one.  The 750s can be just as scary as the 450s on the mile.

2.  450's are even more HP limited than 750s so the draft is even
tighter and more important.  So not only are the bikes even closer
together, people take bigger chances.

3.  These aren't highly experienced pros.  The 450s are for pro-am
racers, sometimes upcoming hot shoes trying to prove something,
sometimes guys like me living their mid-life crisis.  But none are
guys that have been there, done that.  And none are racing the
same guys week in week out so they know what to expect of
the other guys.

4.  If something goes way wrong at 100, it's lots worse than
50.  We might hit 65 at the short track, fast guys maybe slightly
more.  But that old v^2 term will get you.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.