Day 1
After two days of on and off rain, Saturday was mostly dry and somewhat sunny. That is until we lined up. As we waited for the whistle to blow the thunder began. We were going to get wet.
The whistle blew and despite some rubbin' is racing with Mike, I got off the line well. I was third wheel and feeling pretty good for the first quarter of the lap until a tight turn on the top of a green berm with a 10 foot slope fall away came up and I leaned too much in the greasy worn track. I slid out hard and my bike slid down the slope. I knew from the sound that my shifter busted from the slide-out, and I hoped that was the worst of it since Chris did his best to avoid my bike but still hit it pretty hard. I'll come back to that. I brought my other bike and it was in the pit, so I shouldered my crippled bike and started running.
As I ran, the rest of my field passed me, then the 45+ guys passed me, then the 55+guys passed me. About 20 seconds after I had seen the last 55+ guy I got the pit. The SRAM neutral support guy jogged toward me. I said I broke my shifter and as he was grabbing a SRAM bike, I said I had one but asked if he could look at the shifter. I hopped on my pit bike and was off.
Now, I could have been crushed by what happened but I figured I needed the fitness so I started to chase hard. I reeled in the 55+ guys in a about a lap. Then the storm hit. Driving rain and high winds. The course got slick and soggy. I started pulling in the 45+ guys. Then I started to work my way into the 35+ field. I never let up my chase, to me everyone was in my race. I got some good practice passing in corners and dropping guys. In the end I took 9th. I'm happy with that. Best of all, SRAM neutral support replaced my shifter while I raced. That's right, brand new and ready to rock! SRAM performs great and the company supports local racing, you can't beat that!
(I'll cover Clutch Corner at the end)
Day 2
Day two was Sunday, but because the race was so close I could make it after work. It had rained all night but Sunday was sunny and by the time we raced, the course was tacking up. MWI switched the course up a bit and lengthened it. Just enough change to make it seem like a new course. We had a small field, 10 I think, and we were missing some speed, but Maciej made this one after watching his boys on Saturday.
Despite being sore from the high speed slide-out the day before I had a good start again but right away I didn't feel it. I had a weird headache and anywhere my helmet touched my head it throbbed.
I gave chase to Tyson and Maciej but they accelerated out of an uphill corner faster then I could. That's when Alan went around me. I stuck to him for a bit, but didn't have it. For a moment I relaxed. Then I realized that Eric was closing fast. By the end of the first lap it was my mission to hold Eric off and hope that Alan would pop. Then the 45+ leaders caught me and I gave chase for a bit, but just like earlier I couldn't match it. Alan, Eric, and I stayed in about the same places for the whole race with just a bit of yo-yoing. The last lap Eric made a charge with Paul on his wheel. I wasn't going to let it happen. I heard Eric go down in a corner behind me with 3/4 of a lap to go, but Paul was really trying to bridge. So I tried to be a rabbit for Paul. The last paved uphill I hit harder than I had all race to give Paul some training motivation, there wasn't much left after that and I rolled through in 4th place.
This video is by Eric Brandt (the guy chasing me). Follow this video to his YouTube channel to see all the races this year.
As for Clutch corner, there was concern after the stormy race on Saturday about the boombox. It had standing water in the CD compartment and wasn't working. But it dried out overnight and worked on Sunday!
I awarded Saturday's CD to myself, and Sunday's CD went to Travis again because he got faster and faster in the P,1,2 race and almost caught the 4-6th group.
The playlist is as follows:
Day 1
- Motherless Child: Strange Cousins From The West
- Day of the Jackalope: Slow Hole to China: Rare & Rereleased
- Pigtown Blues: Pigtown Blues – Single
- Four Lords (And One More): Slow Hole to China: Rare & Rereleased
- Burning Beard: Heard It All Before - Live At The Hifi Bar
- Never Be Moved: Heard It All Before - Live At The Hifi Bar
- Red Horse Rainbow: Pure Rock Fury
- BIG News I & II: Heard It All Before - Live At The Hifi Bar
- Let A Poor Man Be: Strange Cousins From The West
- 50,000 Unstoppable Watts: Strange Cousins From The West
- Pure Rock Fury: Live At The Googolplex
- The Mob Goes Wild: Full Fathom Five
- Never Be Moved: Robot Hive / Exodus
- Mice And Gods: Heard It All Before - Live At The Hifi Bar
- Impetus: Impetus – EP
- Promoter (Of Earthbound Causes): Blast Tyrant
- Texan Book Of The Dead: Heard It All Before - Live At The Hifi Bar
- Promoter (Of Earthbound Causes): Full Fathom Five
- Tripping The Alarm: Robot Hive / Exodus
- Sleestak Lightning: Strange Cousins From The West
- Walking In The Great Shining Path Of Monster Trucks: Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes & Undeniable Truths
- Electric Worry: From Beale St. To Oblivion
- 10001110101: Robot Hive / Exodus
- Willie Nelson: Slow Hole to China: Rare & Rereleased
- Burning Beard: Robot Hive / Exodus
- Arcadia Clutch: Pitchfork & Lost Needles
- The Incomparable Mr. Flannery: Robot Hive / Exodus
- High Caliber Consecrator: Impetus – EP
- Cypress Grove: Full Fathom Five
- Cyborg Bette: Earth Rocker
- Effigy: Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes & Undeniable Truths
- Oregon: Slow Hole to China: Rare & Rereleased
- Crucial Velocity: Earth Rocker
- Pure Rock Fury: Pure Rock Fury
- The House That Peterbilt: Clutch
- Nickel Dime: Slow Hole to China: Rare & Rereleased
- Basket Of Eggs: Heard It All Before - Live At The Hifi Bar
- Passive Restraints (Demo Version): Pitchfork & Lost Needles
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