MotoUtah: Motocross and Off-Road Riding in Utah

Rough, Sandy, Fun, and hope that they never do a start to a race like that again

Details please, for those of us up north that have 16" on snow on the lawn.

edit: it's now 24 inches of snow.

It was fun I thought, the club did a great job considering it was Wednesday this week that they were given the go ahead to use some additional land and we ended up with a 12-15 mile loop.

The sand was a killer, especially the virgin kind of stuff through the sagebrush on the hill above the mx track. With it being wet it was really deep and rutted, ruts going every direction.

I thought the start was great, I just about looped out but managed to save it and not take anybody else out in the process. From there it was a couple right hand corners and then just pinned across the sod farm. Drop into the sand and it was hard as it ever was. The spots where the whoops were cut down were really nice, the berms that formed were perfect, and there were still far more than enough whoops to set your legs on fire.

The course deteriorated pretty quick, there was a high speed road down a fence line that on the 1st lap was flat and smooth, fast as you could go, but by the third it was getting really soft and rutted and whooped.

After you came back up on top they had kind of a grass track / moto track thing set up, you wound through a junkyard, some endurocross tractor tires, more high speed and a weird pit of sawdust that was harder than it looked. Lots of places to spectate, and lots of spectators out, that's always nice, it seems to make me try harder.

Weather was perfect, they gave away a lot of stuff at the awards (naturally they didn't give anything to me). All in all a great start to the season.

I have to say HUGE thanks to Tad and Procycle for coming through for me in a pinch again. BUY YOUR NEXT MOTORCYCLE FROM PRO CYCLE THEY ARE THE BEST. Also thanks to Tony Archuleta for all the help as well, I would not have been able to race if it weren't for the two of them.

Also, Dave Pearson came out and won it easily, though I think they DQ'd him for no spark arrestor? Not sure. I can't remember the name of the 2nd place finisher (awarded overall). I think Shawn Strong was 3rd, Jason Goimarac 4th (with a torn ACL, unbelievable), and Dan Madsen 5th.

Maddeh wrote:


2nd place was Kyle Tichenor? I think he's an MRAN guy (According to this article, he was the 2009 MRAN Open Champion www.thespectrum.com/article/20100126/DVT...ycle+racing+trophies). We didn't stay for the banquet but I think with elapsed time, Shawn thought this guy may have beat him for 2nd place.

Pearson was flying and was fun to watch.

Maddeh....I was really impressed seeing you come through in the top ten on the first few loops. I lost track after that and not sure where you finished. Nice job.

Well,

I can honestly say that sand is my weakness and today I am even weaker than yesterday.

It is unbelievable how fast Dave P. flew by me. That was a real dose of reality.

Smell the fear


Camchez wrote:

I got to see some great riders this weekend and heard some pretty funny comments during the race from those going by. The riders in the big bike race all had skills and were fun to watch but the ones I think with the best stories had to have been from the mini race. Any kid that showed up and started this race - you guys are awesome. My hats off to Benji Knight, Peyton Smith, and many others - I had a great time out on the course with you and getting to work a mini race is the most enjoyable!!!!!

As a Buzzard Member I want to thank all of you that came out and supported our event. The assignment I was given was to run check 1. We had a blast, great racing / racers, excellent weather, Great people. The desert community is the best and I am proud to be a part of it.
Thanks again for making my weekend.
Fat Jimmy.

I had a great time. Thank you Buzzards!

I was happy to finish. Even if the course markings were gone and the wrong info was given to my pits.

Thanks Buzzards!

I had a great time! Start was awesome loved the wide open straight aways! And the buzzards must of known I suck in the sand and needed some more practice! And they knew I had no previous experience in wood chip piles! Lol! love the people of the desert community! Thanks for the awesome experience! We went riding out to Warner valley (I think that's what its called)today. nice weather ground was moist little to much in some places. A lot a fun but realized after a couple of hours the toll my body and mind took from the race! Thanks again buzzards for a great start of the season!

I really want to thank the Buzzards. Considering what you had to work with, I really appreciated every effort for the fun sections that were not in the sand. And in case you don't get enough feedback, I can't say enough how wise it is to run novices separate on the course of this length...and especially with so much sand which would have surely been disastrous for all classes if we were together.

I searched back & forth for a strait track line through the heavy sand and realized that every other novice must have been close to as pathetic as me...and it was quite a feat to keep it pointed forward. I didn't enjoy the deep, tough sections at all, and I'm still trying to convince myself that I left a better sand rider. Funny thing is that my buddies all had similar experiences: 1st loop of sand was horrible, felt 10X better in 2nd loop, then got a little tired and struggled through subsequent loops. The time and length were perfect for the course.

I loved all firm dirt and even asphalt, and especially the endurocross tires. I don't know why I went around the 1st time, it was great to do it! And what a drag race that start was. Get a quick pace going to be quickly humbled as we zig zagged through the sand sections. It wasn't a matter of if you went down, but how many times.

I did slip on a faster paced corner in final lap and I hope I've just sprained my knee. I was able to get up & finish pretty well, but it's been way stiff ever since. Ride leg caught behind in dirt, the rest of me stretched beyond my limit of splits until it pulled bike down.

Thanks again.

Hats off to the Buzzards! I pull from Denver for these races and I want the clubs to know their effort is appreciated. The race was excellent given the crap they had to overcome.

The sand is tough; I didn't ride a lot of sand when I was young and now I'm...well older. Probably not the best scenario. But I have my finisher pin and it is a much better start to the season for me than last year! (maybe I am getting a smidgen better in the sand)

Thanks Buzzards!

M Smith wrote:


I played pit dad this race rather than racing. I had 2 of 3 boys racing and several others in our group that I got to pit (I think I'm better at racing than pitting....after I seemed to dump gas on everybody each time I filled them).

After the minis took off, we headed back to the pits. We weren't there more than 10 minutes before someone came and found me and said "Benji's hurt, you need to follow us, quick!". My heart sank and I wondered if this was the day my worst nightmare would come true (a seriously injured child out in the desert). I followed them out on the course to find two guys standing over Benji laying in the sand. I had a pit in my stomach wondering how bad he was hurt. Mark Smith was there checking him over and being very reassuring and kind to Benji. Long story short, he took a handlebar to the chest after hitting a rock (even with a stabilizer) and it bruised him up and scared him. After a few minutes we got him up and going, but he was done with racing for the day. Mark, thank you for being a class act and helping out my son!!!!

My son Josh moved up to the big bikes (Amateur 125 class). He got a good start on the third wave and was holding his own and doing lots of passing in the sand until he apparently got a bit cross-rutted and ended up with his bike stuck in a tamarisk bush that he claims took him 10-15 minutes to get unstuck while 30+ guys passed him. He was quite a ways back in the Amateur class before he came in off his first loop. I gave him some reassurance and welcomed him to the reality of big-bike racing, and he continued on finishing 4 loops and gaining a few more spots. It was a learning experience for him and I know he'll come out strong at the next one.

James Rhodes (son of CR515 here on MotoUtah) raced 450 Novice and pulled a great holeshot and held 2nd overall on the Novice wave through the entire race. Way to go James.

We had a great time and it was good to see lots of friends and familiar faces. I was a bit jealous I wasn't racing when I saw the damp dirt/sand in the morning, but I was there to take care of my boys at this one. Thanks Buzzards for your efforts and considering the circumstances and setbacks, I think you did a great job.

I've got some video and photos I'll post tonight.

WOW and not in a good way! Not really riding this winter sure took its toll. I had convinced myself that I was a little more prepared for the 1st race than I really was. I was absolutely exhausted with in the first 5 minutes in that god forsaken sand. Man, that stuff was soft and deep. Ross rode the first 2 loops for our team and then it was my turn. Sadly but thankfully Pearson passed me right before the end so I only had to do 1 loop. Looking back, we should have switched after every loop. All in all, it was a fun weekend and it was REALLY nice to be down in 60 degree weather for a few days. Team SlaveBurger is down but not out.

Slave1 wrote:


We'll get 'em next time.

Where's the race results? I want to see just how bad I got my ars kicked...

This was my first desert race experience and I had a blast! All those I talked with were great people. I feel like I learned a lot about riding sand and I have a lot more to learn. The weather was perfect. It was a great experience and I am already looking forward to the Wizards race.

Thanks Buzzards!

CAMM

WOW is right, holy cow I hurt. Bummed i DNF'd, but that sand about killed me. All in all it was a blast for my first race. And which ever buzzard brought me in on the back of my bike, thank you again.
Guess ill heal up the knee and start getting ready for the next race, guess that will teach me to not ride for 4 moths and then all of the sudden jump into a race.
Thanks Buzzards I had a riot!!

I think I'm just a bit better at riding deep, rutted, sandy whoops. I'm not sure how the fast people went fast in that stuff. I want to thank the Amateurs and Experts for tearing up the course for the the rest of us. The berms and ruts on corners were fun. The junk yard was fun, I laughed every time through. The chicken route around the tires as an evil trap, only did that once.

Fun times. Thanks to the Buzzards for putting on the race.

Anyone have pictures of the "junkyard" and the tire section?

I just checked youtube and somebody already put up a bunch of helmet cam. I haven't watched them all but the first one I did watch had some of the junkyard, I'd bet pretty much the whole loop is included.

www.youtube.com/user/dirtbikeadventure

Here are a few photos I took while working this race. Enjoy.

Marc

I started on the first expert wave, and this was my first race in the expert class, 0/35. I expected a middle of the pack finish but was hoping for a top 30 overall. I liked the start, 14 riders per wave, 15 seconds between waves, with time delay being corrected at scoring time. Live engine start.

The start was smooth, all you can rev with a slight right hander at 300 feet then another right hander at about 1,000 feet. Then more straight flat stuff until the sand began. Once in the sand, it was only a few hundred yards before I saw a rider knife in and go over the bars. I couldn’t keep a line so my eyes started wandering for where I might be in the next 50 feet. I wasn’t warmed up and wasn’t leaning back far enough or pinning it enough and decided I would just operate in survival mode for a few more minutes and then commit. Not really a good strategy. People from the second wave starting coming by me and now it was my turn to take a spill. In the loamy, sandy single track there was a hole off to the left that my bike fit right into. Laid my bike down two more times on the first loop and by that time I think at least the first two waves were ahead of me.

The pits were 5 mph and no way to bypass so this was time to re-coup and focus. Went out on the second loop but was still fighting for a line and wearing myself out in the sand. On the fourth loop I broke my hand guard so it was spinning around by the end cap. Sharp end facing either my chest or my thigh as it bounced around so I made sure not to fall after that and rolled in for a 4 loop finish. I finished 9th place in my class of 9.

I haven’t been as motivated as I am now since my first desert race 3 years ago. No more warm up, non-commit crap. Training began yesterday.

The course was well marked and a big thank you for everyone who put on this flawless event. The highlight of the race for me was when David Pearson came by, showing how much easier it is when you’re faster. Also, Trish and Michele moved up into the boys class and took 2nd and 4th place trophies in the 125 novice. Way To Go!!!!!!!!