--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We had MUCH better luck this time. We had a few little problems, but nothing major for anyone like at Monticello.
We packed up everything on Thursday, got the bikes loaded, checked, rechecked, and checked again that we had everything we needed. Then we tried to get to bed early(didn't go to well for me, I got about an hour and a half of sleep)
Jeremy came and picked us up at about 3:30, and we were off to Mesquite. We got about 40 miles out and had a tire on the trailer throw the tread, of course, it was pouring down rain, so we limped it to the next overpass and changed the tire...then when we FINISH, it completely stops raining, lol.
We rolled through Vegas and saw the large amount of storm clouds in the area of Mesquite, so we were a little worried about how it was gonna be. When we got about 20 miles from Mesquite we caught the storm, it was raining HARD, it was hard to see within 20 feet of the truck. When we finally came into Mesquite it had calmed down a bit, but it was still raining decent.
We had a little trouble finding the track, we went to the hotel (the host hotel for WORCS) and asked for directions, they gave great directions (even gave us a town map!) and we found the track easily after that.
When we came into view of the track....it resembled nothing of a Motocross track, more like a lake...We knew it was gonna be horrid for racing. Of course, they wouldn't let us practice on the MX track like they usually do, so we would just have to wing it.
We went back to the hotel and ate some grub(the Oasis Buffet is the greatest...for breakfast, lunch, and dinner..lol) We then had to occupy ourselves for a long time(here it is noon, with nothing to do that??????????????????s productive)....I had the video camera and we were bored so we started curing the boredom. We went to the top of the parking garage and enjoyed the view(among other odd things)....We had the great honor of witnessing an old dude run over the curb trying to park, walk around the truck, proceed to yell into the cab(with nobody in it I might add), then leave.......then come back, walk to the front of the truck, and was about to take a piss on his tire in the middle of town...when he noticed 4 heads and a camera peaking over the top story of the parking garage......The look on his face was priceless, the footage is pretty funny! Sadly, that amused us for a while. After meeting up with my parents and bullshiting with them, we finally checked in and went to bed.
Race day. We wake up at about 5:00, get geared up, get some small breakfast, and head to the, still muddy, track. We finished registering, and start getting ready for practice. I aired up my left rear tire(the problem tire at Monticello, didn't quite seal well enough)and at about 8:00 we go out for the Unclassified race(practice/prerunning, for the non WORCS racers) I get around a lap and when coming back into the MX section....I run out of gas(horrible thing to forget), I switch to reserve and get it to the pits, fill up, and go out for another lap. About a quarter way around I notice the bike pulling left really hard on some of the whoops......Tires flat again, so I finish the lap and, luckily, was able to get some Slime from Jeremy to seal it(it worked for the most part)
Jeremy only did one lap because his ribs started hurting again(he crashed on a DS650 at the BITD Vegas-to-Reno race). We start to realize that Justin only finished one lap and has yet to be seen since he left for the second....of course, the fear of a broken bike sets in. Luckily....we have something in common.....he forgot gas too, and ran out about 1/4 lap in. A sweep brought him some gas and he had the pleasure of riding through the middle of Mesquite on main roads because he couldn't ride on the track because there was already a race going on. By the time he got back, he only had about 15 minutes until Race 3(Pro Production, Production A, Stock A, Production B, Stock
started.....His race.He had a problem on the line, he accidentally went into 3rd instead of 2nd for the start, and killed it off the line. But he had no problem in getting into the first place position in the first half of the first lap. He had a good first lap(except for missing a turn because of the mud), and also had a good second lap up until he was coming into the finish line. He broke ANOTHER tie-rod end bolt and was unable to turn and plowed into the finish line (big banner going over the track, made of steel pipe), in turn knocking it down and knocking him off the bike. He was unable to finish because of the tie-rod problem and got what we swore would be a DNF. Luckily, the same thing happened like it did at Monticello, because he did half of the race, he took 3rd instead of a DNF, Also getting a 3rd place overall for the 2005 Stock B Championship. Congratulations to Joshua Key for getting his first overall Championship in his racing career, in Stock B, and also to Lonnie Sortor for obtaining 2nd place overall for the Stock B Championship.
My race was in about 20 minutes, but being basically the main mechanic, in a way, I set to work on getting a new tie-rod end installed and getting it ready for my sisters race, Race 7. I did a few things, then Justin took over because I had to go.
I finish gearing up and go to the line, my only competitor was a guy on a Honda Rubicon 500. The rider was actually Josh Fredrick's(WORCS #2, Pro racer competing with the likes of Doug Eichner) mechanic, so I had the honor of chatting with Josh Fredrick on the line, so that was pretty cool. Soon I realized though...he??????????????????s with Fredrick ALL THE TIME, he's gonna get a lot of tips from him, so this guy might be WAY better then me. The 2 classes in front of us take off, we're next, we wait the 20 seconds of so, give the nod that we're ready to go. Up goes the green flag, and we launch off the line(as good as a utility class can "launch"), my manual transmission advantage allowed me to get the launch on him, but the 150cc advantage he had allowed him to catch up, he passed me by a little, but then backed off, so I was able to get passed him for the holeshot. We went through the MX portion with him trailing by about 30 feet, and then went of the hill into the off-road section. In the high speed part on top of the hill, he caught up and was about 10 feet behind before we dropped down into the rougher, tighter, more technical sections of the track, where my bike had the maneuverability advantage, we stayed pretty close together for most of the lap, do to the sport classes in front of us slowing us down, once we got by most of them I started to pull away, I think I had the endurance advantage on him, I seem to stay pretty consistent, where as I think he slowed down quite a bit. By the 3rd lap or so, I was 2 to 3 minutes ahead of him. I did 4 laps, and got a 1st place in my class, and 4th overall out of 13, and also wrapped up the 2005 Utility Championship.
Jeremy also had some problems off the line, he killed his bike, but was able to get it started and take off quickly, he caught his main competitor and was able to get a decent distance ahead of him, but the rider gained back considerable time, and was able to get ahead of Jeremy before the finish, putting Jeremy to far back in the pack, and leaving him one place short of an overall podium finish for the 2005 Open A Championship.
My sister, Ann Marie, also decided to make this her first ever race, so she knew what to expect for next year. She raced Justins' Cannondale, because her Cannondale won't be ready for another 2 weeks or so. She raced the Womens B/C class, a class of 6 riders. She did great off the line and came in 3rd for the holeshot(Brittany Brosious and Amy Towle were ahead of her, and Tia Chandler was behind her), around the second corner, she lifted up a little bit and Tia made the pass. When she came around for the second lap she was in 3rd, do to Amy wrecking. She kept her 3rd place for the whole race, even through making a mistake, getting friendly with a fence post, and layin in the dirt, she was able to get the bike back up and take off before the rider behind her caught up. She did great for her first race and is already hooked like the rest of us! She's gonna try to race all of next season.
We went to the awards ceremony on Sunday after watching the Pro race, to except our awards(Champions get a full set of A.R.C Gear from Rocky Mountain ATV, a personalized Championship jacket from Rocky Mountain ATV, and an awesome Championship trophy.) and enjoy the entertainment from all the great people of WORCS, the great WORCS racers, and the great people that are always up for making a joke. Quad racers are great people, and it shows.
Thanks to all the people that made this season possible, including all my sponsors, my family, the Butler family, Sean and Pepper at WORCS, and all the venues that hosted the races, plus many others I??????????????????ve most likely forgotton
We're all looking forward to next season, and being able to trully flaunt our "American Made Racing" moniker, we're hoping for a great year in racing.
