Friday practice
First session:
First practice on the dale on a national trackwent great the dale ran fantasticly and i was feeling rather confident. I had made some suspension adjusments after riding locally and they seemed to be paying off.
Second session:
Just after the start of this session it started raining and before i could complete one lap is was pouring. At this point all i wanted to do was get off the track but before i could i got stuck in a mud hole stalling the quad. I attempted to restart but it just wouldnt start so i gave up and waited for a tow. So now i get the ride of shame back to the trailer and i can hear people snickering and making comments about the broke down dale. All that confidence has now turned to bitter angry rage.... So now im back at the trailer and i working on gettting the dale started again. I belive some water may have made its way into my engine. So i hook up battery tender and attempt to start, it cranks but wont start. I pull off air filter its soaked and the throttle plate has some moisture on it. I dry the intake out as best i can and dry off the air filter. I reinstall filter and attempt to start again still wont start and now im getting really down. So i let it sit for a few give it a chance to dry out. Finally one last try it dosnt start but gives and encourging pop. I try to start a few more times with more and more pops and attemtps to start. Finally after about 35 mins of cleaning and drying the dale roars back to life while mother nature roars around me. Happy enough now that the dale is running again i pack up and head for the hotel to dry off.
Saturday
I get to the track early and get right to work. I had taken the air filter with me back to the hotel to clean and get totally dry. I reinstall the filter and start quad to do an oil change. Quad fires right up and gives my spirits a boost. I get the oil change done and am now ready to go.
After a little waiting i head out for practice, The dale runs great and i getting some of that confidence back again even though the track is already getting rough.
Moto 1
Pulled my best holeshot ever 3rd holy crap this thing is fast.
Make it through the first 2 corners no problem and im all over the honda in 2nd. Just then the honda gets kicked sideways, and just as quickly gets kicked back stright again unforunately its left rear tire hits the inside of my left front tire which yanks the bars out of my right hand and turns the wheels all the way to the left which ejects me off the right side and the dale is now upside down on its right. ****!! Jump up real quick flip the dale over get it restarted and now the chase is on. I run full out and have no more bad luck and im able to make a pass on the last corner to get 7th almost got 6th but he beat me to the finish by inches. All things considered im pretty happy.Sunday
Slept in today needed to rest my bashed body. Headed to the track around 11 unpacked started the dale and cruised over to the start to check out the track. It was getting really rough!
Moto 2
A little lazy on this one 7th out of the gate. Same deal as yesterday throttle down and start picking people off one by one. I got 6th easily but was stuck behind 5th for a lap and a half. Finally pass 5th and hunt down 4th pass him on the stright **** this thing is fast.
Now its the last lap and 3rd place is within reach just gottta push and i can catch him. Finally catch up with only one hill and one corner left. I can tell the guy is fading and i know the dale is really fast on the hill. So i hammer down and get his lead down to half a quad as we approach the top of the hill. Then all of a sudden i see his quad hit a rut real hard and he gets knocked to the right real hard. Unfortunatly i was trying to pass on the right. He hits me and i hit a hay bail stopping me dead in my tracks. Well i manage to not go over the bars but im still on a pretty steep hill and exhausted so when i lean back after the hard stop i flip right off the back the quad it was pretty **** funny on the video but i wasnt happy at the time. So quickly i jump back on and try to put i kill switch back in but my arm is shaking making things even more difficult. Finally i get that back in and get the quad restarted. I try to get going but the hill is pretty steep for a dead start so the dale just wheelies stright up to the grab bar stalls and settles back on it wheels. Restart again and this time i get going (found out later a track worker gave me a little push which was just enough to finish the climb) and still manage to finish in 11th place.All in all it was a crazy weekend 2 crashes and still a top 10 (8th) finish. I really love the dale and i cant wait to go to lorettas.
I hope u guys enjoyed this and sorry for writing so much.
Joe
