Cannondaleriders

this is the last dutchman race till fall and the weather will be unusually good! maybe too good, with highs in the low 80's under a partly cloudy sky. it rained sun-wed so track conditions should be about as good as it can get.

spent all afternoon working on the dale, topless, my back is as red as a new set of plastic! that will be a killer tomorrow! 14t front sprocket, new bars, pingel tether, 20" rear tires, removed heal guards, checking nuts and bolts, etc... not a big fan of oiling the air filter but did it anyways and might have put a little too much on it.

have mixed feelings about this race. derno won't be there, so i have nobody to talk smack to. with the weather being nice, everyone and their cousin will probably be there. i'm half afraid of wrecking or blowing it up and not being able to go to jaybr's. i'll be happy with a top ten, that'll give me a few more points on derno.

stop back tomorrow night for the results.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cdrookie
it rained sun-wed so track conditions should be about as good as it can get.

what a joke that was!

here we go. be warned though, there's gonna be some whining on here, some b!tch!ng, some:furious: if you're under 18 get your parents permission before you continue!

i wasn't feeling real good when i woke up, i think it was a little dehydration and no nutrition. i don't eat much when it gets warm out. thought about staying home and riding the gixxer.

drove past the track and it looked perfectly groomed. some water laying in the turns, but nothing too bad. watched the bikes run and it was dusty! you could tell the heat was really getting to some riders today.

so anyways...

we go out to line up and suprise suprise, c class is the last to start!!!!:wow behind utility even! WTF???? we had 33 racers today. too many.

the start was sooooooooooo dusty it took a good 7-8 minutes before we left the line! that might be giving it the benefit of the doubt. thats a big lead for the a class!

were finally ready to go and i'm feeling pretty good about the start. i figured the start would be key today to avoid the dust.

well they blew the horn and i'm pushing the button like crazy and nothings happening:mad: look down and the starter button is pointing straight down! when i changed bars yesterday i guess i just snugged it up instead of cranking on it. FINALLY get it going, not sure cause it was sooooo dusty but i probably started dead last, out of the whole field! not good...

cruised into the first turn cause i couldn't see anything and to my suprise everyone was there. picked off a couple guys and started working my way through. quickly realized that they should have cancelled this race! the dust was sooooo bad they're lucky nobody was killed! you literally couldn't see anything infront of you! including the track. the wind was weak at best and even when it did blow it just moved the dust instead of blowing it away.

i thought about quitting cause my life and my bike is worth more than a few measily points. not much more, but a little more. it wasn't 5 FOOT TROPHY day anyways. but figured i'd just take it easy and ride smart and safe.

we've raced in mud, mud, mud, slop, mud, cold, muddy cold slop, and i'd take that anyday. this was some bad stuff!

so..........

got behind a v force who proceded to shower me with mud around a corner. tried a new tearoff idea i had, so i ripped it off and 3 came off. i only put 4 on and it was the first lap. not good.
the new bars i got felt great when i tested them out, but i have them a little far forward for racing. then my left grip started coming off! i superglued it on! it's all falling apart now.

on the second lap i rolled over a jump coming out of a sharp lefthander in the woods section and the bike shut off! and wouldn't start! a track worker pulled me off to the side so i wouldn't get run over. it sucks watching all the people who you just passed pass you back!:cry: after about 30 seconds i got it running and took off.

it wasn't too bad being at the back again cause i knew noone was around and didn't have to worry about raming someone in a corner. was moving pretty good then it stalled again! i'm getting p!ssed now! everytime i went hard into a corner and slammed the brakes or tried to brakeslide the bike would quit running and starting it wasn't easy!

i felt like derno at the last dutchman race. pass 2 people and get passed by 20! i stalled it about 3 times a lap! i had to keep it revved, hit the brakes, slide forward, grab the clutch, shift if need be. that's too much work. then when you exited the corner the bike was a handful cause your at 9000 rpm's and going where the bike wants to go. i usually just hit the brakes and use the engine as a jake, then power out of the turns. not today.

i've been on the track for 3 other races and thought i knew it well, but there were times when i thought the corner was here but it was 50 yards further down and i'm heading for a big tractor tire. people were missing turns all day. there was a little course cutting going on also, but i heard they disqualified him/them.

the a class was on us after 2 laps! they were having a rough go with the dust as they tried to work there way around us slower guys. it was miserable for everyone! sorry if i held you up for a few corners jason(hughes). didn't know it was you! i tried to get out of everyones way but the trouble was that you had such a hard time seeing if you got directly behind someone that the faster people were staying back a corner. they'd wait till they got into a wetter section of the track to close in and try to pass. i think J passed me about 4 times. hard to tell though.

after the half way point i went thru the scoring barrels and on the straight before you go down by the creek the bike just all the sudden pulls hard to the right. thought my tie rod gave out or my ball joint broke. had to get off and inspect but couldn't find anything wrong. so now i had something else besides the dust and a stalling motor to worry about.:confused:

i'd like to give a more detailed report about the racing but i don't know what the he!! was going on. most people were pretty good about moving out of the way but i'm sure chris borich had some nicewords to say to the guy on the 250 quadracer who wouldn't let him around.

seems like i kept passing the same people. boy was i happy when i saw the checkers:) finished 14th. not happy with the results. i was fast and felt decent and think i could've finished top 5 if i had a better start and the bike wasn't stalling. i could've done alot better if the bike didn't stall! i'm use to starting last by now.

Bryan good work out there. We will figure out your stalling. It has got to be an easy fix...

i was in 6th place in the district 6 overall points, 4 ahead of derno, before foot of the mountain. them b-tards only gave me 4 points for winning that race cause no one showed up! it wasn't a secret race or anything, everybody could've showed up. so i got penalized 8 points cause i was there and won. BS if you ask me! anyways those 4 points moved me to 4th overall in the district. then i got 0 today!:cry: should've stayed home!