2nd mx race

[Razorback]

i ran my second mx race ever over the weekend. it was the tqra (www.tqra.com) event at caddo point motorsports track, just south of greenville, tx (http://www.caddopointmotorsports.com/). another exrider, occra288, took a break from cross country racing and came down from oklahoma to race. i entered in 4-stroke open and open amateur classes.

i was a lot less nervous this time, but still had some nerves, but most of that was gone after i got to run practice. there were 107 racers overall, so it was a pretty good crowd. i got much better results this time, finishing 5th out of 12 in amateur and 7th out of 16 in 4-stroke. occra288 finished 6th in amateur, but beat me head to head in the 2nd moto as we finished 5/6. i was right on his tail for at least two laps, but i couldn't ever get by him.

we had too many riders in 4-stroke, so we had to run heat races, which the top 4 in each made it to the main event, and top 4 in lcq. well, i had a **** of a race with a guy for probably 3 full laps, but again, i couln't pass him and ended up finishing 5th, so i had to run the lcq. in the lcq, i got a good holeshot, but was 4th or 5th coming out of the first turn, but we were bunched in tightly. i passed one guy over the first table top, then another on the next, then came a pretty decent sized step up that most people were rolling through, but i just hammered and went, got past another, then passed the last guy on a double right after the step up, and nobody even got close after that. i won that heat by probably half a lap. that felt great! i know it was just an lcq, but it was so cool to be up front. i doubt that will happen very often, but it sure felt good.

by the last moto (my 5th of the day!) i was getting tired. my thumb had started to cramp and arm pump had began to set in (but this has gotten much better with the renthal bars). i've got a magura clutch on order, so hopefully that will also help with the arm pump, and i need to lube my throttle cable to see if i can get that a little more responsive.

the track was great, but they just put in a new, pretty knarly, rhythm section. a rider crashed (endo) during practice and had to be carried off in an ambulance. we thought he had broken his back because he was folded in half and the quad landed on him that way. he ended up with a broken pelvis, so that, while bad news, was much better than back or spinal damage. after that, they decided to only let the pro riders double the rhythm section (i'll have some good video online soon of the pros hitting these).

johnny hale was there again, but broke a countershaft sprocket during the first moto and had to run the lcq. in the main event for the pros, there was a big pileup, and johnny got caught in it and didn't finish. the guy that won the pro class was named Nate Leverenz from somewhere in kansas. he was awesome. i didn't realize it at the time, but he won the 4-stroke A class at the gnc race at belwood. anyway, he was riding a moto 440, and let me tell ya, that is a bad arse machine. very, very sweet. and nate is a silky mooth jumper. it's just a blast to watch the good pros ride.

anyway, sorry for the long post, but i'm fully addicted to this racing thing now. my new setup with extended a-arms and axle and shocks have made a world of difference. i feel so much better on the track now. if anybody else has race reports, i'd love to hear 'em.

l8r

[AlaskaSpeed]

congrats on your finishes, this is my first year racing MX and I can appreciate every bit of your story. Keep it up, JIM

[jshtex]

If I remember right... You ran your first race at Four states at a TQRA race right? We ran there for the first time last weekend and man, That track beat the crap out of my son and his bike. Once again he got great starts, in the first moto they ran both classes at once and he was in third at the first turn. But he fell back pretty quick after that. I don't know what you thought about the track there, but Swan (in Tyler) is on a whole other level. You really need to come down and try it out. There is a schedule posted at www.swanmx.com.

[redrider808]

WTG man its a blast huh . but maybe i can help ya with the arm pump . what i have found to work for me is sinus tablets i take one be4 i get to the track and yet to get arm pump this year .

and this is gona sound off the wall but talk to your self during the race . it helps you to breath and try to keep a finger on each lever so you dont hold on to hard

and this is coming from some one who would have to pull my hands off after the races i use to get arm pump bad
i hope i helped

[Razorback]

Originally posted by jshtex
If I remember right... You ran your first race at Four states at a TQRA race right? We ran there for the first time last weekend and man, That track beat the crap out of my son and his bike. Once again he got great starts, in the first moto they ran both classes at once and he was in third at the first turn. But he fell back pretty quick after that. I don't know what you thought about the track there, but Swan (in Tyler) is on a whole other level. You really need to come down and try it out. There is a schedule posted at www.swanmx.com.

yeah, your right about my first race at four states. it was hard to tell how the track is supposed to be normally, because they had a big storm the night before we raced, so the track literraly had about a 6 inch layer of mud when we started. it wore down after practice, but we just had good riding where everyone had been going, and not the whole width of the track.

that double then triple combination after the finish line was very interesting. i could double the first one, but there was no way i was going to do the triple. that was a night race, so i'm curious to how the day track is different. i know they have some different, big, jumps.

i would definitely like to come down and check out swan sometime. i've looked at their website before and was very intrigued. i'll try to head down there sometime this summer and hook up with ya. do they race quads there normally?

[Razorback]

Originally posted by redrider808
WTG man its a blast huh . but maybe i can help ya with the arm pump . what i have found to work for me is sinus tablets i take one be4 i get to the track and yet to get arm pump this year .

and this is gona sound off the wall but talk to your self during the race . it helps you to breath and try to keep a finger on each lever so you dont hold on to hard

and this is coming from some one who would have to pull my hands off after the races i use to get arm pump bad
i hope i helped

hey, thanks for the good words. that's a very interesting trick with the sinus tablets. i have sinus problems anyway, so i may definitely try that. i do actually talk to myself a little anyway, but i'll have to try keeping a finger on the levers. i hadn't thought of it, but that may work pretty well, because you spread some of the pressure and don't have the death grip. thanks again...

[jshtex]

It seems that Swan does not have "regular" races. If you look at the schedule on their site every thing is something "special". But as far as I know all the races include quads. Their site used to have alot more on it, but for some reason they have cut out a lot. The guy who built and runs it has built many tracks around the state and seems to be pretty good at it. They have lots of HUGE jumps and tables. He changes the track all the time, as a matter of fact we practiced on a saturday before a sunday race and when we showed up sunday the track was different. They have good facilities and lots of trees to park under.

Are you racing the TQRA race at villiage creek? We may try to come up for it.

[Razorback]

yeah, i'm definitely going to be at the village creek race. if you do decide to go, let me know toward the end of the week and we can meet out there. there's a whole bunch of really great people coming to the tqra races. we had 107 riders at the last race, and i expect more than that this weekend since it is in fort worth. we have a lot of local riders who won't travel east of the metroplex for some reason ?!?!?

anyway, i'd like to make it over your way later this summer. i'll contact you and see if they'll be having any races out there or just go for a good day of practice. i'm trying to get a lot better at jumping, so it's nice to be able to go to a place with some nice jumps.

[Razorback]

jshtex - by the way, does your son race quads? i thought i remembered you talking about him racing bikes? i assume you are doing some quad racing/riding, right?

[jshtex]

Yes... he races a 400ex. He has raced many different things in his short 16 years. He seems to like this but he needs more practice.