08/01/10- Central Village & Mechanical Failure!

This race day started off great! I arrived at Central Village nice and early and met up with my friends Scott, Dennis, and Paul in the pits. We walked the track and it looked sweet! I was pumped for an exciting day of riding!

My 1st two motos were ok- a 4th and 5th place finish. Then in the second half of the day, I took a crash in my 200 class in the whoops section. This bothered the hell out of me. The reason being- I struggled in this section earlier in the day with suspension issues. So I talked to my tech guy Bill over at C-Cycle suspension. I explained how the bike was swapping. He adjusted my suspension and I was good to go... so I thought.

On the 2nd lap in the whoop section, the bike swapped and I went over the bars. In retrospect, I think the adjustments to the suspension were correct, I probably just didn't time the whoops correctly and as a result, I landed on my ass!

So I finished the moto (I don't even know what place). And I was pissed! I remember I was nashing my teeth and for the first time in a while, I felt like putting my foot right through the door of a port-a-potty! BUT... I stayed calm.

So my next moto comes up, and man I am ready to shred the track and prove that I am better than any other rider. So I get my gate position and go to start my bike. And here is where it gets worse...

The bike won't start!!! I am kicking this thing until I am blue in the face and nothing! Then the 30 second board goes up and I wave frantically for the starter to stop the race and he sees me after waving my hands in the air like an idiot. He gives me some additional time to get the bike started, but I kick and kick and nothing. It was dead, and the race was over.

I pulled back from the gate and almost cried. I watched my class launch from the concrete and I was devastated. You know what I learned that day? For starters, you never really appreciate something until it gets taken away from you. Not being able to race that moto was disheartening.

It turned out later on that week that the problem was my ignition box (CDI). It was heavily damaged. When I had crashed in the prior moto, I must have damaged the box.

So in conclusion, mechanical problems happen and this race was not meant to be.

-Patrick

Crow Hill- 7/25/10

This was one of the hottest races of the year! It ended up being in the 90's and incredibly humid. It was clear and sunny and rained like hell in the afternoon. Despite the hot and humid weather, I took a 4th and 5th place finish in the C and the Open classes, respectively.

The bike ran well and I just tried to stay cool in the shade. Although that is kind of tough when you don't have your EZ-Up canopy with you! I tried to avoid a 3rd degree sunburn in the pits between my motos. It wasn't easy sweating like crazy in the pits with plenty of dust in the air.

This race event was fun, but I think the heat got to my head. At the end of the day I was just glad to get the hell out of there and take a cold shower!

-Patrick