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District 16 Hare Scrambles - Aztalan MX track

4-27-08

Well since I am willing to drive 5+ hours for a race, it seemed silly to pass up a hare scrambles 20 minutes from my house. The nice thing about a race this close is that I got up, had breakfast and didn't have to leave until 9:00. Upon arrival at the track, I found out that a few other enduro "regulars" showed up as well. Speedy Pete and Flyin Ryan Moss entered the AA class and I signed up for the A Class. I could have rode +40 class, but I still feel like I should be able to run with the "young guns".

After setting up my pits and removing the lights I mounted for the enduros, I headed off to sign up and then to inspect the track. The course used a lot more of the MX track than I would have liked, but they still used a lot of tight woods and some technical up and down hills to keep it interesting. There was also some wet spots that looked to get rutted up bad and one pond that was sure to eat goggles if not taken with caution.

As we lined up for the start, it looked like there were about 20 riders in the A wave. My goal was to get a good start and try to be in the top 5 at the end of the 1st lap. After that, the plan was to ride for 2 hours and have fun. When the gun fired for the A class...I got the holeshot and had about a 5 bike length lead going into the 1st turn (which quickly disappeared as I braked WAY too early). Once we hit the moto track, one rider got by me (the Yamaha guy who tried to eat my left foot with his front tire in the photo below) and I followed him for the 1st lap. He began to pull away on the second lap and I could not get into a rhythm. More riders passed me as I was struggling on the MX track sections.

About an hour into the event, I figured I was in about 8th place. I also figured that some of the riders needed to stop for gas. Since I was feeling pretty good, I decided to turn it up a bit and see if I could catch some of the riders that got by earlier. I caught a group of A riders, put my head down and reeled them in. I got around the first 2 fairly quickly and set off to catch the other 2. They were battling back and forth and I slipped up and got by them both. One of the riders put on a charge and with 30 min left, we went back and forth. Remember that pond I mentioned earlier? Well when I would skirt around the edge, he would blast through the middle and get by me. Once in the woods, he would make a mistake and I would get by him until we would get back to the pond. It went on this way for the last few laps. At the scoring tent, they told me one more lap and I had about a 30 yard lead on him. When we got to the pond, I blasted through the center to avoid getting passed and then it was a race to the woods. I caught a lapped rider just going in, so I had a slower rider between us. I beat him back to the finish and ended up 4th in the A class (12th overall).

Tip of the helmet to the Aztalan club. They do not have a lot of land to work with, but still put together a great event!

More Pictures (Thanks to Dave Hollub Spiderweb MX pics)

 Brian's A Class Holeshot                      OPPS!!! (No..we did not go down & I didn't lose the lead!)

Speedy Pete