cmoist
PR Member
Well Steel City ended up being a success in Vet 30. Driving over on Friday morning for practice, it poured pretty much the entire way. We figured the track would be unridable. In fact, we thought about stopping at Cabela's for a while to waste some time 
. We got there just in time for first practice, which turned out to be the best session of the day. The track crew packed everything the night before, so the track was dusty and smooth. I got the hang of most of the track, save for the big pro step up and the rollers by the start. They didn't use the rollers on top of the far hill or the "pro section" with the huge double.
By the time the second practice came along, it had started raining and the track was slick as snot. By the third practice, they were combining groups and I got there in time for about one lap. I was kind of bummed, but figured the track was going to be muddy as hell the next day, so it wouldn't much matter if my lines were figured out or not. At this point, NOAA had a tornado warning out and we were certain our EZ Up would be gone by morning. We headed off to a hotel.
Saturday morning, we headed to the track and discovered it hadn't rained much at all. The track looked prime! I used practice to work on some of the trouble spots on the track and hucked the big step up. Only 46 of the ~52 pre-qualified riders showed, but we still had to run qualifiers. I fell into the second group. As it would figure, the track crew would take a 30 minute break with the first group on the line to water and prep, which made for some really slick racing. Watching the first group was fun. A few of the PA guys from the High Point area did well, and Christopher Opliger put on a great ride to pass up to second on his two stroke.
I got a crappy start from my way-inside gate (lucky enough to get last gate pick) and started to work my way up. Trying to pass for 4th or 5th, I nailed a bale and went down. Bike mangled and twisted, it took a minute to get rolling and started back up in last. In a panic, I caught back up to 7th by the end of the race, and finished a few feet behind sixth - something that would come back to almost bite me later. At this point, I'm thinking I may have blown the whole weekend. I got washed up, fixed the bike, watched the LCQs and went to bed in the truck for the night. The weather actually held off all day Saturday and I couldn't believe it. Sunday was calling for worse weather.
Sunday arrived and again, it was nice - no rain at all. Un-freaking-believable. Motos clicked off quickly. In moto 2, I got another s**t start from my 14th gate pick and started working my way up. 42 riders is too many riders going into the first turn! With a little luck, I worked up to fourth. Here is the video of that moto:
[video=youtube;3hInygOyVQ0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hInygOyVQ0[/video]
That felt pretty good, but we were tied with a few other riders in points, and we were all on the bubble, so good third moto was critical.
Moto two came around and it felt nice to have a solid gate pick. I actually got a great jump and good start. I was able to go backwards this time instead of charging through the pack. I found myself in second for a lap, then fell to fourth and picked up a spot for a third place finish. One of the guys I was tied with finished in second, and the others were all back a ways. Opliger, who was one of the riders tied, fell, I believe and finished 20th.
So in the end, I went 7-4-3 for seventh overall. Third through sixth ended up being tied with 13 points, and I ended with 14. If I had been able to pass for sixth in moto 1 and with a strong moto 3, I would have been top three or four on the day. No matter though, we still got in, but barely. Just another reason why qualifying at the regionals is a bummer - too many people with good first moto scores. The Shay Tewksbury guy dominated all three motos and was ~5 seconds a lap faster than me. He was a fast cat.
As we were leaving, some pitch black sky was moving in, but all the motos completed before a drop fell. I have to say, the track crew did an amazing job to keep the track well prepped and, more importantly, safe. Several times after watering, they would reface the jumps with dozers so they weren't overly slick, and they fixed sketchy sections as needed, while at the same time, keeping the track rough and fairly rutty.
There was some other good racing that went on. Cooper Webb and Dakota Alix went head to head a few times. Sheak and Keith Johnson had some good battles in +35. Zach Bell was also fun to watch.
. We got there just in time for first practice, which turned out to be the best session of the day. The track crew packed everything the night before, so the track was dusty and smooth. I got the hang of most of the track, save for the big pro step up and the rollers by the start. They didn't use the rollers on top of the far hill or the "pro section" with the huge double.By the time the second practice came along, it had started raining and the track was slick as snot. By the third practice, they were combining groups and I got there in time for about one lap. I was kind of bummed, but figured the track was going to be muddy as hell the next day, so it wouldn't much matter if my lines were figured out or not. At this point, NOAA had a tornado warning out and we were certain our EZ Up would be gone by morning. We headed off to a hotel.
Saturday morning, we headed to the track and discovered it hadn't rained much at all. The track looked prime! I used practice to work on some of the trouble spots on the track and hucked the big step up. Only 46 of the ~52 pre-qualified riders showed, but we still had to run qualifiers. I fell into the second group. As it would figure, the track crew would take a 30 minute break with the first group on the line to water and prep, which made for some really slick racing. Watching the first group was fun. A few of the PA guys from the High Point area did well, and Christopher Opliger put on a great ride to pass up to second on his two stroke.
I got a crappy start from my way-inside gate (lucky enough to get last gate pick) and started to work my way up. Trying to pass for 4th or 5th, I nailed a bale and went down. Bike mangled and twisted, it took a minute to get rolling and started back up in last. In a panic, I caught back up to 7th by the end of the race, and finished a few feet behind sixth - something that would come back to almost bite me later. At this point, I'm thinking I may have blown the whole weekend. I got washed up, fixed the bike, watched the LCQs and went to bed in the truck for the night. The weather actually held off all day Saturday and I couldn't believe it. Sunday was calling for worse weather.
Sunday arrived and again, it was nice - no rain at all. Un-freaking-believable. Motos clicked off quickly. In moto 2, I got another s**t start from my 14th gate pick and started working my way up. 42 riders is too many riders going into the first turn! With a little luck, I worked up to fourth. Here is the video of that moto:
[video=youtube;3hInygOyVQ0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hInygOyVQ0[/video]
That felt pretty good, but we were tied with a few other riders in points, and we were all on the bubble, so good third moto was critical.
Moto two came around and it felt nice to have a solid gate pick. I actually got a great jump and good start. I was able to go backwards this time instead of charging through the pack
. I found myself in second for a lap, then fell to fourth and picked up a spot for a third place finish. One of the guys I was tied with finished in second, and the others were all back a ways. Opliger, who was one of the riders tied, fell, I believe and finished 20th.So in the end, I went 7-4-3 for seventh overall. Third through sixth ended up being tied with 13 points, and I ended with 14. If I had been able to pass for sixth in moto 1 and with a strong moto 3, I would have been top three or four on the day. No matter though, we still got in, but barely. Just another reason why qualifying at the regionals is a bummer - too many people with good first moto scores. The Shay Tewksbury guy dominated all three motos and was ~5 seconds a lap faster than me. He was a fast cat.
As we were leaving, some pitch black sky was moving in, but all the motos completed before a drop fell. I have to say, the track crew did an amazing job to keep the track well prepped and, more importantly, safe. Several times after watering, they would reface the jumps with dozers so they weren't overly slick, and they fixed sketchy sections as needed, while at the same time, keeping the track rough and fairly rutty.
There was some other good racing that went on. Cooper Webb and Dakota Alix went head to head a few times. Sheak and Keith Johnson had some good battles in +35. Zach Bell was also fun to watch.
