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With only three races remaining in the TCCRA's racing
season, the "Big Show" went to the little
Northeast Texas town of Gilmer, home of the Barnwell
Mountain Recreational Area. This 1800 acre off-road riding
area is owned by the Texas Motorized Trails Coalition, and
has been in operation since 1999.
The race was put
on by Lucky Dog Promotions, a group of three gentlemen
well versed in motorcycle racing themselves: Gary Hazel,
former ISDE rider and current owner of Thumper Racing in
Marshall Texas, Dave Visniski, the man responsible for
developing electronic scoring for the TCCRA, and current
owner of Pet Land in Tyler Texas, and David Culpepper,
multi time TCCRA State Champion and current member of the
Board of Directors of the TCCRA.
I was told that
the Lucky Dog name came from the fact that Gary's wife has
a soft spot for stray animals, such that when she sees
one, she brings it home, & thus the
poor animal instantly becomes a...well, you know, a
"lucky dog". In fact, I understand that the
"Lucky Dog" logo is a caricature of one of the
Hazel's animals.
While this was
Lucky Dog’s first race, with the literally hundreds of
man hours they spent putting this thing together, they
intended it to be memorable, and it certainly showed in
the quality of the event.
From the natural beauty of the mountainside
property, and well marked trail, to the many contingency
offerings from race sponsors like Moose, Wiseco, Dunlop,
and Thumper Racing, the event started looking good right
from the front gate...especially as we drove past Big Dave
Witts BBQ stand, a permanent fixture on the site.
The rider
turnout was around the 500 mark with easily 3 times that
in total “gate”, with everyone’s pit crew,
spectators, & all. Quite a production for this late in
the year.
The
camping area was plentiful, and after we set up the
now-famous Patman Racing Paddock, a quick check of the
course itself was in order.
As I'm a track official for the TCCRA, I'm
obviously obligated to ride a lap or two on Saturday in
order to better familiarize myself with possible trouble
spots in the track.
Ahem. Anyway, as
the starting area was on top of the mountain, the first
section was a downward series of sandy right & left
turns, that opened into a couple of miles of alternating
woods, shallow creek crossings, and high speed jeep
trails. This section had the perfect combination of
tighter stuff, & open breathing area for my Thumper
Racing modified YZM450. I was lovin’ life through here!
Turning back up the side of the mountain, I started
to see the terrain change to a more hard baked, sand and
iron ore rock mixture, the combination of which was
particularly adept at slowing ones progress up the long
steep hills. Later the trail would turn back down some
sandstone hillside that looked like it was actually
“polished” from the locked up rear tires of wide eyed
riders trying to slow their descent on a surface that
offered about as much traction as an ink pen on a bowling
ball.
When the track
progressed past the checkpoint at about five and a half
miles, the hills grew steeper, the woods darker, and the
loose rock, exposed roots, & leaf covered hillside
gave me a slight impression of a more "eastern"
trail than we're used to in north central Texas.
The good news was that there was little dust
anywhere, & the Patman loves to be able to see the
trees before he hits them!
The remainder of the race track, was comprised of
progressively steeper & gnarlier
hills, without as much tight stuff,
but always with a high speed breather section every
once in a while, so I could shift outta third & do
some wheelies for fun.
Even on Saturday though, it was obvious that these
long straights were getting whooped out, & would
probably swallow smaller, less manly, bikes on the morrow.
Before I knew it
I was back at the start area, and in fact, saw it three
more times before I realized that if I didn't quit this
playin' around I was gonna run outta gas. So off to the
pits after thirty miles of great fun.
Time to go to
work. We track officials went out & routed the track
around one of the little creek crossings, that my 450 had
turned into a fifty square yard quagmire on my three
practice laps. I apologize to everyone here & now for
that...I kinda got off in high spirits.
I spent the rest
of the day just tooling around on the fourwheeler,
admiring the scenery ( of all kinds ), & helping stuck
riders here & there.
By the end of the day, I had pulled three bikes
outta mudholes, started two exhausted rider’s
fourstrokes, ridden several bikes up hills for frustrated
riders, & pointed countless folks back to the pits.
In the
evening...it rained. I headed for the local hotel &
buffet restaurant downtown.
There were, of course other racers there, stuffing
their faces as well.
And of course some of them recognized me, so we sat
& had the obligatory bench racing session during my
salad. One of the things I like about this job, is the
cool people I meet, & this evening was no different. A
couple of nice
guys to be sure.
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