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Well,
well, well. Ol' Patman kinda wasn't payin'
attention, and the first half of the season passed me by
like nobody's business.
Actually, truth be told, if I wanted to whine, I'd say,
" I wasn't prepared for the rigors of being an
officer of the TCCRA, and trying to race a full and
competitive schedule at the same time".
Whatever the case, I went into the 'mid-season break"
in a miserable 18th place in the TCCRA's senior
intermediate class ( over forty ).
So
with four races to go after the break, I knew I needed to
make a little better showing if I expected a top ten
number next year... after I finish my duty to the club of
course.
Knowing this, and having the good fortune of some nice low
maintenance tracks in the schedule, I tried to spend more time on
racing the track, & slightly less time workin' the
track.
In the first race back from break, I managed to find
myself in third after some ten miles, only to stall the
YZ450 in the new e-score chute! Shoot! I ended
up taking fifth place points at that one.
In
the next race, I rode as smart as I could, & squeaked
out a fourth place finish. So in two races, I had moved
from 18th, to 15th, to 12th.
Now, with only two races left to "make something
happen", I started preparing my stuff for the Race at
Pittsburg. I needed a win. Ya know, some weekends are most definitely better
than others. Looking back on it now ( hindsight
being what it is ), last weekend certainly started out as
one of the others.
Willard, my most gracious boss, is generally flexible with
my Friday schedule when he knows it's a race
weekend. Willard is a trials rider who rides local,
regional, & on occasion, national events. He
understands the "race weekend race preparation
thing".
So
I had a couple of things left to do on the scooter
Thursday night & was out messin' around in the garage,
when I got a call from one of my best friends. It
seemed that my other best friend had landed...uniquely,
from one of those "sick air " things during a
practice session at the local moto park. He broke his jaw.
And his collar bone. And his shoulder socket. And
powdered the upper three inches of his right arm.
And worst of all, scratched...badly, his six week old,
2002 YZ. Motocross. Humph!
Kinda makes ya wanna be...careful.
So then. You can imagine how pleased I was, to see
the" moto section" of the track at Pittsburg.
Moto's Ok of course, but the Patman's better ( slightly )
at dodgin' trees than at dodgin' low flying birds!!
Not a problem though. I just spent a little extra time in
practice, feelin' out the gyroscopic forces associated
with a fig bore fourstroke whose wheels aren't on the
ground. What? What's funny?
Of
course I can
clear a double...we're talkin' cheeseburger right?
Anyway,
my intent was to just run right out to the startin' line,
get the holeshot, & win by a long way. Easy enough.
Well, not really. Not when you consider the other fine
sportsmen in my class that oppose my plans. Or heaven
forbid, have plans of their own.
As
it turned out, I did get the holeshot, & was on my way
to seeing my plan come to fruition, when I was struck down
with a mechanical failure. The drive chain.
As
I went down into the first muddy creek crossing, still in
first, I upshifted for smoother power, & eased out the
clutch. But I didn't go. I stabbed at the shifter thinking
I had accidentally knocked it into neutral. But it still
didn't go. I
rolled slightly backward, & settled into the mud, just
as the rest of my competitors started into the creek. I
looked at the countershaft sprocket, & saw that it was
spinning quite happily, without the encumbrance of any
drive chain. ( expletive deleted )
Now then. Here's a good time to talk about sportsmanship. With
me sittin' aboard a motionless scooter down in the water, and a bunch of racers bearing down
on me at breakneck speeds, I was expecting to get my nice
new O'Neal gear filthy. Not so. The gentlemen that make up
the over forty intermediate class, allowed me some small
portion of dignity & motored by without a single
splash or roost. I guess they didn't see me as a
threat...or just didn't see me! Then they were gone, & it was
quiet.
The
Budman came to my aid within a moment, & we pushed the
crippled YZ up the hill. And about that time a guy across the
creek was seen holding my chain out at arms length, like a
dead snake, or something. He threw it across the
water crossing at me...like a dead snake.
Well,
looking at the chain, it was obvious that it was a non
reparable dysfunction. It had exploded! Pin broken, links
bent. What I decided to do was run back to the pits, get
what I needed to fix my scooter, then catch my class,
& win by a long way...
What
I actually did was borrow Cindy's KDX & rode back to
the pits. Once there, I got a new spare chain, 3 master
links, the axel wrench, chain adjuster wrenches, a ruler
for measuring chain slack, a chain breaker, a c-clamp,
several towels, rubber gloves, and of course a bike stand.
All of this was piled on the fourwheeler, & off
I went to repair my stricken scooter.
Ever been toolin' down the trail, & seen someone on
the side of a trail, with a towel nicely laid down on the
grass, the bike perched up on a regular bike stand,
installin' a new chain? The only things I didn't have was
my Snap-on stool, a beer, & the damned radio!!
It didn't go as smoothly as I would have wanted. I had to
cut two links out of the new chain. Then the first master
link was bogus, & had to be removed, & a second
one installed. Then of course the chain adjustment marks
were so muddy, even that became a pain in the ass. Finally
I was on my way again, and for some reason, ( foolishness
I guess ) I still thought I could catch my class...never mind
that by this time my class had already come around
twice!!! I tried not to get "down" about
all this bad luck, but once I realized how far behind I
was, I kinda lost my drive...as it were.
So I just tooled around, hoping that I had a chance to get
my hands on the local chain rep! I was able to get
in two laps, before the pros ( mercifully ) ended the
event. And when the scores came out, it showed that I
had finished 13th. I however knew that I had only
completed two laps, ( they scored me a lap on my first
trip through the barrels, they assumed that NOBODY could
take 45 minutes to get from the start to the barrels... )
so I got in touch with John the points officer, & (
foolishly ) DNFed myself for not making the required
laps.
Anyway, it was a poor showing. But I had fun
in the afternoon takin' pictures of the other racers,
& cruisin' around on the fourwheeler with someone
else's wife.
One
more to go.
RG
don't forget the silencer.
Oh
yeah, I'd like to give a big thanks to the folks at
Thumper Racing, for giving my bike so much power that it
treats expensive chains the same way those taffy pulling
machines at the fair, treat saltwater taffy!
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