The last local races of the year!

It has been a great year for me.  All too short, but great at the same time.  Unfortunately for me though, the local races are all done.  My schedule has me gone for the rest of Sept, and therefore I will miss the last couple of local races.

This past weekend, I did both of the WIXC races.  I won my class both days, and on the 2nd day I was just outside of 5th overall.  I am pretty happy with that.  I spent the first 3ish laps not really focused and playing around.  After that I decided to go and put my head down – focusing on turning some lap times down.  I think if I had focused from the start of the race I could have gotten there.  Oh well, it has been a great season.

I have done 16 local races this season.  That is split between the 2 different series.  Unfortunately, that means I will not win the overall in either series – too many races missed.  My record is pretty good, not perfect but I am proud of it:

12 – 1st place,  3 – 2nd place, 1 – 4th place

I had lots of times that I felt like I went well, I really only had 1 race that I was dismal at – turned out that I was getting pretty sick.  On my three 2nd place races – Rob beat me straight up once and Pete Emme beat me straight up once, the other 2nd I was knocked down on the start straight and then struggled to get up to speed and through the field.  All in all, a decent season.

My luck in National races has not been great, but I am going to try to change that in the month of Oct.  I was 6th in my class at the Georgia GNCC, and inside the top ten at another.  But, I need to get on the podium of either Ohio or Indiana GNCC at the end of the season.  We will see.  I am going to train and ride my moto a bunch when I get back at the end of the month, to try to make that happen.

God I love racing my motorcycle.

Me looking like a dork while I was not really focusing on the race on Sunday!  At least I know there was a big divot there and I was being bucked every lap through there.

I am really lucky this year.  I have a GREAT motorcycle.  The XC250F is absolutely the perfect bike for me.  I have some great sponsors helping me out all year.

Fun Mart Cycles is my KTM dealer.  They are great there, give them a chance if you are looking for a KTM.  (You should be.)

Mark Junge at Vesrah Brake pads.

Fox suspension has outfitted Scott and I with their rear shock (It is incredible), and does the tuning on my fork for me.

Kenda tires always keeps Scott and I in the best rubber.

Bell helmets has provided Scott and I with a few of their deluxe Moto 9 helmets.

Moose Clothing has helped us out with their great gear.

Thanks Jake Galstad for the great photo’s.

See you at the last couple of GNCC races this year.

Out, Joe.

Is it Jekyll or Hyde that shows up on race day?

Mild mannered (slow and dorky) Dr. Jekyll – Aggressive (sorta fast) Mr. Hyde!

Of late, I really do not know who is going to show up in my truck on race day. The variances in my race day performance are swinging so wildly, it is anyone’s guess. I am a real Hyde rider some days. There are days where I feel like I can do no wrong. I ride with aggression the whole race. I am racing forward the whole race. On those days, I can be top 10 overall, and even sometimes top 5 overall.

Alternatively, I can show up and barely be able to manage top 5 in my class.  I do not really know what the difference is.  There are days when I cannot find the front wheel in a turn, or the throttle just will not turn that hard.  I am not sure what it is.  I know I do not like dust.  I know that I need more woods in the course to be able to really get going.  I call these my Dr. Jekyll days.

Kewaunee WIXC race – This was a Jekyll day.  The course was fast, lotsa dust (actually a scary amount of dust), not much woods.  For whatever reason, I just could not ride that day.  Not to take anything away from anyone that beat me, as they all rode great races.  But, I just could not ride to save my life that day.

Rhinelander WIXC double race – These were Mr. Hyde days.  I was on fire.  Not sure what the difference was between this weekend and the Kewaunee weekend.  Certainly more woods, but nothing very tight at all.  Still lotsa dust as it was bone dry.  But on Sunday, I was even 5th overall.

Byron D16 race – Woods, not much dust and should have been a Mr. Hyde day.  But it was all Jekyll.  I was horrible in the woods.  I did so poorly the first time through the Endurocross section, that I skipped it every other lap.  Geez I was slow that day.  Again, all the guys that beat me rode great races.  I just did not have any game for them.

So, just a couple of local races left for the year.  I sure hope the right rider shows up.

Out.