Lincoln Trail Motorsports (www.ltmoffroad.com)

Well, I was still pumped up about my two holeshots and 2nd place finish last week and was eager and anxious to race on this day.

This time while prepping the bike for the race I noticed a small problem. The radiator hose on the right side that goes from the engine to the top of the radiator was developing a wear-spot or cut in it from the radiator shroud. To temporarily fix it I wrapped the area of the hose several times with electrical tape. I’m gonna try and come up a more durable solution when the race season is over. I still have my radiator leak. I just check the level before each moto.

Once again, I chose to run only one class mostly because it makes the day less hectic and I don’t have any overheating problems when I race one class. The bike gets plenty of time to cool off between motos. I signed up for the 250D class but turnout was low so they only ran a 250C class. My moto ended up having 3 classes in it, 250B, 250C and Open.

Moto 1 – Once again, I did not have any starting or stalling problems with the bike like I did back in August. I went up to the gate for my first moto and found out that there would be just 1 drop of 12 guys. I know for some of you that’s no big deal but for me it was twice as many as I’ve had before. Not to mention one of the guys in the line had a CR500. I picked an inside gate position. Well, I kept playing last week’s 2 holeshots in my mind and was determined and dedicated to get a good start. Gate drops…perfect start! Didn’t even pull a wheelie but I got off the line instantly! I actually even had the lead for a very short period of time. I thought I was dedicated to the holeshot but I chickened out about 2/3 of the way to the first corner and backed off a little bit and ended up going through the 1st corner in 6th place. Most of the guys that passed me were on the outside of the corner. The bike was running awesome and even with a leaking fork seal the suspension was doing everything that I needed to do with my novice skills. This track has a 30-40ft double and I cleared it for the first time on this day! In fact, I was able to clear it on every lap. I’m still very skittish about whoop sections though. If I hit one bump wrong I slow down and roll through them. I know it’s a mental thing though. I hope to conquer that before the year is up. The bike’s turning was great. In fact, I felt that it would turn sharper but I didn’t push it this time. That’s another thing I need to work on. I finished the moto in 5th place out of 6 riders but I had a good time running it.

Moto 2 – This time I choose an outside gate position. I was hoping that I would hold the throttle on longer without the feeling of being crowded in the first turn. But this time I pulled a pitiful start. Almost everyone left before me and then I got showered with roost! So I ducked my head until the roost was gone and found myself dead last! “Oh well,” I thought, I’ll just cruise around and enjoy myself in this moto. Well 4 laps into a 6-lap race I made a mistake. I was trying to hit a small doubles section better with each lap but this time I got a little too much throttle on the first one. This brought the front wheel up a little high. I landed just fine except that I did not get back on the throttle enough to get the front wheel over the peak of the next jump. The Ohlins on front did the best they could to soak up my bobble on the face of the jump but I ended up casing that jump which caused the bike to rebound and buck me off. I landed on my left shoulder (my good one) and somehow got a huge bruise on my right inner-thigh and a 2-inch cut on my right shin. Luckily for me I was able to get up and limp away from this crash. My biggest problem is that I’m too timid to go fast. If I would push it a little I would be clearing obstacles like these. I really need to get in some practice and repeatedly work on certain things. I finished in 5th again because another rider had pulled off the track before my crash.

Despite experiencing my second racing crash, I had a good day because my X440s ran great and the biggest factor in my lack of performance was me.

I’m planning on racing at Planet X-treme in a couple of weeks (in October). That is, if my leg and left shoulder recoup enough for me to safely compete. I’m gonna try and get out a get in some practice before then. I’ve been reading my Motocross Practice Manual from Gary Semics as well as watching the first 2 videos in his series. I need to work on my technique and then maybe I can avoid crashing!

Troy