Well here is goes !!

My first race aboard the Cannondale !! First a description of the conditions that day.

Even though the race started around 10:00 a.m. or so, it was hot all ready !!! Track conditions were less that perfect, imagine baby powder 3 inches thick on the ground and then in the air. You could only see maybe 10 ft in front of you at best in the woods with a rider in front of you. Now to the race. 290 riders total in the morning class.

I started in the 4th wave if I remember correctly, start close to far right of gate, 40 riders in the 4 stroke "C" class alone, the 200 "C" class had 70 riders !!!

10 second flag went up, I am watching the green flag at the ref's side, my finger on the trigger button. Flag starts to move, finger hits the trigger, bike fires right up, dump the clutch and I am off, I get to the corner in 6th. Fight for postion on the motorcross portion pick up 1 place, continue on, bike is responding to every input I give it, soaks up the jumps like they are not there. Yelling at the guy in 4th, won't move, keep yelling, won't move, getting to the corner before the first woods section, he takes corner wide, I cut to inside and brake check to ensure my position. I am in 4th. Now the woods were like riding in a dust storm, I caught up to 3rd but could not do anything to pass, let alone be able to see the trail, the conditions were bad !!!! So I just kept a comfortable position until one present itself.

Eventually, I passed all of the way up to 3rd.

Now to get to the bike stuff, since that is what everyone wants to know about anyways !!

Cannondale has built a bike, that is for sure. The bike ran great, to say the least. I got really worried with all of the dust, but the bike was like the Energizer Bunny !!! Kept going, and going, and going !!!!!

The bike did flame out 4 times in the race, but I would just pull in the clutch, hit the button and keep going, without missing a step !! Good Stuff.

The suspension, what can I say that you all haven't said before. NUFF SAID !!!!!

The Panogram said my average speed was 15 mph, and max speed was 45 mph. I hit that in a back straight section coming off of a flat track corner.!!!!!

The bike did get HOT!!!!!!!! I could hear the radiator boiling while I rode, but she did not puke a drop, everytime I thought she was going to puke, I would hit an open section long enough to get more air flowing to cool her down. I even check the coolant level 5 hours after the race, and she was still full.!!!!

Unfortunately due to the rider getting tired (read:out of shape) I could only do 2 of the 3 laps. I was afraid that if I continued, I would do something stupid to me or the bike. So overall in the class I ended up 19th out of 40. But, as a consolation, as I watched the other come in on the last lap, I knew that if I was in shape, I would have had top 5, based on lap times.

To sum this long post up, I am proud to own an american peice of machinery !!! I am not only proud to own it, but even more proud when I race, pass someone, and let them see that this bike is not only race worthy, but capable of running with all of the others.

Be good, and hopefully, I will be doing some more racing before the year is out.