Race update - Jolly Roger's, 05/22/2012

Haven't updated in a while. I'd apologize but that's a blog cliche, AMIRITE?

I raced Jolly Roger's Sunday, in the bustling metropolis that is East Lempster, Cow New Hampshire. I've been racing since 1996, and this is the first time I have ever been to Jolly. It's a track like no other, with insane elevation changes, crazy corkscrew-esque turns, and some guy named Bubba that kept telling me I had a purty mouth.

If you've never been to Jolly, you had better hurry, because the owner (who was sporting a kickass mullet) told us during the riders' meeting that he had sold the facility, and after this season it would be leveled and rebuilt from the ground up. According to the NESC schedule there are only two races left.

Anyways, on to the race report, with GoPro helmetcam goodness:

35+ moto 1:

I had an ok start, nothing to really write home about. I hung with the leaders until I got cross-rutted at 2:30. I remounted and still was able to pass a dude for 7th out of 8th place. That cross-rutting got in my head and I was really slow in both rutted sections for the rest of the day.

30+ moto 1:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByGX8bMJiHQ 

(The Blogger API won't find my YouTube link no matter how hard I try, so you get a link and you'd better like it.)

2nd place start. Ran in 2nd till I screwed up in a turn. Then started to fade and ended up finishing 4th out of 5. Bonus - Watch somebody crash in the same ruts I did at 2:25.

35+ moto 2:

Take that start, put it in the trash, and take a big dump on it. I hung with the pack until 1:37, and then had a huge screwup at 2:27 - Watch my left hand after I got back onto the track, I pulled a tear-off and then couldn't find the handlebars and almost died. This is probably the most interesting of all the videos because I ended up chasing down pink chest protector guy after a looong time. 7th out of 8.

30+ moto 2:

That start you took a dump on? Yeah, how's last place sound? I thought so. This is a super boring race other than my EPIC SAVE at 1:20 which sucked the life right out of me. After that, I treated the race like a practice and tried a few different lines. The last place guy started to catch me so I did step things up a notch.

Recap:

If you listen closely, I spent 3/4 of the day in a gear too high and smoked the hell out of my clutch. I've had a real habit of doing that this year - The Yoshimura motor has so much more torque and power than my stock bike that I'm really abusing it, and it's causing a disadvantage. By the last race of the day I had started to use the powerband properly, but I really need to work on my throttle and clutch control.

To paraphrase Travis Pastrana, I did better than I had expected, but worse than I had hoped. Considering that I have never been to Jolly Roger's in my life, things weren't so bad. Plus, my fitness is getting to the point where, 24 hours later, my entire body isn't on fire. I was able to catch my breath after my screwup(s) in each moto, and finish with a little bit of gas left in the ol' tank.

I have an off weekend next week because I have to work, but then it's on to Central Village. Central is the track where I had my first decent finish EVAR. I plan on training and practicing as much as humanly possible in preparation for that race, and I'm feeling extremely optimistic about it - If everything falls into place the way I think it can, Central could be my breakout day that will make all this crap worthwhile. Or, it will be just another day of disappointment. At least I've lost ten pounds since I started training. Seacrest out.