From: Bob White [wfo-bob@email.msn.com]
Sent: Friday, April 07, 2000 5:54 PM
Subject: Va. Championship HS--Round 2

The Tweetybird Chronicles (this is long so if you bore easily you might want to print it off or blow it off )

Round 2, Va Championship Hare Scrambles Series, Tidewater 100, Surry, Va.

This weekend the series moved from the mountains of Virginia to the East close by the James River between Richmond and Norfolk. Slade's Raceway is the home for this race and on off-race weekends they allow riders to ride the trails that infest the area. Since the raceway is between Richmond and the Outer Banks of NC, Bobby (my 29 year-old son) and I ride here a lot on off weekends

Being close to the rivah (river to any non-southerners reading this), the soil is a mix of sand and clay, which makes for whooped-out areas, some really nice bermed up ATV trails--but nothing like the sugar sand you find in Florida or on the coast.

We've had a lot of rain recently and when Bobby came up from the Outer Banks to Richmond, he said that he passed lots of flooded sections in the area of Slades Raceway. We were apprehensive when we drove down on Sunday because flooding can turn the course into a real quagmire--the treed sections get rutted out badly and the low areas have been known to swallow whole bikes along with their riders. However, when we got there it turned out that the course had only gotten the normal amount of rain recently (which meant that there would be some sections that would swallow only half a bike). In fact, it was dusty in some spots on Saturday, but a light rain Saturday night meant that dust would not be a problem.

This year the series has added a "Masters" class (+55) that runs with the Super Minis and women in the morning. I decided to ride this class and if I was still able to move at the end, sign up for the Senior B (+45) afterwards. I rode both classes last weekend (one hour Master and 2-hour Senior B) and was a quivering mound of jelly afterwards.

Last weekend, the rocky and rooted course took it's toll on my to-soft-in-the-front-end 200 EXC, but I felt more confident that my set-up would be better for this race. But, I've ordered heavier springs for the front and am anxious to get them installed.

Masters Class

The Mini's and Women do not run the whole HS course. As it turned out, we ran the "back" half of the course (about 4 miles) and missed the low-lying-bike-swallowing sections completely.

Unlike last weekend, I had a race strategy for this race. Since Jim Thompson had decided to ride the Masters class--the rest of us would be riding for second place (kinda like the McGrath deal). I decided to get as good a start as possible and hope that everyone fell down behind me. Sounds like a good, doable plan, doesn't it?

On the line, I started kicking the 200 to life in second gear as each class left. Since I ride here a lot, I was confident that I could get a good start in the sand, but just for good measure, I practiced some starts before the race started.

Unlike last weekend, I made sure the 200 was in second gear and when the flagman dropped the flag, my Tweetybird Racing/Bob's School of Motorcycle Maintenance/KTM Sportcycles 200 EXC fired on the first kick!

I took off and within a few feet I realized that something was wrong--there was no one around me--the rest of the class was behind me--and it was eerily quiet. I started clicking off different scenarios in my mind. Had I jumped the flag? Had the race been red-flagged? Was I taking off with the class ahead of me? What could it be? What could it be? Wait a minute...wait just a minute here...could it be...an idea begin to form in my head...could it be...the idea began to solidify...did I get the holeshot? I'm thinking to myself: "I haven't gotten a holeshot since my motocross days, and that was over 20 years ago. Think back. Think back." The practical side of my brain kicks in and says, "But that was a long time ago--you know both your long-term and short-term memories are gone. All you can remember now are the middle years" Yeah, right... but...then I remember, "20 years would be middle for me!" Yeah, yeah, this feels just like those holeshots felt--there's a kind of strange silence all around me. Time slows down. I have time to see the spectators cheering and waving me on. This feels soooo gooood. I'm in the zone! I'm the man! Whoowee!

By now the first corner is rapidly approaching. A left-hander. But time has slowed down for me and I take the corner with ease and head down the next straight with everyone still behind me. People are cheering and waving their arms. My race strategy is working! I love it when a plan comes together! Now....how do I put the second part of my plan to work and get everyone to fall down behind me?

Reality starts to set in as we approach the right hander that takes us into the woods. Already Thompson is behind me yelling to get around. He tries to dive in under me, but I brake slide into the corner (not planned) and hold him off. The first straight section in the woods and he's by and then I bobble and a couple more guys get by. But that's OK because we're all about the same speed. We're all freight-training behind Thompson, bunched up together, because we're already into the mini-bikes. Then, everyone in front of me slows down. What's going on? We're all riding at half-speed. I decide to go ahead and blast around everyone when I realize there's no arrows. We're off-course! We ride around, circle back and actually end up riding part of the course we had already ridden. We're behind the women's class! I can't believe Thompson, with all his years of enduros and hare scrambles, missed the trail! And then reality hits me! I can't believe that I missed the chance to modify my plan and change it from "everyone falling down" to "everyone getting lost.

The rest of the race it's color Thompson gone, and Bob Williams, Bob Wick and myself (the three Bob's) dicing it out. This turns out to be a lot of fun, as we're all about equal in speed and ability. We do two laps bunched up together, but finally Williams sticks his DR's front wheel into two "V" shaped saplings (I hate when that happens) and Wick and I get by. Williams gets going quickly so it's a 2nd place freight-train again with me in the.

On the last lap, I have a plan to get by Wick. As we go into the woods after a short open section, there's a big rutted mud hole, and I think that I can sort of square it off (using Mike Lafferty's advice about avoiding ruts and taking different lines) and blast through the woods away from the mud. I'm right on his rear as we go into the mud...maybe a little too much on his rear...hit the rear brakes to set up for the squaring-off and the whole bike goes out from under me! Not only that, but I fall right into the deepest, muddiest part of the mud hole! Not only that, but the bike slides away from me and wedges itself between the frame and wheel on a tree! Every time I try to pick the bike up (I'm in a hurry), it wedges itself, my feet slip and down I go again! Finally, I slide the bike back (like I should have done from the start), pick it up and get it started. By now, everyone is long gone and I finish the last lap a distant 4th place. Oh well, like Lafferty also advises, if you can't win, at least have fun! It turns out that Thompson had a problem and finishes behind me and that rest of us move up one place. Woowee!

Main

Like an idiot, I decide that I haven't got my fair share of body and bike abuse and I sign up for the Senior B race. This is a fast class, for 45 year-olds and above, and made faster by all the "A" riders like Thompson and Tim Norris moving back down a class. Not that I blame them..I'm not in their league anyway...or am I? I got the holeshot last race..I can do it again...and with 30 riders they could all easily fall down in the first turn. Right? Right.

I watch the other classes take off in front of me. David White gets the holeshot in Vet A. In the 250B class, Bobby, my son, puts his Tweetybird Racing/Bob's Wild Horse Tours/KTM Sportcycles 250EXC into the lead after the first corner. This is looking good. Everybody else is doing it. I can do it again. I start practicing my starts as the other classes go off the line and sure enough, my 200 starts on the first kick! No holeshot this time, but I'm fourth or fifth into the woods.KTM POWER! Almost immediately we start running into the class ahead of us. Good for me, bad for the guys behind, because I start picking off riders and putting them between me and the rest of the class. And then we hit one of the dumbest things in a HS I have ever seen. They placed a check with only one guy punching cards. This coupled with starting the classes only 30 seconds apart means there's a huge line. Riders are trying to break in line. It's a mess, tempers are flaring, riders are cussing, swearing and saying bad things.

Finally I get through the check and head into the swamp. Guys are stuck everywhere, I'm wondering what to do, and then I remember what Robert Hawks always says at the beginning of every race. He doesn't say, "Hi, Bob." He says, "Don't ride the ruts!" He said it today. Now I know what he means! Who says I don't have short-term memory? I also remember the chapter on "How to ride ruts" from my book "Bob's School of Motorcycle Maintenance" that deals with keeping your momentum up when actually in a rut. I take alternate lines, keep moving,pass a bunch of riders and get back out to the woods section. Thanks, Robert!

I'm pretty sure I'm in the top five when the second strange thing happens. One of the course workers stops us. The race is being red-flagged and restarted! I can't believe it! One of the best starts I've ever had in this class. I've never been to a hare scrambles that was restarted. Have you? It's stopped because a section of the trail was poorly marked and a bunch of riders got ahead of the earlier classes. Scoring is a mess.

As it turns out, the race would have probably been stopped anyway because two riders are hurt. One is knocked out, but the other rider has a compound femur fracture and you definitely want to err on the side of caution with one of those. Anyway, it takes about an hour to get him out of the woods.

Well, to make a long story short, I get a horrible start on the restart. You just knew I couldn't get three great starts, three out of three times, didn't you? I actually was running in the top five at one point because I passed most of the class in a bottle neck early in the race when I created a new line around them. I maintained this for another lap but my day ended when fatigue set in and I smacked a tree and rang my bell pretty good. From then on I just rode to finish and eventually ended up in 12th place. Oh well, like Lafferty advises, if you can't win, at least have fun

Bobby got another great start, ended up falling down and not knowing how he finished. He won his class. David White won Vet A (what else is new). Tim Norris and his 200 EXC came in third in our class. Robert Hawks DNF'ed, I think, because I saw him off his bike, talking to people, in the swamp section. You didn't forget your own advice did you, Robert?

Anyway, I've had it trying to ride two classes and abusing my body for three+ hours. No sir, from now on, one class for me.

Bob White

KTM 200 EXC

40 year-old's attitude in a 57 year-old's body and ability.