Va. Championship Hare Scrambles Series

Round 5 – Blue Ridge

Prior to this round, Joe and Ellen Jessee had invited a bunch of us over to their "farm" in Rocky Mount for a weekend of riding prior to the race. The usual suspects showed up: Sam Chalk, Randall Parker, Ziba Kellum, Roger Call, me, my son Bob Jr., a bunch of kids, and a couple of new "suspects" to test their off-road motorcycle skills.

Not wishing to temp the motorcycle gods by doing something different, and adhering to the advice found in Chapter One of my book "Bob's School of Motorcycle Maintenance”, we decided to do a top-end job on Bob Jr.'s KTM 250 the day prior to the race. For those of you that haven't read the book, this chapter can be summed up best with the following advice. Always wait to the day of the race to do any routine maintenance, preferably at the track. It is permissible to clean your filter the night before, so that it will be dry by the time you get to the track. Major repairs, like top-end jobs, splitting the cases, etc., may be started the day before a race, to allow for the possibility of having to run out and buy parts you didn't realize you would need or to replace something you will break during disassembly or assembly (you always break something).

In addition, I brought along an old Italjet that needed a top-end job, new throttle assembly, flywheel lapped in and woodruff key replaced (actually, we had to fabricate a key), brake mechanism repaired, etc. etc. so that Sam's daughter would have a beginner's bike to ride.

Naturally, all the repairs went smooth as silk and everyone was riding by mid-morning on Saturday.

That night while we were sitting around the campfire (actually we were too lazy to build a fire, so we were just sitting around), someone asked me what my race strategy would be for the next day. Those of you who follow these chronicles know that I try to have a strategy--although I have to admit that sometimes I don't think of it until after the race has begun. I was kind of caught off guard, since the race was at least 16 hours away, and I couldn't come up with one that far in advance.

The next morning, the race strategy thing was still bothering me, so I sought out Randall Parker for some advice. Randall owns a couple of car dealerships and I know he has to constantly make lots of high-powered executive decisions all the time, and he's never steered me wrong in the past. Randall thought about it for a couple of seconds and said,” after taking everything in that you've told me about the course, your competition, and what I know about your riding style and abilities....you might consider this: Get the holeshot and work your way back." Wow! Perfect advice! I remembered that Randall had used this plan at Budd's Creek except that he started one class late and had to catch his entire class before he could put the second phase in motion--but a good plan is still a good plan--he just needed to work on the execution.

As we got ready to leave Joe's farm to head for the race track, someone wished me good luck. Now, I'm not too superstitious, but I immediately said, "Hey, don't wish me good luck. That's bad luck. Say break a leg or something." But, no one said anything and we left with me putting the final touches on Randall's race strategy.

Senior B (+45) and all the other races

Actually, this was Joe Jessee's club race and when I found out he was working the scoring barrels, I tried to get him to work the barrel for my class. That way, he could score me every so often and I could stay back at the Tweetybird / Haulmark 8X12 race trailer and drink beer until the race was over. But no, just like the last race here, Joe just took the barrel he was assigned, and I was once again forced to ride the race.

It was a pretty hot day and we seniors were gathered over in the trees trying to conserve our energy and watch the squid classes (you know who you are) slowing roasting on their bikes in the sun. Bernie Lunsford came over and started BS-ing about the CVTR race and how hard I was to pass, and about falling in the gully (which was pretty funny until I fell too), about how he was riding an old worn-out KDX, and how fast my KTM was--and, well, I knew right then, at some point in the race he was going to blow by me like I was sitting still.

I watched David White's class take off (Vet A). Once again, he got the holeshot and was gone. He said later that Glenn Holcomb's CR500 gave his 125 fits for a lot of the race but eventually he pulled away.  The racecourse turned out to be 14 miles long (3 laps) and not as technical or as rough as it was the last time I raced here, so the bigger displacement bikes could do well.

Bobby was second into the woods in 250B and quickly moved his Tweetybird Racing/Bob's Off-road Tours/KTM Sportsmotorcycles 250 EXC into the lead and once again won his class going away. The top end job we did the day before held up just fine and the new rubber he put on the day before didn't hurt either.

Now it was time for my class to go. I remembered Randall's advice, "get the holeshot and work back". Actually, I have a lot of confidence in my 200's ability to get the holeshot and for this race, unlike the last race, I made sure I put plenty of leg into it when the flag dropped. Sure enough, it fired first kick and while I didn't get the holeshot, I put my Tweetybird Racing/Bob's School of Motorcycle Maintenance/KTM Sportsmotorcycles 200 EXC into third place behind a YZ400 and a CR250 going in the woods! By the end of the first lap only two guys had passed me (sure enough, Bernie had gone past like I was sitting still) and I was stoked! I may be 57 years old but I was making these young whipper-snappers in this class look bad!

Even though the track was in great shape and was even loamy, I was having problems with my rear tire hooking up and I had already made a mental note that this was the last time I was going to do the Shane Watts and ride a race with used tires.  Bobby's been running the new Dunlop 655's and he swears by them.

Anyway, on the second lap my ride was about to come to an end. On an off-camber trail across a ridge, the back end swapped, my right foot came off the peg, caught a stump and was kicked back just as the rear kicked back to the right. What happened next is impossible to do....but, I RAN OVER MY OWN FOOT! Well, I ran over it enough to twist the hell out of it, or so I thought at first. I got the bike stopped and stood on my left foot for a long time trying to decide if I could ride it out or even if I could start the bike. While I was standing around trying to access the damage I remembered why this happened...someone had wished me good luck rather than telling me to break a leg. Oh, well it could be worse--it could have been a severe sprain, that would have taken forever to heal.

I finally rode the bike out. Sure enough, we loaded up and rode the four hours back to Richmond, where my HMO family doctor, Patient First Doc-in-the-Box, confirmed that I had broken the Tibia.

I'll probably just miss one or two races so all you guys in the Senior B class won't have much of a break from me holding you up.

Bob (Tweetybird) White 

'99 KTM 200 EXC 

Riding the 45+ class with a 40 year-old's race attitude and a 57 year old body