Budds Creek Hare Scrambles--2/28/00

Well, it may have been Budds Creek, but it should have been named "Boy,

was I sore, hare scrambles." This was the first round (I believe) in the

Maryland series; so Bobby, Tim Norris and I went up to start getting in

riding shape (an oxy-moron for me).

This was Tim's first real ride since having major knee construction last

year so that gave us something to talk about on the ride up besides our

KTM's.

As we're tooling up I-95, the day has already started off cold, foggy

and looking miserable. Tim remarks that the coldest, wettest and most

miserable he's ever been on a bike was on an earlier trip to Budds

Creek. Oh, great! It turns out he's talking about riding street bikes up

to the race, but just to be on the safe side, we begin to chant the dirt

bike rain mantra:

"Rain, go away. Rain on the 4-wheelers' parade." This always works, but

you have to do a minimum of 25 chants, but 50 is better. We did fifty

to be sure.

Sure enough, by the time we had unloaded our bikes and registered, the

fog had burned off and turned really pleasant. Jonathan Beasley was also

having a motocross so the place was pretty packed with riders and

rigs.We managed to park close to the race starting area; Unloaded our

KTMs from our spacious, well-appointed Haulmark race trailer, put up the

Uneasy-up and got ready to kick some Maryland ass as we were pretty much

the only Virginian's there.

Tim signed up for the Senior A class, Bobby signed up for the 250B and I

signed up for the Super Seniors (over 50). Beasley was trying something

new this race--scoring using bar codes. We each pasted a bar code on

the left side of our helmet and as we came through the scoring barrels

they scanned the bar code. It appeared to work great (except for my

class--more on that later) and we got the results within a half-hour

after the race was over! And for once, Bobby wasn't screwed out of an

overall at Budds Creek.

This was also my maiden race on my new, slightly used 1999 KTM 200 EXC.

I had ridden it for a couple hours previously in very muddy conditions,

so I was anxious to try it out in a race. Tim has a 200 MXC so he had

helped me with some jetting changes and we compared notes on suspension,

how hard the seats were and so forth.

Tim got a OK start in his class and Bobby got a 4th or 5th start in his

class. Originally, my class, the Super Seniors, was suppose to start

with the Seniors (over 40), but at the last second the starter, Beasley,

decide to separate our class and start us behind the Seniors, because

the class was so large.

I didn't really have a race strategy for this race since it was the

first race of the year and I was on an unfamiliar bike. I had decided

to take it easy (not unlike my race speed) and just have fun. Anyway,

the Senior class (about 20 riders) started ahead of us, and as usual, we

Super Seniors were talking and joking, waiting for the flag to drop, and

Beasley drops the flag on us. He didn't tell us he was only going to

wait 15 seconds and then flag us off. Luckily, my bike started on the

first kick! And unlike Tim, who uses a "starter box" to stand on, I did

it the manly way, without any accessories (well, my suspension has been

lowered, so the seat height is closer to the ground). Anyway, I'm fourth

into the woods (out of about 10 SS riders).

Beasley didn't spend much time cutting new trail for this race and the

course is only 3.5 miles long. Naturally, you do about a zillion laps in

two hours and the course goes south pretty badly by race end. We rode

the usual ATV-wide trails with a little bit of single track thrown in.

Actually the course is fun for the most part, but by the end of the

race, you're searching for alternate lines around the square holes and

deepest whoops, but because of the recent rains, it tacks up very

nicely.

Anyway, Bobby laps me 2 times by race end and Tim laps me at least once

so I end up doing 30 miles while the fast guys do 40.

Tim gets third place in his class (not bad for not having ridden in 8

months), but when he comes in he's so tired he just drops his bike and

says, "Boy, am I sore!"

Bobby comes in and doesn't know how he placed. He said he passed a lot

of riders (he started a couple of rows behind me), but the sole come off

his boot (a left-over from the diesel heater at Mike's Sky Rancho) early

in the race and he was forced to ride seated (like the rest of us ride),

with the sole dangling from the front of his boot. He says, "Boy, am I

sore!" Anyway, bad boot and all, he wins his class!

So I inherit Bobby's bad luck at Budds' creek. They decide that they

aren't going to score the Super Seniors separate from the Seniors (even

though we started 15 seconds behind). I end up in 11th, not bad for

starting behind with about 25-30 riders in the class.And, naturally,

boy, am I sore!

And, I've got a new love in my life. The 200 is great! the lightweight

of my 125 with the power (well, low-end, anyway) of a 250, but easy to

manage. My only problem was stalling the bike more often then I should

have and bottoming the bike hard (especially the front forks) a couple

of times.

To cap the day off, we're sitting under the Uneasy-up, wishing we had

brought some beer, unwinding, and watching the ATV's line up for their

parade lap, and it start raining! The mantra worked again.

Bob (Tweetybird) White

Lovin' my new KTM 200 EXC and Haulmark race trailer