Flying Dutchmen Race Recap

Due to insane speed the photographer was unable to catch a tranquil shot of the rider pictured above. No need to adjust your computer, he is really going that fast!

Muddy would be an understatement, it was just downright nasty. Although Pine Grove, PA didn’t get the same flooding downpours as Philadelphia and the surrounding areas, they did get quite a bit of rain. As you can imagine the track was, to simply put it – sloppy. It was nice that the rain held off for race day because that would have just made matters worse. This was no perfect day for racing like it was the previous week at Hurricane Hills; this was just the opposite. The forecast didn’t damper too many racers spirits with a little less than average showing. There were 22 in my class and that is just around the average. Flying Dutchmen made some track changes that were nice, I probably could have raced the old track with my eyes closed. Although there really isn’t much you can do with a flat field but put more turns in it and add some rocks. The start was probably the coolest part of the track because formerly it was a fairly long straight but now it was twice as long, easily about a hundred yards. It is a fast paced track basically all motocross with some woods sections, nothing that would stand up to a true harescramble. I got a good start probably about 5th and by the 2nd turn I was running in 3rd. I felt as if I were in third for the whole race, there was so much mud I guess I couldn’t tell if someone in my class was passing me. I did have some good battles with the number one rider overall in my class for a couple laps. He had gone down and then I passed him and then he passed me back and I trailed for a couple miles till the second to last lap when I finally made the move. We came through the barrels and got the white flag, he was hot on my tail and I got out of a rut into some soupy mud and he made the move on the inside. There was only a couple miles left in the last lap and I just couldn’t find the speed to catch him. He took an unusual 4th and I followed behind him in 5th for the day. I felt good about the race overall because I made minimal mistakes and I pushed hard the whole 2 hours. Hopefully for the last and final round we will have fair conditions so that the three of us who are in the points lead can have a good battle for one final time. This weekend it is off to NJ for the final round of the National Harescramble Series, the same series that I raced in at Good Springs, Pa where I took first place. Then there is one final round remaining in the PA State Series and that is also at Flying Dutchmen on the 23 of October.

I have been racing now for 6 weekend straight and I am tired, my bike is beat, money is thin and if I had the chance…I would do it for 6 more! This is racing…