Round #3 Race Recap

Hurricane Hills in Clifford, Pa hosted the third round of the PA State Harescramble Series this past Sunday. Torrential downpours Saturday left conditions for Sunday’s race, to say the least, dreadful. Hurricane Hills is already known for its difficult uneven terrain and rocky conditions, with rain it just made matters worse. The track consisted of: rocks, mud, boulders, deep whoops, slick tree roots, more boulders, hill climbs, downhill’s, soupy mud, and even downed riders who seemed to fall victims to all of thee above.
The rain held up for the whole morning until we were sitting on the starting line. It started to drizzle when the flag was about to drop for the first line. Every class was in the same boat with our bikes stuck in the soupy mud at the starting line. When we were warming up our bikes I did a practice start and my boot actually was getting stuck in the mud like a suction cup.
I got the best start of my career, took the holeshot and didn’t look back for the rest of the motocross track. The motocross track was extremely slick on the lines and if you got beyond that the mud was super thick. I lead the pack around the motocross track and then headed up the mountain into the woods. At first glance the track appeared to be in okay shape. I felt good with the lead and tried to flow where I could. Some sections you had to just take one step at a time because they required some special attention. All of the uphills were particularly difficult due to being whooped out and the amount of exposed boulders and tree roots. Once completing a lap the whole track changed. With the surroundings being as they were they lead to numerous open lines and some of the more popular ones had ruts about 3 feet deep. So basically you were dealing with the deep rut, the slick tree roots that could wash your front wheel out on and the slick boulders that could spin you upside-down if you tried to crack your throttle. Oh yeah did I mention that in some spots you had to go up a huge vertical hill and try and not hit the tress on it?
The track reached up and got me on the second lap; I got squirrelly on an up hill and put the front wheel into a tree. My bike feel over and so did I, but I recovered quickly and tried to get back on pace. What hurt the most when I fell was seeing the second and third riders, which I was holding off for two laps, pass me.
As the race continued to progress the track conditions continued to get poorer. More ruts, more boulders, more tree roots, more riders in the way, and more mud from water running down the mountain. I got a little bit of arm pump when trying to push my way back up to the top of the pack but after it faded I was really working the track, picking awesome lines and flowing where I could. On the last lap I pushed even harder and it wasn’t till about a quarter mile was left when I saw someone in my class in front of me. With circumstances the way they were I was a little uneasy pushing so hard but I was going to fall or I was going to pass him. I was running outta time with only about three turns left. Just before going down the last down hill I was going to make an inside move but the other rider cut off the inside and with my momentum I took it outside. I gassed it down the hill to get in front of him and then threw it into the burm at the bottom. I went back into the woods and was on the gas, when we came out the checkered was 30 yards away and I held him off. When I stopped at the barrel a second later he slammed into my back tire in disgust. Turns out it was Broc, who came in second overall in the series last year. Yeah it was the guy who I battled with for second place last year so it kind felt good to give it to him right at the end. That’s racing...Broc took third while I took 2nd place!
The seasons resumes in two weeks at a more difficult track, Foot of the Mountain. Hopefully it will just be difficult and not insanely difficult if it rains.Thanks to Bub for showing up and seeing how it all goes down. Maybe next time he won’t wear his nice moccasins so that way he can get in the woods and see what it’s really about. With any luck he’ll be out there with us soon!?