Round #4 Race Recap

Round #4 was hosted by Foot of the Mountain in the beautiful hills of Neelyton, Pa. It was a picture perfect day for racing and the rows of trailers in the pits showed it. The lot was packed and the racers that registered were from all over PA and surrounding states. The big hype for this week was the amount of track changes that were made both in the grass valley and up on the mountain. Regardless of all the changes there is one word for the always challenging Foot of the Mountain track, “rough.” When the spectators gaze upon the sloping field, unless they venture up on the mountain, they have no idea what struggle lay ahead of all the riders at the start. Up on the mountain the trails were rocky but lengthy enough to still keep a good flow and some momentum for the hill climbs. If you ask me I thought the track was great compared to the last setup from last year. If you stretch another couple miles out of the coarse then it would be an ideal harescramble track, but yesterday was pretty darn close.
The start was in the valley at the base of the mountain on an off camber hill. After a line went off the starter had to wait a couple more minutes then usual because of the dust storm that was left behind. DHaggs Sr. was 2 lines ahead of me and he again got off to a good start. It wasn’t long before I lost him in the dust as the riders in his class disappeared into the woods. I got an okay start, probably about 4th or 5th into the first turn. I stayed in that position because you had to keep a pace until you got into the woods because you couldn’t see in front of you thanks to the dust. I was able to push hard in the beginning of the race and set a good pace for the remainder. My arms got tight but I didn’t get arm pump like the previous races. Although the track was very rocky it was spread out nice and I was able to find my rhythm and flow from the woods to the valley. In the first couple laps I passed up to 4th so I held 3rd for a good portion of the track. I only made one little mistake that set me off pace for 15-20 seconds. It wasn’t till about ¾ of the race when I was able to make the inside move on a long off camber turn to take second place. I continued to push as hard as I could until I saw the checkered flag, which I compassionately brought attention to with the lady at the barrel, I kindly shared that I didn’t like the fact that no one gave me the white flag indicating one lap to go. It’s nice to see the white flag because then you know that in one lap it will all be over with so leave everything you have out on the trails. I kept my consistent 2nd Place spot on the podium again this week! Turns out that Broc, the rider I passed for 2nd place the week before, took 1st place this week. The guy who won last week held onto third after I made the pass on him.
I feel great and the bike feels great and on the bike it all seems to work together. I also tried some new Maxxis tires this week and I must say that I am quite impressed.
I am also impressed with the ride that DHaggs Sr. put in coming in 10th out of his class, a much deserving improvement from Hurricane Hills. He rode his bike how is should be run and with some different tires he put in a good race. Although a crash in the first turn never helps anyone he managed to salvage some good consistant laps in the middle of the race to help put himself back into the heat of the battle.
It was definitely a good day for both DHaggs Jr. and Sr. Hopefully we can relax a little over these next two off weeks, save some gas money, and work on getting faster.
Special thanks to Frank who barely made the long trip. He was out there getting dusted out like the rest of us. He even helped my dad out and was a temp. pit boy. Maybe next time he’ll take my advice and save Bertha for a night other than the night before the big race trip. Getting up at 5:30am and walking back in the door at 9:15pm makes for a looong day.
Looking forward to trying out the Atlantic Series in a couple weeks, they race bikes on Sat., and returning to Round #5 of the PA Series - Foot of the Mountain! (Again)