Round #8 Race Recap

Round #8 of the PA State Harescramble Series was hosted by Foot of the Mountain in Neelyton, PA. With a tropical storm moving through the state during the holiday weekend thoughts of having a harescramble race were null. I checked one last time on-line for any signs of a cancellation but there were none, so it was time to hit the open road.
As my Dad and I traveled further away from Horsham we could see that other areas of the state where hit hard by the storm. In some parts it looked as if the rain had just stopped 20 minutes ago. Other towns showed signs of heavy rain with flooded yards, overflowing creeks and tree limbs scattered across the land. The skies grew darker as we got closer to the track, which is not a good indication on race day. The more mile markers we passed the more it looked like we were in for one lengthy slop race. Then we hit the Blue Mountain Tunnels and it was as if we were in a whole new world. On the other side of the tunnels it looked as if it may have rained a day ago. There was a dash of sunlight through the clouds and if this were a movie there would be angles singing glorious songs of praise. We went over the mountain and at the foot we found hundreds of other races who decided to show up despite what Mr. Weatherman said. It was packed and with the track condition nearly perfect – racing was on!
At the racers meeting we found out that spots in the woods were slick and that we would be racing the track backwards from the previous round held there. No sweat, with ideal conditions I was eager to get a good jump off the starting line and hit the shortened 5 mile loop hard. And that’s just what I did, I got a good jump off the line probably third into the first turn and I held my ground through the first grass section of the track. There were a lot of off camber sections in the field as there were in the woods, so on the first lap I was riding a bit cautious so that I wouldn’t go down on the slick boulders and tree roots. A couple riders in my class passed me on the first lap but I maintained my composure until I finished the first lap and saw what kind of terrain I would be dealing with. After that first lap it was on and me and another rider (#253) we going at it all day. We must have switched leads 4 or 5 times throughout the two hour race. At points I was so close to him I couldn’t see where I was going because my front tire was right in back of his. I would wait for him to make a mistake and then I would make the pass. We were carrying an astonishing pace the whole time we were fighting. I thought to myself there is no way that we can hold this pace for the remainder of the race. To my surprise I didn’t get any cramps and I was able to go as fast as I could for the whole two hours. I felt so fresh on the bike and I don’t ever remember being able to push that hard that late in the race. Second to last lap the other rider made a little mistake giving me a chance to pass and I did, trying to put a little gap in-between us. It wasn’t until the last lap with about a half mile to the finish when #253 caught back up to me and made me work for that spot. We approached a long rocky up hill and there was a lapped rider in front of us. I started to make the turn and pass the rider on the outside while #253 squared off the turn and took the inside. Wouldn’t you believe that the lapped rider falls in front of me as I slam into him and then I watched the other rider make his way up the uphill. By the time I pulled my bike back I lost the spot and tried as hard as I could to catch back up to him on the little bit of track we had left - didn't happen. I settled for 3rd on the day and since it was probably the greatest race of my career I’ll take it. It was really awesome battling for the whole race and even more so I made one little mistake and didn’t stall of go down the whole time, and I can assure you there were some technical slick sections.
DHaggs Sr. put in another remarkable effort also bringing home a 3rd place on the day! With no riding time since the Skippack race he had some arm pump set in but once he worked through that he set a pace and charge for the remainder of the race.
For those of you who are interested and missed the race yesterday we had applications available for a new pit man. Jimmy B “our pit man” has a celebrity status now, showing up at the races when only other people are gonna be there. Please don’t apply if your afraid of a little mud, these are dirt bikes we’re racing here! When the weathers bad that’s when we need a pit man most so please keep that in mind. Don’t apply just so that you can get a pit man t-shirt either. Thanks for your support! One week down 6 more weeks of racing in a row to go! Three weeks till UNADILLA!!!!!!!!!