Round #12 Race Recap

Round #12 of the Pennsylvania State Championship Harescramble Series was hosted by Back Mountain Enduro Riders in Dallas, PA. Once again for the second time this year both riders and spectators enjoyed nearly perfect conditions for a harescramble race. Although temperatures were in the 90’s, track conditions were perfect.
As many of you know Round #12 marked my return to racing after having Lymes disease for the past couple of weeks. It was unfortunate for me to miss Foot of the Mountain and the race I was looking forward to all year, the Somerset GNCC, which was held in Pennsylvania. I am by no means 100 percent race ready; I only was able to complete a couple of full workouts last week. I took this Back Mountain race as a pre-race to get ready for the granddaddy of them all – Unadilla, which is this weekend in upstate New York. I have been able to complete all of my workouts this week so Unadilla should be a better showing of results.
Everything is great about the event that is put on by the BMER club, from the $5 spectator fee to the spectacular track layout. I was upset that I wasn’t 100% for this round because Back Mountain is one of my favorite tracks. The track was laid out in reverse from the spring race and there were a couple new sections added on to make for better racing. After a rain storm on Saturday the track had some muddy spots but overall the soil was amazing. The only set back of the layout was how rough some of the sections were because they were extremely whooped out. Maybe it was my condition but I had some trouble hanging on in some sandy whooped out spots, other than that the track was awesome!
The race didn’t start off good for me because I had to double kick on the line so I got a crappy start. Once I came around to the scanner after the first lap I saw that I was way back in the pack. I thought that maybe I could push really hard on the second lap and try to maintain a points position for the rest of the race. After making my push I was dead exhausted and realized that I would be lucky to even finish. I realized that although I was feeling better, I was by no means in shape like I used to be. My body was drained for the past couple of weeks and although I’d like to think it; I wasn’t going to be in race shape in a weeks time. So I made the best of it and thought of it as riding time. I just tried to maintain a good speed through the course and not make stupid mistakes. I was happy to at least finish the race but I couldn’t help but to feel frustrated about how this season has been going. It certainly hasn’t been going as planned but I look forward to pushing through it and getting back on track and in the front of the pack, I know it’s not too late. I am doing everything I can to stay on schedule and put together some strong finishes to wrap up the year.
I am extremely excited for Unadilla this weekend! It will be good to not think about points but rather think about getting back on track, no pun intended. DHaggs Sr. is even going to ride this historic track in the morning race. Either way about it we’ll both be riding at the world famous Unadilla Valley Sports Center – DHaggs Harescramble Racing is BACK!
I would like to thank my sponsers: DHaggs Harescramble Racing, MSR, Scott USA, TAG Metals, Scott Powersports, Kenda Tires, Twin Air and Pivot Works!