Eagleswood Mid-Atlantic GP Race Recap!

Round #9 of the Mid-Atlantic Grand Prix Harescramble Series took place at Sahara Sands Quarry in Eagleswood, NJ. This same location was the home of the AMA National Harescramble just last year. If I remember correctly last year at race time the temperature was around the mid 50’s and the wind was extremely aggressive. This year I don’t think that there could have been a better environment for a dirt bike race. Temperatures were in the mid 70’s with close to no humidity and the track conditions were absolutely perfect with the little bit of rain we received on Thursday and Friday. After riding this track 3 years ago it immediately became our favorite track on the circuit, one, it was relatively close and two, it was nothing but fun for the whole 8+ miles of track. So needless to say I was anticipating this race all week and I could hardly wait to see what kind of track the Atlantic Grand Prix could carve out. I imagined it would be somewhat different now that it was solely their event and not a National Harescramble. Mid-Atlantic courses are naturally more wide open and the woods sections aren’t typically that tight.
When I picked out my spot on the line I notice that they combined the 250 Open with the 250 Lights so there were a combined 26 riders on my line. I got an awesome start, first to the corner and held second place to the second corner before hitting the table top and then the steep spectator uphill. For the whole first half of the first lap I notice there was a big thumper behind me and it wasn’t until I took a turn wide that I noticed that it was Chris Borich who was racing in the same class as me. He made the pass when I went wide and we went back and forth for a bit until I let him go. Currently he is #2 in the country right now for the ATV side of GNCC so I didn’t want to mess with him at all. On the first lap I was trying to figure out if I like the track layout or not. There was a lot of open track which consisted of about 70 percent of the course leaving only about 30 percent in the woods. One things for certain; it was all wide open, blasting as fast as you can for the whole race. At times it got a bit dangerous because the track was wearing down and the speeds were increasing as the race went on. I was getting a bit of arm pump too because I used liner gloves to help my blister problem. They caused my grip to feel a little bulky on the handlebars and it wasn’t until about the 3rd lap when they finally got worn in and I didn’t notice them as much. I decided that I really like the track and continued to push as hard as I could to try and catch up to my Dad who was a line behind me on the start. On the first lap there were 3 huge water crossings, the first one was the worst and the second not as bad and the third got really bad as the race went on. Of course I blitzed the first water hole and went right through the middle and my bike sunk to the seat as a huge wave of brown water went completely over my helmet. I was soaked and shocked at how deep that hole was, I then wondered if they dug that part of the road out and filled it with water. The rest of the track was awesome with different types of terrain and different elevation variations.
As the race went on I picked people off each lap until the second to last lap when I was in third place and I was :51 seconds behind second. I put in a really good second to last lap and thought that I had to have made some time on the racer ahead of me – and I did. When I came through the scanner on the last lap I got the white flag and looked at the board and saw that I was only :21 seconds behind second place - it was on! I came screaming out of that scanner like I was on a mission and I was. I pushed and charged as hard as I could and about half way through the last lap I made a minor mistake which forced me to take a quick breath. I regained my composure and pushed beyond my boundaries and as I came across the finish line I looked at the scanner board and I was still exactly :21 second behind second place so I took home 3rd place.
I was extremely happy with the way I rode but yet a little disappointed that I am finally peaking and the end of the season is one race away. Either way I’m giving it my all to the end and in two weeks I’ll be on the line still trying to chase down DHaggs Sr. before the checkers.
DHaggs Sr. was back in action after suffering his horrific crash that sent us to the hospital just about a month ago. He felt really good for not being in a race for a while and finished in his favorite position of 8th place on the day. He will also finish out the season in two weeks at Little Egg Harbor’s Mid-Atlantic Race on November 4th.
Pitgirl had the day off on Sunday so pictures were taken by a photo company that was at the races. They took some really good pictures of DHaggs Harescramble Racing and you can find them on the web at http://www.eventphotonow.com/
Last race of the year is on November 4th back at Little Egg Harbor in NJ.
I would like to thank my sponsers: DHaggs Harescramble Racing, MSR, Scott USA, TAG Metals, Scott Powersports, Kenda Tires, Twin Air and Pivot Works!