Round #10 of the Atlantic Grand Prix Series, and the third final round of the New Jersey State Cross Country Series, was held this past Sunday at Little Egg Harbor in New Jersey. Without sounding like a broken record the conditions were absolutely perfect. The only element of the setting that I could possibly mention, that was different from the last 7 or 8 races of perfect weather, would be the temperature; it was 60 and windy instead of 60 and nice.
The track, to my surprise, was the exact same track that we ran a couple of weeks ago. Same direction, same jumps, same mud hole, same starting line, and the same whooped out rough track. The track was never groomed from the last race so when we started it was already pretty whooped out, which lead to some massive whoops by the end of the race. There was only one spot on the track that you could sit down to rest and that was a 300 yard fire road that you were flying down at about 70 mph. So needless to say there really wasn’t much time to rest on the 5+ mile track. By the second to last lap my lower back started to get tired from standing up and blasting the whoops. Before we get to the end of the race lets go back to the beginning.
I got a great start and that lasted for about 40 yards until I hit neutral somehow and slowed myself down before the first turn. When I realized that I was slowing down I click a gear and pinned it to the first corner where the outside of the line didn’t let up. Another rider and I fought for the same line and he took my front wheel out so I did a superman over my front handle bars. I got up to notice that my front number plate was hanging off and my break cable looked like it caught on his knobby because it was pulled out of the cable guide. I got up dead last and was fired up so I took off like it was the last lap. I pretty much played catch up for the whole race, I struggled with some of the riders in the middle of the pack, and we probably switched positions about 5 or 6 times. The track got really rough as the race went on and I just kept pushing as hard as I could. I love riding in the sand but the slower you go the harder it is and the longer the race the more fatigued you get and you want to slow down but you realized that you have to go fast to not feel as tired – got that!? Regardless you should be going as fast as you can and that’s what I tried to do, the track really wore me down on the second to last lap. I started to feel beat but then the white flag came out and I sucked it up, along with the one thousand whoops out there, and put on another charge. When I was done my comeback from last place I ended up in
5th place when the checkers waved. I’m a little up set because I was really feeling good and if I was up there in the front I really wanted to put in a good push for the podium. I guess there’s a first time for everything and getting taken out in the first corner was my first time.
DHaggs Sr. put in another good race and finished a respectable
6th place in his class. We meet up out on the track and he almost took me out when I was trying to pass him in a tight section, luckily we just banded bars and nobody went down. He kept a good pace throughout the day and it shows on his lap times.
We would like to send a big Thank You to Nancy, our one and only fan who came out the race to cheer us on. A resident of the great state of New Jersey; she came to see what kind of racing took place in her back yard. Funny thing is that it took her just as long to get to the race as it took us from PA. I think that she wanted to get on the track as well; you should see where she parked!
It’s been a great season and we thank all of you who supported us through it all. We look forward to seeing you all next year!
I would like to thank my sponsers: DHaggs Harescramble Racing, MSR, Scott USA, TAG Metals, Scott Powersports, Kenda Tires, Twin Air and Pivot Works!
