ECEA Round #1 Tri-County Race Recap

Round #1 of the East Coast Harescramble Series was held this Sunday in Port Elizabeth, NJ, which was put on by Tri-County MC Club. I’ve never rode on this track before, but knowing that a National Harescramble was held here last year I was excited to see what Tri-County had to offer. The good news of the day was that the forecasters seemed to be wrong again with their weather predictions because we were blessed with a great day for racing. By the start of the race the sun was shinning and there was a slight breeze, it wasn’t until the end of the race until we saw some cloud cover and some sprinkles of rain.
While signing up we learned that the track was over 12 miles long, which is how a harescramble track should be. The track was awesome, obviously all sand but in the woods was more like deep dark mulch sand, perfect for traction but also perfect for numerous, whoops, braking and acceleration bumps, and bottomless ruts. It was really nice being on such a long track because it evened out the field and it didn’t feel as if everyone was riding on top of each other. And again most of the track was tight single trail, like most of the typical southern Jersey tracks. The morning race only ran 7 miles of our loop which was pretty rough but the cut 6 additional miles of virgin trail was where I personally felt the most comfortable on the track. There were a lot of miles where you could flow pretty well but they always like to throw those tight trees in there where your handle bars barely fit in between them. There were also a lot of elevation changes throughout the track which were a bit challenging. It had some nice screaming up hills and some drop offs that went straight down. It really reminded me of a Rausch Creek type track but without the rocks.
By the time we were ready to start there were about 20 riders in my class. There were 20 pros in front of us, which shows you what kind of competition shows up at an East Coast race. I got a good start probably top 5 into the first turn but on the second turn a guy in front of me wiped out and I got stuck behind him while seven or eight people passed me. I probably went into the woods around 15th or so. On the first lap I put on a good charge but I didn’t want to go all out because I didn’t know the track since I’ve never raced there before. Once I had a feel for the first lap then I could judge how to attack the lap. I was hoping to get 5 laps in but I was clocking 43 minute laps so that wasn’t going to happen, especially when the pros were clocking 34 minute laps. Officially we should have only done 3 laps but they sent us out for four knowing that we would be out for over 2 hours. On the second lap I put on a good charge and felt really comfortable on the bike and track. First lap through the scanner I came through 18th and when I came through on the second lap I passed three guys and moved up to 15th place. After the second lap I decided to pit since I still have my stock tank on the machine which will not make a 2 hour race. Pitman Jimmy B was there to dump my gas and have goggles, gloves, and water available. He told me that they were definitely keeping us out for four laps so I got out of the pits and put in a hard third lap. I really focused on keeping a good pace and keeping mistakes limited and small. By the end of the third lap I started feeling fatigued and I knew that the white flag lap was going to be a struggle. When I came through the scanner on the last lap I picked up another spot and now sat in 14th place. The last lap was brutal! I was feeling tired and sore and the track was really chewed up, it was really hard to find a smooth line to relax. Again I managed to find some strength and kept pushing forward. At about the 7th mile marker I got squirrelly and bounced off two trees on each side of the trail - I looked like a pinball in a pinball machine. I picked the bike up, got myself together and pushed hard to the finish. I finally made it to through the scanner and I managed to pick off 2 more guys on the last lap which put me in 12th place for the day. I looked on the board and noticed that I finished the race in 3 hours and 5 minutes, a little longer than the 2 hours that it should have been. I was happy with my efforts on the day, especially going for 3 hours at the first race of the season. I’m still looking to break into the top 10 sometime soon.
DHaggs Sr. put in a good race as well, finishing in 2 hours and 40 minutes. It took a little getting used to his bike after doing some engine work during the week. He ended up finishing 8th in Senior B on the day.
Thanks to DHaggs Sr. for prepping my bike early on in the week and thanks to PitMan Jimmy B for working the pits and getting some pics. Racing resumes in 2 weeks on April 27th in Millville, NJ at the Cumberland County Fairgrounds. I can’t wait to get some practice on the Endurocross style course.
I would like to thank my sponsors for all of their support this season; DHAGGS Harescramble Racing, MSR Racing, Scott Powersports, Kenda USA, DP Brakes, Scott USA, TAG Metals, Decal Works, Twin Air, IMS, Devol Eng., FMF, TM Designworks, Cycra Racing, Elf Oil!