NECC New England Cross Country Series Hare Scramble in Union, CT

This race kind of just popped up on our schedule last week…we thought we had concluded our racing season when dad heard about this event…sounded like a good way to get one more race in and as an added bonus, it was held in Union, which is 10 minutes from my house, so travel wasn’t an issue. I also had a little extra motivation going for this one, as so far, every time I raced at Union, I ended up taking a trip to the hospital, and I really wanted to break that curse.

I signed up for the open A class for this 2 hour plus race and I figured I could outwork everyone and put myself in a good position towards the end of the race.

Dad picked a pretty good spot at the starting line for me, all I needed to do is commit to “stay on it” through the 1^st right hander and things should be ok. The flag dropped, the bike started and the bumping and fighting for position began. I ended up wheeling the first few feet (more traction than I expected), and in the process I was able to get my elbow on top of the guy next to me, being able to push his elbow down and run him wide. I stayed tough through turn one and two (yup – you heard right) and ended up in 3^rd place going into the woods. The bike ran awesome, I felt great and we fought hard, trying to out-ride each other. In the process we caught up to a few of the AA guys – our pace was nuts…I passed for 2^nd place coming into the scoring tent for the 1^st time, my confidence skyrocketed (if that’s even a word) – I love riding A class!!! Tough racing – yes, stupid racing – no!

Somehow I ended up losing a bolt on my left front hand guard, not sure if it was lose from the beginning or something happened while banging bars at the start, but this would cause a major issue. The hand guard came loose and dangled on the right side of the handle bar, somehow catching the front brake line and completely ripping it out of the master cylinder. When I pulled the front brake lever in, all that happened was brake fluid squirted out…no more front brake. Then on a right turn the guard wedged itself right under the handle bar so I could not turn right at all and I blew a turn…this isn’t good. I found a way to get back to the pits where dad and Mr. Savage (the dad of  Andrew Savage, a riding buddy) frantically worked on the bike to remove anything that was dangling and in the way…it took a few minutes, no one expected me to come in this early in the race, so nothing was really ready. I was a little worried about riding without a front brake on this course, after all, it is wicked technical and some of the down hills just get really sketchy when you know you can’t really slow down. Anyway, they finished the work on the bike and sent me back out.

Dad said something along the lines of “who needs brakes anyways”, and Mr. Savage just smiled and said "do what you can kid". Alright…off I went, I think I was back in 6^th place when I went through scoring again. Here is the cool part…not having a front brake made me ride faster than I thought I could in some of the nasty stuff. Yes, there were a few spots on the course where I thought I was going to crash test my gear, but it all worked out pretty good. I got smoother and smoother and at about lap 4 I caught back up to the guys in 5^th and 4^th place. I pushed hard and made a couple of passes – probably had my eyes closed on one of them…it was a little bit  like trying to fit a truck through the drive in at the bank at full speed, but it worked out.

I started to gap 5^th place when I went past pit row again and dad gave me the “pit next lap” sign. I needed fuel. So I rode as hard as I could to make sure I had enough time to pit and not lose 4^th place. It worked out pretty good, this time dad had everything ready, except…I forgot that I didn’t have a front brake and mowed down my entire pit crew like they were bowling pins…S-T-R-I-K-E. My sister got it the worst…she was going to hand me fresh goggles, instead she got tire tracks up her legs and a nice bruise – sorry sis. Dad lost a pair of jeans in the process…my foot peg hooked his rear pocket and ripped them wide open…uhm…

Anyway, overall, once they all got back up, fueling went smoothly, and I went back out. I was back in 5^th, but not far behind 4^th place. I think I passed the guy for 4^th place in one of the many mud holes, I really don’t remember.

When I went past the pits again dad got his revenge (not on purpose – I know J) on me for taking everyone out in the pits earlier ….he gave me the last lap sign…so I went all out. I sprinted as hard as I could, crashed pretty hard once, but over all I think I had my fasted lap when I rolled through the finish expecting the checkered flag, and all I saw was the white flag…REALLY?! C’mon…I gotta do one more? Alright….I gathered what little strength I had left to pound out another lap…my hands were pretty numb at that point, my back started to hurt pretty bad, and I had to force myself to stay focused. Sprinting was out of the question, I really just wanted maintain my position and stay smooth, without any more incidents or crashes. After 2 hours and 20 minutes I rolled through the finish, in 4^th place. I am totally happy with this result, Union didn’t get the best of me this time!! The bike was a mess after the race…how it ran as well as it did is beyond me. I snapped the starter cable, ripped out the fuel sensor cables, packed mud all around the throttle assembly, bent some stuff, broke some plastics, etc….you get the picture. The Husky didn’t let me down!!!! What an awesome bike.

This really was the last race of the season for us, time to rebuild the bike and get it ready for the next season. Thank you to my sponsors – Roxane at Moose Racing, Mike at Kenda Tires, EKS Brand goggles, Panic Rev, Halls Husqvarna, Summit Clothing, Amsoil, mom & dad, my sis and my grandparents.

2013 is just around the corner, sponsors are pretty much lined up (new gear for 2013!!), training starts now.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving and an even greater Christmas!

Thanks for taking interest in my progress!

“Braaap”

Hunter “747” Neuwirth



wireless front brake...?



JDay Season Finale - Retro Style - Central Village, CT

Saturday was the last race of the 2012 JDay series at Central Village, CT. John decided to call for a retro weekend, so riders busted out some really cool old gear.

I called pops to see if he could help, he came through…sent me one of his old jerseys from “Champion” …a Husky dealer from way back in Michigan. I thought it looked pretty awesome and it did match my Moose pants well. Fortunately mom came to this race with her camera in hand…



See where I get my smile from?


This was also my very first A class race – I entered the A250 class. Dad decided to mount up a new tire for me, awesome! Before the start I was pretty nervous…after all…I was going to play with the BIG boys. My goal was simple…ride as best as I know how and work as hard as possible…results didn’t matter at all, I figured if things go right I could maybe crack the top 10 or 15 or so.

Moto 1: When the flag went up things got busy…my bike started right away, but I froze a little…I was a little intimidated. Once we got around the first turn I realized that while towards the back of the pack, I was actually not in a bad spot and started to gain on some of the guys in front of me. This gave me a little more confidence and I started to feel like I belong here. The course consisted of quite a bit of moto (a really fun track), a grass track section with a bunch of sweeping turns, a sandy uphill with a weird step in the middle that through your rhythm off pretty good, and a fun woods section with a nasty downhill. Pretty soon I worked myself in to the top 10 and started to flow pretty good. I made a few good passes, got passed a few times, all in all had a great time racing and really didn’t feel any pressure. Unfortunately when battling with another racer in one of the sweepers, the wind blew the course ribbon right into me and it wrapped itself around my rear brake - red ribbon...yay...Santa came early!!!…I lost braking for about a lap or two and went down a couple of times, giving up my top ten spot. By the time the moto was over, I had pretty bad arm pump from wrestling the bike without rear brakes, but managed to finish 13^th…not bad for my first A class moto. 

Moto 2: This time I felt much more relaxed at the starting line, I wasn’t nearly as intimidated as I was in moto 1. The flag went up and I actually got a good start! I was mid pack and feeling great! The A class guys race hard, much harder than what I’m used to, but they race clean, and most of all, they don’t pull stupid moves. You can really trust these guys as far as their line choices and abilities go. I loved it and got more and more confident. At one point I had worked my way up to 7^th place, and I was still moving forward. Apparently I was just really hard on my front brake, as I cooked it and lost front braking power. This was a little tricky, I needed to let the brake cool off but didn’t want to slow down. I figured out a brilliant way to do that….crash J. I laid the Husky down in a flat corner and fell back to 12^th place, the good part?…the brakes came back a little bit. I pushed hard and got back up to 8^th place, ultimately giving me a 10^th place over all. I’m really quite happy with this result, this motivates me to train and work even harder! My goal for next year is pretty clear, I want to establish myself as an A class rider and be competitive in this class.

This was a great way to close out this season…and what a season it was. I have experienced quite a bit this year. From getting used to New England dirt/rocks, ripping it up and doing well, dealing with mechanical issues, scary injuries that sidelined me for quite  a while…all things that I guess are best described as the highs and lows and the rush racing provides to me that most people probably don’t understand.

I was fortunate to have some great sponsors this year and hope they know how much I appreciate their help! Thank you to Moose Racing for the awesome gear and parts help, Kenda Tires for giving me awesome traction, Summit Clothing for the cool shirts and shades, Panic Rev - the man above,…of course a huge Thank You to mom and dad for supporting me the way they do. Thanks to the Rummels for letting me train and ride at their farm! Huge Thanks to my Grandparents!!! A shout out to Pete “Speedy” Laubmeier – he’s helped me get my head straight, JD Friebel – another great resource and mentor for me, and the rest of the Wisconsin crew.

2013 is just around the corner…we’ll probably run a few of the winter JDay’s in preparation for the next season and hopefully we can start 2013 out with a bang. 

Thanks for reading and taking interest in my progress

Braap

Hunter “747” Neuwirth