I didn’t plan on hitting this race originally as my studded tires are pretty much toast and the 250 is laid up for a complete engine rebuild, thanks to Mike Z, but with the weather as nice as it was, I just couldn’t say no. So we prepped the 125, and I planned to run the race without studs. The warm weather (come on spring!) melted the snow and Wareham MX is pretty sandy, so there should be plenty of traction. I decided to race 2 classes, Juniors, and the 250 A class….I know…I was riding the 125, but I wanted to race the same guys I always race.
The Junior class went really well….in moto 1 I rode a couple laps in 2nd place (after a decent start), until I was able to get around the leader when he made a mistake in the extreme section. From there it was pretty easy, just had to deal with lappers and cruise home in 1st place. We did decide to stud up a rear tire with some screws for the rest of the day, it seemed to be an advantage in the extreme section. Granted, our tire wasn’t great, but it would have to do.
Junior Moto 2 started a little different as I got caught in a pile up in the 1st turn after the start and went down. By the time I picked my bike up and got going again I was pretty much in dead last. I felt good though…and by the end of lap one I was already back up to 3rd place and not far behind the leaders at all. I passed for 2nd in the extreme section and picked 1st place up just after that. I put in a quick sprint to build a little gap, and from there it was a pretty easy ride to the finish again for another moto win and 1st overall.
The A250 race was a little tougher. The 125 gave up way too much power off the start and into turn one….the starting straight was super wet and just sucked bikes up, and turn 1 was a nice little uphill right hander, again, nothing but heavy sand. The big bikes just had a little too much advantage for me to do anything spectacular. I did come out mid pack though and started to make up some spots in the woods where the little 125 was just soooo much fun to ride. I could really throw it around and pick lines that I probably would not pick on the 250. I worked my way into the top 7 or 8 or so when I got roosted really hard by a 450 and had to take off my goggles (the roll off film snapped and somehow sand ended up inside my goggles)…I tried to ride without goggles, but could not see at all and decided not to continue…not worth losing an eye. Usually I don’t quit races for reasons like this, but at the time it felt like the right thing to do.
A250 Moto 2 was similar to moto one, I got a mid pack start again (felt great leaving a bunch of big bikes behind me), and worked myself up quite a ways over the next couple of laps. I think I was in 6th or so when I took a good digger on a downhill (think of a rodeo ride). I was able to pick my bike up without losing any positions and….promptly proceeded to crash again in the next turn. This time I lost a few spots as the bike did a 180 and ended up stuck in the fence – nice parking job.
Fortunately dad happened to be there and helped pull it out, I got going again and finished the moto with a decent ride, working my way back from 13th to a 9th place finish. Over all I had a great day, loved riding the 125…little “tiddlers” are BIG fun J, maybe I’ll ride the 125 class a few times this season.
This was a great way to get a little bit more race time in during the off season…bring on April, I am ready to go!
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| Bench Racing with Gramps! |
As always, thank you to my awesome sponsors: Fly Racing, Kenda Tires, EKS Brand goggles, Magical GoGO, Panic Rev Ministries, Manchester Honda, and the newest addition FMF racing.
If you would like to help and contribute to my 2014 season, PLEASE visit my funding page (every little bit helps!) www.gofundme.com/747racing
Thanks for reading
Hunter "747" Neuwirth
