Crow Hill Enduro Cross & JDay Loud Fuel GP, Baldwinville, MA

My 1^st weekend on the “Magical Clapper” - MC

Since we have decided that I will be going back to 2 strokes, I bought myself a little Yamaha YZ 125 last week and figured that I best break it in at the Dirty Crow Enduro Cross at Crow Hill MX in Baldwinville, MA. If it made it through that, I planned on racing it on Sunday at the JDay GP at the same facility.

My Awesome Pit Crew!!
Photo: Art Pepin, www.offroadpaparazzi.com

Now, there is a little bit more to this YZ…it is a 2004 that has been sitting in my good friend and neighbor Nate Smith’s garage. He had no use for it anymore (He now rips on KTMs), so he sold it to me for a great price. The engine cases are JB welded, the suspension is really noisy and works only sort of, the exhaust hanger was missing, and the rear tire was what I call “roached”. Perfect. Nate showed me how to change oil (not as simple as you’d think since the drain bolt is JB welded in so it won’t leak), I put in a new air filter, and that’s it. I wanted to name the bike and after a little bit of back and forth my friend and sponsor Roger Cameron from Magical GoGo came up with the name “Magical Clapper” for the bike. Perfect and ready for a #superfastgoodtime.

The enduro cross course was awesome…nasty, yes, but still rideable and super fun. Paul Goyette – Poacher – and John Day did an awesome job to make this event an absolute blast. If you didn’t ride this event, you missed out.

Photo: Art Pepin, www.offroadpaparazzi.com

Moto 1: My start was bad…dead last, and since each moto was only 10 minutes long I knew I had to go all out to get towards the front. My MC handled surprisingly well over the big obstacles and jumps, I was pretty happy with that. The motor had enough power to get me out of trouble spots and the bike felt really light so I could throw it around quite well. I made some good passes, worked my way towards the front and caught up to the leader. I tried to pass him a few times but just could not quite get him, even with a last ditch effort at the final turn, so I settled for 2^nd in moto 1. On a side note…my mechanic decided to give me an extra challenge by loosening the clutch lever too much so it kept spinning on my handle bars…big fun trying to find your clutch lever while going through a rock pile…Thanks dad J

Photo: Art Pepin, www.offroadpaparazzi.com

Moto 2: ….uhm…see moto 1, except this time I decided to add a crash to the race to keep everyone entertained. With two second place finishes I ended up taking the win in the A200 class…not bad for my 1^st outing on the “Magical Clapper” – consistency paid off.

Since the MC was still in one piece and ran really well, we decided to up the challenge and enter the 125 pro class at the JDay GP race on Sunday (we did change oil on the bike). Before I went to race the bike on Sunday, Mr. Federico helped me dial in the suspension a little bit – we hadn’t even set the sag on the bike yet, and he knew a few clicker settings that worked for his son so we matched my settings to his. I rolled up to the start and was just a little bit intimidated – I have only ridden the 125 pro class 1 time so far and it didn’t go that well. These guys are super-fast, and aggressive.

Photo: Art Pepin, www.offroadpaparazzi.com

Moto 1: My start was pathetic. Dead last…again. I went to work and started to make up a few positions…actually, I was picking people off better than I expected. After the 1^st lap I was somewhere around mid-pack and got engaged in a battle with a guy on a Honda CR 125. We went back and forth about 5 times….he would get me on the MX track and I would get him back in the woods and the extreme section – and this really was an extreme section. I think the obstacles were bigger than at the enduro cross the day before.  Ultimately I was able to shake “CR Guy” and caught up to Paul Goyette (Poacher). We were running 6^th and 7^th. I tried to pass him, a few times but he is crazy fast on the MX track. I watched and tried to learn as much as I could. Once we got back into the woods it was my time (I am a woods guy after all). I passed Paul and was able to put enough of a gap on him to be able to stay in front of him to the finish, but man, that took everything I had. I finished the moto in 6^th place and was pumped. I have never been able to crack the top 10 in the pro class and certainly did not expect to run that well. My “Magical Clapper” came through. 

Moto 2: I actually got a mid-pack start, but could not hold my position and went into the woods at the back of the pack (I wonder if the fact that my rear tire only had a few knobs left had anything to do with that ;)). I wasn’t worried, I knew I could get a few people, and really, my weekend was already “uber” awesome…anything else would just be a bonus.

Photo: Art Pepin, www.offroadpaparazzi.com

I rode as hard as I could, pushed the little 125 to its limit and it did not let me down. I got past Poacher somewhere in the woods – he might have gotten stuck – and found myself up in 5^th place. Whoa!!!! I had 2 laps to go. Come on MC, lets finish this!!! I pushed even harder, and at one point I had Beau Viens in my sights (in 4^th), but he turned on his after burners and actually pulled away from me a little bit. I finished the 2^nd moto in 5^th place. I was so pumped!!! I was able to not only hang with the 125 pros, I was actually competitive – on a bike that should not ever have been competitive. My weekend rocked! I won at my 1^st ever enduro cross on Saturday, and got a 6^th place overall in the 125 pros. 

Thanks for the awesome battle Poacher!

The “Magical Clapper” will get some much needed love this week. Hopefully we can round up a tire from Kenda, change a few bearings, slap a little more JB weld in some places, change from the “sharpie” race numbers to real numbers and pretty it up a little bit.

Photo: Art Pepin, www.offroadpaparazzi.com

So….since you are still here…

Thank you for reading! Please do me a favor and spend another 5 seconds to share my blog. My sponsors really like the exposure!!!!

Speaking of sponsors…Thank you to Fly Racing, Kenda Tires, Magical Gogo, EKS Brand Goggles, FMF Racing, Panic Rev Ministries, of course my mom, dad, my sister and my grandparents…and….Brian Dussault – the fact that you did homework at the track motivated me.

Keep it on 2 wheels!

Hunter "747" Neuwirth

Hard Knox NETRA HS in Blandford, MA

Part of my awesome pit crew

This Sunday’s race was held at the ski area in Blandford, MA. They actually let us use the ski runs….totally awesome! The hill climbs were challenging and fast, the downhill switch backs were slippery and almost every turn was off camber. Once the track was burned in a little bit there were some small ruts but nothing deep or long enough to really lean it over, but if you missed it, you were going for a ride on the grassy corners. Overall the course was really fast, and had a little bit of a JDAY GP feel to it.

Since both of my Huskies are still broken I had the awesome opportunity to race Brian Dussault’s second bike, a KTM 250 XC 2 stroke. Honestly, how cool is that…the Dussaults let me borrow their bike so I could go race. Thank you guys so much!

I got a decent start, went into turn 1 in 2^nd place, but dropped back pretty quickly as I was still trying to figure out the bike and get used to it. On top of that I had major arm pump which made it hard for me to hang on and push. I settled in at 5^th place for the 1^st hour of the race, I just could not quite get the right groove, and I think I was just waiting for the right moment to turn it up. Just about when I realized that I only had about 1 hour left, dad pulled me into the pits to gas me up, throw some water at me and sort of wake me up…”Are you going to start racing anytime soon?” Man that ticked me off, mostly because I knew he was right (dad knows how to push my buttons).

Photo by Art Pepin - Off Road Paparazzi

I left the pits mad, and went after it. I had a lot of ground to make up, and I wasn’t going to come back without leaving everything out on the track. I started to work my way back into this and got a pit board from dad that I was only 30 seconds off. Good…I was moving forward. With two laps to go dad hit me with another pit board message…”ALL OUT NOW”…I realized that I was running out of time. I upped my speed again and actually caught up to John Maier, but couldn’t pass him, he needed a 3^rd to lock up the A open championship so I followed him in and John rides a “wide” bike so he is hard to pass J. The most telling story of this race was that my fasted 2 laps were my last 2 laps of the race. This just proves again that my fitness is there, now if I could just start a race the way I finish, my results would be much better.  I ended up in 4^th place in A-Open and 11^th place overall. I definitely had more in me, but considering that I rode a bike I wasn’t used to - this was a 2 stroke and not my 4 stroke - I am happy with it.

Photo by Art Pepin - Off Road Paparazzi

Hopefully we can get my bikes sorted out this week, so I can get some seat time in. I do think I am going to switch back to a 2 stroke in the very near future. 

Again, Thank you to the Dussaults for hooking me up with the KTM this weekend – you guys rock. Dave, you guys put on an awesome event, hopefully we get to come back to this venue again. 

Thank you to my awesome sponsors, Kenda Tires, Fly Racing, Magical Gogo, Eks Brand goggles, FMF Racing, Panic Rev Ministries, Off Road Paparazzi for the photos, mom and dad, my sister Haley and my grandparents.

Thanks for reading

Hunter “747” Neuwirth