My 1st 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 2nd 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
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| 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 1st
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.
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| 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 1st 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 6th and 7th. 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 6th 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.
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| Photo: Art Pepin, www.offroadpaparazzi.com |
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| 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.
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| 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
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