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

The Wizard GP, Rocky Hill, CT

The Wizard GP, Rocky Hill, CT

Photo: Art Pepin

After spending the last few months focusing on the NETRA series, we had a break in the schedule and it just happened to be a race weekend for the JDay GP series (check out www.jdayoffroad.com). The race was hosted at Rocky hill MX and I really wasn’t sure how  John Day would put together a super fun course for the Wizard GP. But he did it! The woods had some nice ruts and not a rock in sight! Best of all, this track was only about 45 minutes from our house, so travel wasn’t an issue. When we got there I found out that a lot of my race buddies from the NETRA series had the same idea, so I got to rip it up with my boys Brian D, Anthony F, Mikey D, and the rest of the gang. Great times!!!!! I decided to sign up for 2 classes to make it worth the effort, plus I needed the seat time anyways to get used to the fast flowy stuff again.

Photo: Art Pepin

My first moto was the Junior moto 1: My start was pathetic, I ended up way in the back. I have sort of accepted the fact that the Husky won’t give me any hole shots due to the starting procedure, so I wasn’t too upset. 30 minute motos are long sprints, there was plenty of time to go to work and reel in the leaders. And that’s just what I did. It took me a few laps, but ultimately I made the pass for first and started to build a gap. That’s when I made what would be the only mistake of the day. I tried to pass a couple of lapped riders on the inside of turn one. These 2 guys were battling each other and did not realize it was me coming up on them, so one guy thought the other guy was making a pass and sort of tried to block him…only…it was me…and I ended up hitting the corner post with my rear wheel as i was braking into the turn. I ended up flipping over the bike, the bike flipped over me, bottom line, the posts are not just plastic.  It was a good crash (anyone have it on video?). I got up quickly, but lost the lead and got going again in 2^nd place. The bike was pretty tweaked and I really could not push as it was hard to steer, so I rode to the finish in 2^nd place. Dad grabbed the bike and started working on it, we had about a ½ hour until my next moto.

Photo: Art Pepin

Of course dad got it done, the bike was good to go and I went up for A-Open moto 1: This time I didn’t even plan on a hole shot, I planned on sweeping turn one on the outside and hopefully be able to get myself towards the front of the pack within a lap or 2. This worked…sort of. I ended up towards the back of the pack again, but I wasn’t too upset as I was confident that I would be able to work my way through the field, and I had a few good spots picked out where I knew I could make some moves and pass. After the second lap I was in 5^th, after lap 3 in 4^th, and by lap 4 I had worked my way up to 3^rd place. I felt great, the bike handled and ran awesome. The MX part of the track felt good to me, I was able to find a nice rhythm, the jumps were all enjoyable and the woods were starting to develop some good lines. I finished this moto in 3^rd. I was totally happy with that, I was close enough to possibly improve in the afternoon.Junior moto 2: The start was even worse than in my 1^st moto, I got pinched off and had to come from pretty much dead last. This was a challenge. Working through the traffic, trying to get around slower riders and trying to catch up to the leaders took some time…actually…it took until the 2^nd to last lap, but once I made the pass for 1^st, I didn’t look back. I was able to build a big enough gap so I didn’t have to worry about having to force anything, I could just ride it out and ultimately take 1^st in moto 2 and with a 2-1 take the overall. Job complete, bike was in good shape, and I still felt strong for my fourth moto of the day.

Getting Ready for M2 - A Open

A-Open moto2: As expected, my start was a D- (DEE MINUSSS). No worries though, I knew how to deal with this, after all, that’s what I did all day. Coming from behind….I raced my butt off, pushed and didn’t make any mistakes. After lap one I think I was still in a different zip code than the leaders, but the gap was getting smaller. I passed a lot of people on the now very dusty MX track and worked myself up to 4^th. At that point I figured I might have about 3 laps left and I had 3^rd place in sight. I made the pass. 2^nd was going to be tough, and while I was closing in, the gap was still too big to get it done in 1 lap. I remembered what dad keeps telling me all the time….just put yourself in position…things happen at the end of the race, people wear out and make mistakes, and if you are there, you can capitalize on it. I was there, the guy in 2^nd made a mistake; I passed him and ended up 2^nd in the moto for a 2^nd overall. 

So at the end of the day I won Juniors and got 2^nd in A-Open…a very successful race day for me.

Thank you Justin Sokol and Layne Dutlinger for pointing out the good lines! Huge thanks to John Day for a great event and the cool award! :) 

Thank you to my awesome sponsors!!!! Kenda Tires, Fly Racing, Magical GoGo, EKS Brand goggles, Panic Rev Ministries, FMF, Art Pepin for the pics, and of course my family! 

Still here?....Thank You for reading!!!!! Please share my blog, my sponsors like the exposure!

Hunter “747” Neuwirth

Rocky Mountain NETRA Hare Scramble

Water…water…and more water….that pretty much sums up Sunday’s NETRA Rocky Mountain Hare Scramble in New Hampshire. We drove up to Alton, NH Sunday morning to hit this race, in hopes that the predicted rain storms would miss us to the south. We weren’t that lucky. It rained hard in the morning, to the point where the pit area where we were parked was about 6 inches under water. I felt bad for the guys that raced the morning race, as the visibility had to be next to zero, and my buddy Brian said the trails were just a long stream. Anyway…this is New England, and they don’t cancel races here…period. So I gathered my stuff and geared up to duke it out for the next couple hours with my race buddies and mother nature….mostly mother nature.

My game plan was pretty simple…SURVIVE…bring the bike and body back in one piece, try to find a way to have fun with this and I should be ok.

Photo by Art Pepin

I got a decent start, but the first few turns were all grass track and with all the water I just could not get good traction and kind of just tip toed around. As we entered the woods I was about mid pack. The woods sections were actually not as bad as I expected…yes it was muddy, and yes there were a few deep swamped out areas, but overall it was surprisingly decent. The biggest challenge was to keep goggles clean. I went through all of the roll off film on my goggles within the first lap and had a heck of a time seeing anything, but I didn’t want to take my goggles off either….it’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye…ha. After lap one I pulled into the pits to get new goggles….dad had my EKS brands with a fresh roll of film ready, slapped them on, slapped me on the back, and I was back out….I think that was by far the fastest pit stop ever for us (no fuel)…dad and I had agreed before the race that we were trying to go the distance without a fuel stop since they announced that they were cutting the race down to 4 laps (9 miles each)…yeah, we are the gambling kind. Lap 2, 3, and lap 4 went pretty well, what a difference being able to see makes. I had a couple small crashes (more like tip overs) but overall no major problems or incidents. Once I realized where I was as far as positions go, I saw that there was no way I could catch the leaders unless they made a major mistake, and I had a pretty good gap built up on the guys behind me so I went into survival mode….make the bike last, conserve fuel, and bring it home.

Photo by Art Pepin

On the last lap I did get a little scare as my fuel light came on (the Husky has a little warning light, I’m not sure how much fuel is left once it comes on). Fortunately I was already out of the long woods section and on to the grass track so I knew I didn’t have that far to go, and worst case, I could probably push the bike to the finish. I didn’t need to…we cut it close, but I made it with a little bit of fuel to spare. I rode a decent race, adjusted to the conditions and didn’t try anything crazy. I ended up with 3^rd place in A open and 14^th overall. I’m happy with that for this one – The bike and I survived just fine and I had a ton of fun!

This was a double header weekend for my parents as my sister competed with her water ski show team (Holland Aqua Riders) at the regionals (they took 3^rd as well!), so mom went to support her at that event while dad helped me with my race. I know this was a tough one for them (can’t be in both places at the same time). A huge shout out to Art Pepin at www.offroadpaparazzi.com for the photos!

Thank You to my sponsors….could not do this without your help!

Kenda Tires, Fly Racing, Magical GoGo, EKS Brand goggles, FMF, Panic Rev Ministries, Halls Cycles, and mom and Dad!

Until next time

Hunter “747” Neuwirth

PS: For those of you that actually paid attention (Thank You), you will have noticed that my race number for this race was 447…that’s because the NETRA series scores differently and 747 would mean I would be in a different class. We ran out of sharpies and paper so we actually had Steve at STS whip up some new number plates for us.

Double Header on mother’s day weekend

This weekend was probably one of the most physically challenging weekends I have had in a long time.

I have been playing with the idea of giving mountain bike racing a shot as it is great training for motorcycle racing and you get to pedal some sick trails. 

Saturday: I found a mountain bike race relatively close to home that would not interfere with my off road schedule and decided to give this a shot. The race was the Treasure Valley Rally in Rutland, MA. I really didn’t know what to expect, and figured that I train hard enough to be able to be competitive and hopefully have a good showing. I signed up for the Junior Expert class, which meant I got to race 20 miles (this turned out to be about 3 hours). To make a long story short, I totally under estimated this effort. These guys are gnarly and this race kicked my butt. I did end up winning my class – awesome – but I have to admit that this was much harder than any Hare Scramble or GNCC race I have ever competed in, and I can’t wait to do it again! 

Sunday – Mother’s Day (Thanks mom for supporting me even on mother’s day!!!!!!!): 

After fixing a nice breakfast for mom first thing in the morning, we loaded up the truck and headed to Eastford, CT for the NETRA Hare Scramble. Since my 250 is still in pieces, I swapped the big fuel tank over to the 125 and entered the A200 class for today. I haven’t ridden the 125 in a 2 + hour Hare Scramble before, so this would be a new learning experience. The course was typical NETRA New England stuff….rocks, rocks and more rocks. I got off to a decent start, but ended up picking a bad line at one of the 1^st bigger hills and got stuck. This put me towards the end of my class, but I wasn’t too worried.

This was a long race and surprisingly enough I actually felt quite fresh, even though I beat myself up good the day before….if anything I was pretty loose! I did suffer from arm pump quite a bit during the first hour, but eventually I was able to shake that and decided to start to push. I caught up to the leaders, made the pass, and really just wanted to ride it home and not make any major mistakes. I came into the pits about half way through to get some fuel and water. The pit stop went smoothly, dad and my sister had everything under control and I was able to get out of the pits while still in the lead. I decided to sprint one more time to build a bigger cushion to second place. This proved to be huge!

On the last lap I took a pretty good digger, tweaking my front end, and then, to top it off my chain fell off…it stretched so much it was way to lose and simply derailed…it took me a good 3 minutes and a little help from a spectator to get going again, but I was still in the lead and was able to finally get my first A class win. I am really pumped about this weekend! It was nice to see my hard work pay off, and…this is really just the beginning for me. I have a long road ahead and I’m just going to keep my head down and work hard and have a blast doing it! Now I need a day of rest, start rebuilding the bike again for next weekend, and hopefully get some time in on my mountain bike – I need to get in better shape for that stuff J

A huge Thank You to my sponsors! 

Fly Racing, Kenda Tires and Magical GoGo for helping me with my motorcycle and mountain bike racing, Manchester Honda for the help with the bikes, EKS Brand goggles for the goggle support, Eric Gorr at Forward Motion for hooking me up with the “badest” CR 125 motor, Panic Rev ministries, mom and dad, my sis and my grandparents here and in Austria!

Thanks for reading

Hunter "747" Neuwirth

VP Fuels Big Buck GNCC

Pre race stuff: After a disappointing race at the last GNCC in North Carolina 2 weeks ago where the mud pretty much took me out, I was going into this race with way less pressure. I was truly just looking to have a ton of fun and remember what it’s all about and enjoy the terrain and being there with team KR4 Performance F.A.R. Racing  and my family (Grandma and Grandpa came up from Florida to watch me race).  My head was in a better place. I enjoyed talking to all my good buddies and taking advice from pros and seeing how amped up everyone was to be at a dry race for a change!

Race Day: I got off to a rocking start (Honda 2 stroke power) and was fourth heading into the woods! The first 3 turns went so well for me I felt confident and was really amped up and riding well. The bike hooked up awesome and I found a way to stay towards the front. It was a really dry and fast course so I got real bad arm pump about a half a lap in and ended up dropping back a little bit as I was trying to shake my arms out and relax. Unfortunately this took me longer than expected and I had dropped out of the top ten. I had a good get off and a tree found its way through my bike in a way to where I couldn’t lift it without taking the sapling out. So after about 2 minutes I finally got up and got going again. By then my whole class and the class behind me had gone by. I had a lot of ground to make up.  I kept going  hard but trying to relax at the same time.  My arms kept getting pumped up more and more, so I could feel myself slowing down and not being able to push as I would have liked. On the second lap I pulled over and took a break to stretch out my arms because I wasn’t going to be able to find my groove and attack like I know how. I also realized I was just out there for fun and I wanted to enjoy my ride.  

After that I started feeling really good. I had found my groove and was hauling the mail into my pit stop to fuel up, grab new goggles and some water.  After that I was charging hard and making up ground.  On the fourth lap I could feel my brake pedal not working properly - no rear brakes again…a reoccurring theme lately.  The next time I went past my pits my awesome KR4 mechanic Eric bent my lever out so it wouldn’t hit my skid plate, such a simple fix, but it took as almost 2 races to figure out the problem. I was pushing hard and felt great working my way through the pack.

I saw the white flag and I was excited because I was not too tired and wasn’t feeling any arm pump so I knew I could do something and turn this into a good race for me! I charged hard and towards the end of the last lap I had caught up to more guys in my class.

I had 3 more positions in my sight and was hot on their tails and then I realized there was 3 turns till the finish.  I tried to make quick moves but it was so one lined at the finsh section it was tough.  I didn’t quite get them and ended up 11^th , I was wishing for another lap because I knew I had enough energy left to put myself further towards the front.  I am really happy with my ride and result. I had fun and enjoyed the trail and I’m just thankful for being able to be out there giving it all I got!

Bottom line: This was my best GNCC race so far,  I had a blast and was happy to have a dry race. My Manchester Honda CR250 worked awesome (Thanks Eric and Aaron), I know many people keep telling me to get on a newer bike, but I love that thing. Huge thanks to F.A.R and the KR4 crew! They are awesome people and I can’t wait to do it again!  Props to Colin Keegan on his B250 win!

Thank you to my awesome sponsors Fly Racing, Kenda Tires, EKS Brand goggles, Manchester Honda, Magical GoGo, FMF, Panic Rev, of course the Fred Andrews and the KR4 Performance Team. A huge shout out to my entire family, Grandma & Grandpa, Oma and Opa, mom, dad, my sister (awesome pit crew member!)…you guys made this possible!

Thanks for reading! If you would like to help me with my racing effort, please visit my gofundme page at http://www.gofundme.com/747racing 

Hunter “747” Neuwirth

Gramps came up from Florida to watch!

Big Fun on the 125 - Winter Jday at Wareham MX in MA

Sunday we headed up to the 2nd round of the JDay winter series in Wareham, MA.

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! 

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