After being cancelled last week due to excessive
rain and conditions that would have destroyed the property, it was time this
week for the JDay Red Fern Grand Prix in Chester, NH. This property is typically
used for horse activities, so I thought it was pretty cool that they would let a
bunch of dirt bikers race there.
We left the house at 6.30 in the morning
to drive a little over 2 hours to get there...as usual, not a bad drive at all.
Conditions were interesting...super nice day, temperature was in the high 80's,
and the woods and track were extremely wet and muddy from the rain during the
week. This was one of those days where anything could happen...and it certainly
did. GP racing is funny that way...at Red Fern we had the usual dead engine
start, a woods section that beat you to pulp, a grass section with mud that was
knee deep, and I am not exaggerating, and an extreme section with huge logs that
made you feel like you signed up for an enduro cross. All in all big fun. John
Day and his crew put on another awesome event! You can check it out at
www.jdayoffroad.com
Moto 1: I lined
up on the outside left as it looked like the mud on the inside would swallow
your bike up hole. The flag dropped and off we went...I started decently, and
was mid pack going into turn one - a sweeping right hander. The outside worked
well, I stayed in it and sort of flat tracked around the corner, coming out of
turn one in 3rd place...not bad...I had accomplished my goal of being in a
position to be able to race for the win.
In my class there seem to be 6 or 7 of
us that could beat each other at any time, and if you like to race it really
doesn't get much better than that....we battled back and forth, wheel to wheel,
elbow to elbow, jockeying for position as we entered the extreme section for the
1st time. I REALLY should have looked at this before the race and thought about
it a little bit more, but I didn't....brain fart. I was in second place when I
hit the first monster log and decided to hit it at speed and send it - hey, it
would have looked cool if it worked - I landed the monster log but wasn't set up
for the small greasy log that was on an angle right behind it, and there was no
room to correct or slow down. So I hit that thing hard and things went
"B-O-O-M". Bike flew right, I flew left, or maybe it was the other way
around...I don't remember. Good thing it was muddy...made for a softer landing.
Of course dad was standing right there and got to see/experience the entire
thing, my bike actually hit him and a few other spectators. Shouldn't have been
so close to the track people...good times. So this wipe out took me from 2nd all
the way back to 6th place, but I was still close enough to have a shot at it. I
went to work and got back up to 3rd when we entered the extreme section for the
second time. Normally I'd learn from my mistakes, but nothing about this day was
normal...I sent it again, hit the 2nd log way too fast and "B-O-O-M" it went
again...bike flew right, I flew left, and of course dad was standing right
there...again...this time he was laughing hard, maybe he was laughing at me,
maybe he was laughing with me, not sure. Anyway, it must have been another good
one for the many spectators lining the track as they were cheering pretty loud
(hopefully someone got a picture of my lawn dart). This crash took me right back
to where I just came from...6th. I definitely learned my lesson now...I am
definitely not Taddy Blazusiak, and I have the scars and bruises to prove it. I
rode my butt off for the rest of the moto, crashed a few more times on the super
slick grass track...did I mention that the ruts were just really deep? I did
manage a 3rd and had an insane amount of fun battling with the guys. Time to
ice my wounds...
Moto 2: I picked the same spot on the starting
line as in moto 1, as that seemed to work well for me. The flag dropped, my bike
started 1st kick, and just like in moto 1 I entered turn one somewhere mid pack
and came out in 3rd. Not bad. Let the battle begin. This was a good one. The top
5 were so close, dad said you could throw a blanket over us...I made a pretty
hard pass for 2nd (nothing like a little pushing and shoving when 2 of us are
going for the same line) and figured I can now take my time and let the heat (85
degrees) and difficult course do the work for me. I felt strong and didn't want
to rush anything. Unfortunately the grass track bit me yet again, I dropped the
bike on a right hander and lost 2nd place to drop back to 4th. At this point we
entered the woods section and man, was it gnarly. Considering that it was really
pretty wide open in most sections, the trail still got to be super technical,
mud holes, roots, rocks...it was so slippery I felt like someone put ice on the
trail to make sure we crash more. There were many lines burnt in so it almost
got a little confusing at times. I passed for 3rd and figured I could get back
up to 2nd within the next lap. The extreme section was much kinder to me in this
moto, I gave up being Mr. Spectacular for consistent lap times...maybe I did
learn my lesson after all. Then Jake S. on his Yamaha passed me, and I decided
to go with him to see if we can work our way up to the front together....we
spent the better part of lap three and four working our way through lappers and
ended up in 2 and 3 going into the final lap. I had one more nasty crash where I
somehow got my arm stuck in the "crotch of a tree" ...for real...but I didn't
lose too much time and was able to catch back up. When we came out of the
woods/extreme section for the last time I saw dad spinning his arm like a wind
mill...at first I thought he was warming up for his race, but then I realized
that he was telling me to gooooooo! as I was right on 2nd place and could still
get it in the last few turns. I made the pass on the very last straight away, a
slight uphill, going into the finish. Just goes to show
...you just can't ever
quit...no matter what. So with a 3 & 2 in my motos I ended up 3rd over all,
and yes, I'd rather win, but I'll take a 3rd too. I am still learning this
terrain (it is so different from the Midwest stuff I'm used to), and race
format, and I truly think that the only reason I was able to get on the box this
time was because I worked harder. Nothing about this race felt smooth or
easy...all of it was just nasty and as you know...I like nasty - Big Fun.
To cap the day off, they gave me the wrong trophy (2nd), and I didn't
realize it until we were too far down the road...so Jake, I have yours and you
have mine :)
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, windmill dad
decided to race (err....ride, ha-ha) and his race started right after mine, so
he didn't have time to take pictures, and mom and my sister sat this one
out. The one riding shot of me is taken by Economy Photography...I hope you guys don't mind that I am using it.
As always, I really need to say "Thank You" to my sponsors,
Moose Racing/Parts Unlimited, Kenda Tires, Summit Clothing, Amsoil (Thank You
Rummels for the hook up), my friends that help me with my riding, and of course
my mom and dad.
Braaap
Hunter "747" Neuwirth
After
missing last weekend’s race due to an awesome trip home to Wisconsin to hang
with my peeps and spending time on boats, Jet Skis, and bikes, it was time to
get into race mode again and head up to Crow Hill, MA for another JDay race (www.jdayoffroad.com).
Crow Hill easily qualifies as one of my favorite courses, love the MX track and
the trails and extreme section are pretty sweet as well. John Day and his crew
changed it up a bit for this one and we ran the MX track and the extreme
section backwards, which made it really fun and challenging. I was amped to go
rip it up, especially since my grandparents came all the way from Michigan to
watch. 
