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

JDay GP, Lanesborough, MA

 

This Sunday we went to the JDay Mohawk GP race in Lanesborough, MA. I was excited to get out and race again, I’ve been riding and training quite a bit and felt confident. Going back to Lanesborough meant a lot to me as that is where we I broke my ankle at the season opener this year. The weather was awesome…perfect fall day, not too dry so dust would not be an issue. I signed up to race Juniors and – since dad is still hurt from his last race – I decided to ride his bike in A250.

A couple of fast kids from  from the Netra series showed up and signed up for juniors as well, so this was going to be a tough/fun race

Moto1 Juniors: I got a mid pack start (not ideal) and it took me half a lap to work my way up to 3^rd. Unfortunately the top 2 guys had checked out by then, and frankly, I didn’t have enough speed to reel them back in. I settled into a comfortable pace and just focused on being smooth and learn the course as best as I can so I will be ready for the remaining motos. The extreme section was really no big deal…a couple of logs and a few rocks and a fun downhill. The rest of the course was really flowy and fast, with the exception of one off camber section that turned out to have a few good lines to make some passes.  Anyway, I finished the first moto in 3^rd place and felt good about my ride…time to get ready for A250

Moto 1 A250: Since I was riding dad’s CR 250 for this one (enduro computer and all), I was really wondering how hard I could push and how comfortable I would be on it. I haven’t logged a lot of hours on it yet, so I was really nervous. I got a mid pack start and by the time we got around to scoring I saw that I was running in 14^th. Not good. I was not happy. It was time to get going…my goal for A250 is to get consistent top 10’s, I’d be happy with that. Passing in this class is hard, they are all fast and no one gives it up easily. I found a good rhythm, and made some good line choices in the extreme section, which allowed me to get up to 10^th place by lap 3. Dad’s bike felt awesome and with every lap I got more confident. I ended up in a battle with a guy on a Kawasaki. I’d pass him and hold him off for a little while, then he would get me back, we swapped spots just about every other turn. When all was said and done I ended up in 9^th for the moto…not a bad morning and I was still in it for the afternoon.

 

Moto 2 Juniors: I got a much better start this time and came out in 3^rd after turn 2, right behind the 2 Netra guys. I really wanted to hang with them, but I have to admit, they were faster than me that day. I just could not quite get them. I’d have moments of brilliance where I would work my way back up, only to make a few silly mistakes. So I ended up in 3^rd again for the moto, and 3^rd overall for the day in the junior race. I felt good about my ride though and was ready for the A250 moto 2.

Moto 2 A250: I really needed to get a good start so I wouldn’t have to work through the pack again, and maybe I could improve my result. When the flag dropped I got a good jump and going into turn 1 we were about 5 bikes wide, all going for the same spot. Unfortunately the guy on the inside washed out, starting a little bit of a chain reaction and we all went down hard, I would have been top 5 if I would have gotten out of there clean. By the time I picked the bike up I was in dead last…seriously? Come on…here we go again. Funny thing was…I still felt great!!! I rode as hard as I know how, things just seemed to click.

By lap 3 I had caught up to 8^th place, and was able to make the pass pretty easily. I stayed in 8^th for a lap or so, but then I think I must have lost focus and made a few small mistakes. I spun out on a flat right hand turn, which allowed the guy in 9^th to catch up to me and make the pass. I ultimately finished the moto in 9^th, securing a 9^th overall in A250.

I am pretty happy with that, as my effort was pretty consistent all day and I had no major mishaps.   

 

This pretty much closes out my race season for the year, we are going to be moving  over the next few weekends, so I doubt that I will be able to hit the final Jday race in 2 weeks.

It’s been a great year for me, I learned a lot and am getting closer to getting this New England stuff figured out. Next year we’ll hit a few more Netra’s and nationals in addition to the JDay series just to keep it interesting. The Honda CR 125 is for sale, I am switching over to 250 racing full time for the season, so if anyone is looking for a sweet race ready bike, let me know.

 

Thank you to my mom and dad for getting me to all the races and supporting me the way you do, thank you to my grandparents for the help, thank you to my sponsors – Fly Racing, Kenda Tires, Panic Rev, EkS Brand Goggles, Magical Gogo…

 

Next up….I have to get my driver’s license, and then I need to buy a van so I can travel more!

 

Thanks for Reading and taking an interest!!!

 

Braaaap

 

Hunter “747” Neuwirth

 

 

JDay Crow Hill GP, September 2013

Time for another short blog…I haven’t done one in a while as we’ve been awfully busy over the last few weeks. Since my last blog we hit a GNCC race, and a couple other events, but I just haven’t had time to write about them…school got in the way…ha!
Anyway, we decided to head to the JDay GP race at the Crow Hill track in Baldwinville, MA. This is the track that Robby Marshall and his family own/operate, and apparently Robby did a ton of work on this JDay course layout. 

I decided to focus on racing my CR 125 in the A200 class and not worry about the junior class this time around. Dad had to swap out a leaky head gasket the day before, so I just wanted to make sure the bike held up for 2 motos.
The track looked awesome, the extreme section had a rock garden, a few double logs, and some culvert jumps. There was a RAM TRAX sand section in the woods, and of course the Crow Hill MX track…this was going to be huge fun.

 Moto 1: My start was not so hot…while the bike started right away, I just could not get to the front, so when we entered the super fun and flowy MX track I was towards the back of the pack. It totally reminded me of riding in the Midwest…sandy, smooth jumps, and lots of lines to pass. By the time we got to the woods I worked myself up a little ways and put myself in a decent mid pack position. After quite a bit of dicing in the woods and the extreme section, we came back out to the track and I found myself in 4th. Luke Yanke was in front of me, so I figured I’ll stick with him and see if I can get him. Unfortunately even though I grew up riding sand, I proceeded to drop the bike twice in a sandy corner on the MX track, then once in the extreme section, and ended up working awfully hard just to stay in 4th for the moto. Not bad but I definitely gave that one away. I was happy though…over all I felt good, the bike felt awesome and I knew I had something for moto 2.

Moto 2: This time my start was way better…I came out in 3rd and immediately started charging to get to 2nd. First place was a little further ahead, I could not quite catch up to him at that point and I really wasn’t worried about it. My tires (Kenda Triple sticky) hooked up incredibly, I don’t know if it was the changing track conditions or the small suspension adjustments dad made, I felt like I was on rails this time. I really just focused on smooth lines and smart choices. I made the pass for 2nd and was starting to get my flow. I did not want to drop the bike for any reason and give up another freebee. But I took a digger on lap 2 in some nasty woops before the extreme section. I kept the bike running and I lost 3rd and 4th position in the process of getting up but I quickly made the pass for 3rd and then it was once again me and Luke duking it out for 2nd. I made the pass and it was a battle for the whole race. When we first started battling we were about 1 minute behind 1st place but as the race went on it turns out, we made up time each lap and by the end we were only 10 seconds off the leader. When it was all over, I ended up taking 2nd for the moto which put me in 3rd place for the day – I’m good with that. This is my 1st podium in A200…I am super pumped, especially since I know I made lots of mistakes in moto 1 and left quite a bit of room for improvement. The Honda ran awesome (I love racing 125’s), the suspension was dialed in! I can’t wait for next week’s race to do it again.

As always, thank you to my awesome sponsors: Fly Racing, Kenda Tires, Magical Go-Go, EKS brand goggles, Panic Rev, my grandparents, mom and dad, and a quick shout out to the Wisconsin Crew – you guys would have loved this one :)

Thanks for reading and taking interest in my racing progress!

“Braaap”       

Hunter “747” Neuwirth

NETRA HS, Indian Ridge, Eastford CT

Got One:

Since the JDay series is still on summer break, we decided to hit another NETRA Hare Scramble, this one was at Indian Ridge in Eastford, CT…just about 45 minutes from home.

We have never been to this venue, so I was a little anxious as I just didn’t know what to expect. This place was cool…the start was at the bottom of a sand pit, kind of in a bowl…reminded me a little bit of the start at Erzberg. I was excited, finally a place with sand, something I was actually familiar with. The heat was going to be a factor again, but it wasn’t as humid as last weekend, so I wasn’t too worried. I did my work during the week, my confidence was high.

I had to sign up for 250 B again (same as last week) since I don’t race enough NETRA to point up to A and they don’t recognize the JDay series points. No worries though…I was racing the same guys I always do…we are all in the same boat as far as that goes…so you have at least ½ of the B class loaded with JDay A class riders.

 

Race time. I hit the starter button on my Husky and yet again…for the second time in a row…my bike started pretty well. No, not a hole shot, but close. The first right hand turn was wide and sandy, and I was on the outside of the pack and no one seemed to want to come near me. I put my best Wisconsin ice riding face on and simply flat tracked it, never letting off the throttle. It felt great to be able to hang it out for a change (I haven’t gone sideways in a long timeJ). This moved me up to 3^rd place, as we entered the mogul field and then the woods. I was pumped. I worked my way up to 2^nd pretty quick and settled in. The course had 3 really cool rock gardens (I’m starting to dig rocks), an extreme section (that one was actually pretty easy), and some really nice flowy trail where you could open it up a bit and it made for good passing.

The first 3 laps went well for me, I was in 2^nd when I got the sign from dad to come in for a pit stop. Dad had things lined up awesome. My friends Nick D. and Matt C. were handling goggles & water, Dad handled the fuel. This was probably our best pit stop ever. I think I got in and out in 15 seconds or less, and I had the leader in sight, as he had pitted right in front of me. I went back out to enter the extreme section when I made a little mistake…actually it was a big mistake. On a drop off I grabbed a too much front brake and went over the bars…that was a pretty good get off (wish I had that on video)….I was lucky I didn’t get hurt. I picked my bike up, fired it up and couldn’t help but laugh about this stupid mistake.

When I went through scoring on this lap I was about 40 seconds behind the leader, still in 2^nd. Good. Throughout the race dad gave me the lap times and distance off the leader, I knew exactly what I had to do. I caught up and set up for a pass for 1st when I hit his rear tire (he had gotten stuck) and I tipped over, no biggie, but the pass didn’t happen right there, and I broke my right hand guard in the process. I threw it to the side (let me know if you found a hand guard with a red shield), and pushed hard to try and catch up and after 2 hours and 40 minutes of battle, on one of the most fun courses I have raced so far here in New England, I finally saw the checkered flag.

 

Truthfully, I’m not entirely sure what happened, when I went through the finish I thought I was in 2^nd, but because of something along the lines of Highpoint B and some rules I don’t really know, I ended up in 1^st place….I’ll take it.

 

The biggest lesson I learned from this event is that I do need to get stronger yet. I think the mountain bike will see a lot more use and I might need new running shoes…

 

Thank you to the hosting club (Tri State)...what an awesome course and event!!!!

 

Thank you to my awesome sponsors, Kenda tires (the Washougal was the perfect choice for this race), Fly racing for the “cool” gear, Panic Rev for keeping me safe, EKS brand goggles, mom & dad, my grandparents, and of course my sister for coming out…as I said in the past…it is cool to have family support!

 

Thanks for reading and taking an interest – if you would like to help, please share my blog….my sponsors like the exposure!

 

Hunter “747” Neuwirth

 

Crest Whitening commercial - audition

 

NETRA Cherry Bomb Run, Chaplin, CT

This weekend we decided to hit another NETRA Hare Scramble, the Chaplin Cherry Bomb run, hosted by the CT Ramblers. This race location was only about 45 minutes from our house, so I didn’t even have to get up early.

We got to the site, set up our trailer and the “Fly Racing” EZ UP to get some shade, and the sweating began. It was in the mid 90’s before noon…this was going to be tough.

Since I don’t race enough NETRA events to accumulate enough points to move up to the A class I signed up for 250 B…and…raced against a lot of the same guys I usually race in the A class at JDays…apparently we all have the same issue. After much joking around at the start, it was time to get serious. I picked a spot on the very left of the line as the starting straight was super short and there was a 180 hairpin turn at the end. Considering my recent struggles with starts I figured I can either squeeze everyone off if I do get a start, or pick a good line to avoid the anticipated turn 1 pile up. The flag dropped and drum roll…I got a start. I was in 2^nd going into turn one, then I got stood up a little bit by a guy on the inside and had to back out of it (hello fence post), but I still came out ok and settled in in 6^th or 7^th place. I was happy…this is a 2+ hour race, I have plenty of time to make some moves.

We got to the back section of the course and everyone had talked about how nasty it was…no kidding…that section was rough. The mud, rocks and roots made it a little bit of a gamble every time through….for everyone. I was lucky, my good friend Steven was back there to help. He likes mud, and it shows. He was awesome…helped me out of this mess several times and saved me lots of energy…Thanks buddy!!!

Anyway, back to the race…I had worked my way up to 5^th place and was about 40 seconds behind the leader. I found a great rhythm things really started to flow – I know…”NETRA” and “FLOW” are 2 words you usually don’t associate with each other. I got up to 4^th and even 3^rd place over the next 2 laps when it was time to pit. I had no issues, the bike ran great so this was an easy pit stop…water and fuel and I was out of there.

Of course it wouldn’t be a good race if it wasn’t for problems…the back section got me. I got stuck badly, and needed all of Steven’s help to get out. In the process my goggles got all messed up, so I threw them to my sister and mom, they were both back in mud section cheering guys on.

Once I got out of the mud and back on course I flew into the pits for goggles. Dad was ready, not sure how he knew, but it was a 5 second stop at the most. I went back out but had dropped back to 5^th again. This was a little past the half way mark of the race, I figured I had 3 laps to go. Dad kept telling me to trust my conditioning and sprint to the end! So I did. I hit the mud section again, and got through ok, but I must have hit a rock in the process…my chain guard got bent badly. I tried to ride with it, but it pulled the chain right off. Somehow I got it back on and jumped off the track and on to a service road, hoping it would take me to the pits. I rolled in, and dad and a couple of guys went to work…I was lucky, someone had a big enough crow bar with him to get things straightened out, so I could go back and continue the race. I had to ride back to where I jumped off course, so I wouldn’t get DQ’ed. When I came through the pits again, the entire pit row cheered for me. These guys were cool…first they helped us out with the bike and then they gave me some “magical gogo” to push hard for another lap. I had dropped to 7^th because of my troubles, and really wanted to get back a spot or 2. I was super motivated and pushed my bike and my body to the edge and was able to make up over 2 minutes to make a pass for 6^th, with 5^th place only about 20 seconds in front of me. I was pleased with this. Yeah sure, a top 3 would have been nice, but that would have been easy…I got a 6^th place…the hard way. I’m good with that.
 

Thank you to my sponsors, Fly Racing, Kenda Tires, Panic Rev, Halls Husqvarna, EKS Brand goggles, my mom and dad, and my grandparents…Thanks sis for coming out (loved the sharpie numbers)…its cool to have family support.

Thank you all for reading and taking an interest, as usual, please share if you would like to help…my sponsors like exposure J

 

Hunter “747” Neuwirth

 

Steven and my sis