AHRMA
Hollister Weekend 2002
Trial
and Motocross
I thought it was a pretty good trial. I rode the modern classic 2 line and had a pretty good time but I blew sections 3 and 4 on the first loop which put me in 8th out of 16 riders. Without those 2 fives, I think I would have been about 4th. Sections 3 and 4 both had up hill in loose dirt like you mentioned, and I did not get enough momentum going on the first try using first gear. I almost never use 2nd gear in a section on my Montesa as it is not reliable to shift straight into 2nd from neutral at a standstill, it requires starting in 1st, shifting to second, riding around a bit to make sure it is completely engaged, then stopping and stageing for the section. Usually too much trouble so I just use first all the time, but I think about 4 of the sections on Saturday required the momentum of second gear so I had to do it. If I had primary kick, I could just leave it in second, be a lot easier. Oh well, it was a lot of fun and second works great once I get it in gear. I almost ate it on one of the rutty downhill approaches to the sections, got off balance with my front wheel in a deep rut going way to fast, only just managed to save it with lots of arms and legs flying. The loop itself was pretty fun, almost five miles each according to my bicycle odo.
Sunday was not quite as good for me. I rode my 250 KTM in the 250 Sportsman novice and +50 novice and had a ball till I caught my right foot on omething on the second downhill, off camber, right turn about 2 laps into the second moto. It didn't slow me down, but it felt bad, but seemed to still work ok so I kept riding. By the next race I was finally getting up to speed and starting to be able to stay with some of the other riders, but when I came to the pits after the race, I could hardly step on my foot so figured I better load em up while i can still walk. bummer! Pretty nice track with several banked turns that were a blast to take high on the banking really fast. And a drop off that was real scary. I just don't like the 2 downhill off chamber turns at all. I really need to find some time/place to practice some as it takes too long to get up to speed after not being on a track for a year. Lots of crashes, more than normal I think, not that I know what normal is, but there were 3 restarts with a medivac and several ambulance trips before even the first motos were finished. Seemed like too much to me. I think too many of the guys were way out of control. And I thought passing under the yellow was a no-no? Every time I backed off a bit for a yellow flag, riders would come flying by me and send the corner workers trying to clear the crash in a panic. Dick Mann made a plea at the riders meeting for everybody to ride sensibly and have fun, which sounded good to me, but the way everybody was crashing, I think it fell on deaf ears.
Camping over Friday, Saturday and Sunday was a lot of fun. If
I could have raced my last two motos, I might have actually gotten my fill
of riding for a bit. Not having to drive early Sunday morning and
try to find a pit spot is really nice. And I do like camping, and
my son and his friend were there with me which made it more fun.
Can't wait till next year.