2010 Gatorback Hare Scramble
Race Report
After waiting a whole year to get back and ride at the best track in Florida I was confident that I was going to win my class.
Just before we set off on Friday night all the lights blew out in my van, so we couldn`t drive or tow the camper without lights.
I spent until midnight tracing the problem and had it fixed by around 12:30 am., too late to leave for the race.
We finally set off at 6am and arrived 6 hours later and set up out camper and take in the great weather.
How good was the track and the weather?
This good....
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Practice
I decided run a very fast practice lap, I kept up a good pace but did nothing too risky as I was feeling very confident about this race.
I wanted to be on the pace and also wanted to get back and put my bike on the start line as early as possible.
The track was nothing like we normally ride, it was very rough and had a mix of sand and hard pack clay with some loose shingle down in the quarry section.
I loved how difficult the track was, steep drop offs and climbs were easy to me and I kept looking out for alternate lines.
I finished my practice, got back to the camper and checked the bike over and rode it down to the line.
When I got there around 25 bikes had beat me to it, I lined up way down the row and parked between two of my buddies.
I went back to the camper and got prepared for the race, when I returned some asshole had squeezed his bike between mine and the guy next to me.
There was only inches to spare between my bike and the riders next to me, after giving the rider a piece of my mind I decided I would beat him to it and that's what I did.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Race
I got a great start, around 10th into the first turn, there were around 35 riders on my row and I needed to be up front before we went into the tight woods section.
I passed a few riders and was leading my class, I found it hard to double the jumps and was unable to do the "elevator jump" as the group was pretty slow.
As I made a move on a group of riders heading for the outside line one of them moved over into my path and I ran into him sending me sailing over the handlebars.
When I got up my bike was trashed, I broke some spokes, the disk was bent, the brake hose was shot and the fork guard and cable guide were broken off.
Here is a short video of the crash. David Hill is the other rider I hit.
My Apologies go out to you David.... No harm intended.
Here is the start up to the crash, about half a lap of the motocross track.
After the wreck I got my bike back to the camper and tried to patch up and fix what was broken, unfortunately nothing could be fixed in time, the disk brake was so badly bent it was finished for good.
We drove home from the race after I watched the rest of my buddies in my class complete there race, they sure looked like they were having fun out there.
We packed up and headed home, but the 6 hour drive was agony as I went over and over in my mind the stupid mistake? I had made, or what could have been.
The total weekend cost me over $700 in Gas, entry fees, and broken parts and I had nothing to show for it. I will get the bike fixed as best I can and see how I do at the GNCC next week.
Please wish me some good luck.
Dave
