Hare Scramble #4 report page.

Yours truly...

The fourth round of the FTR hare scramble series was held last Sunday at Myakka, Florida.

A superb course laid out over 12 miles of the best natural terrain Florida has to offer.

The weather was a little on the cool side which suited me just fine.

I had the bike dialed in and with the new front brake and hydraulic clutch.

I was really looking to get into the top 5 position as I felt I had the speed and my injured knee was healing nicely.

My practice went well and I really felt like I had some good speed and with the weather so cool I had a lot more energy in reserve.

I rode some of the faster corners with my feet up and was comfortable riding through the notorious Palmetto roots that were catching some of the other riders out.

I picked up some good lines by following some of the "A" riders albeit for a couple of turns.

I parked my bike ready for the 10:30 start but by the time I changed into some fresh gear ended up running to the line to meet the start time.

I got my best start to date, around 10th off the line and 12th or 13th into the first turn.

I pulled up some places but a mile into the race overshot a berm and was thrown off the bike.

Luckily I didn't hurt anyone else and my bike was still running even though it was upside down resting on the handlebars.

I remounted and decided to take it easy for a couple of miles and then set about picking off everyone who I could see in front of me.

I came round to the checkpoint on lap one and was up to 4th place.

I rode a little harder and got past the next rider putting me up to 3rd, and on the next checkpoint lap 3 tried to really catch up to the leaders.

About 5 miles into the 3rd lap I past a slower rider but was unaware of an overhanging tree limb, I ran into it about 20mph.

 It struck my helmet and really shook me up. I pulled over to "assess the damage and after minute or so got going again.

 My ears still ringing from the sound of the impact on my head.

I carefully rode out the next 2 laps to finish in 5th place, completing 4 laps in all inside the 2hr time limit..

 Boy was I glad to see the chequared flag.

Well I did what I wanted to do and finish in the top 5.

 The whole event was run like clockwork and the FTR and its workers should be proud they put on such a great weekends racing.

My brand new Bell moto-8 now looks like its done a whole season of racing instead of just 2 races.

 but at least it saved me from a concussion. Blister were still a problem but that's only to be expected.

This was the results as posted after the race, they were amended and I was put down to 5th place as a result of the protest.

Nothing to do with the race but some guy had this truck parked up in the pits, I want one....

Thanks FTR, see you at the next race.!