Harescrambling tomorrow

[Billy Golightly]

on my 250R (Quad, unfourtantly) With some advice from TimSr I picked up a pair of 22-11-9 Maxxis All-Trak tires because I figured it was gonna be a muddy soupy sloppy mess, but it looks like its turning out to be dry instead. So i'll be taking an extra set of rims and tires with me so I can make a decision after the practice lap. I got some "new" maier Old style fenders to go on it (new style is on back order). I'm half tempted to take a magic marker and write on the sides "Maier Sucks" because my front fenders are so deformed its sickening. If I wouldn't have bought them so I could use them this weekend, and already drilled my holes and trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro in them I'd send them back. Recreation Unlimited will be getting a call from me monday though when the race weekend is over with.

Anyways, the course is 7.5 miles long on each lap, going to be approx 4 laps from what I'm told. Thinking about hanging out tomorrow night and watching the dirtbikes and stuff race Sunday, I'll have to see how it goes. Did all my pre-race work on the 250R this morning. Changed my oil, took the air filter off, cleaned it, re-oiled it, tightened up the shifting lever, clutch lever, took the slack out of my clutch cable, greased the shock linkage, checked my coolant levels, tire pressure, fueled up. Pretty much ready to go.

My mom has been a nervous wreck ever since I decided I was going over there to race, she thinks I'm gonna go over there and impale myself on someone elsed handlebars or something If I don't, I'll either post a "How it went" Saturday night or Sunday evening depending on if I decide to stay or not. Wish me luck!

[ATC crazy]

GOOD LUCK

Tell us how it went. I am going to do some harescrambles when I get some supplies for the Foreman and run it in the utility class.

[Yamaha_Rules69]

Good luck HondaATC. I have always wanted to participate in one of those races, but I never get around to it. When I get the Tecate ready, I'm thinking about doing some racing on that maybe. Peace. )

[Wickedfinger]

Best of luck to you Billygoat!!!. My only advice to you is simple: When in doubt - gas it!. I know it sounds cliche', but its so true!. Momentum is EVERYTHING.

[TimSr]

Good Luck, and welcome to teh addicting world of competition! Most harescrambles dont run a practice lap, so I wouldnt count on one unless theyve told you that.
Trust me, and run the All Trax regardless of whether or not the course seems wet. They perform excellent in the woods, wet or dry, and with powerslides not being a factor, switching to other tires will offer no advantage. When your climbing a wooded hill in the loose stuff around the bottlenecks, youll be glad you have them. Also, even when conditions are dry, most HS tracks have their share of mudholes in the woods anyways. Also, after the first lap or two, you can expect deep ruts, and the All Traks are far superior in them as well.
Have fun, keep calm, and try to ignore the other riders, and hold a pace you can maintain. The guys who try to run it like an MX dont last long!
Cant wait to hear how you do!
Im doing a Rally tomorrow on the Z, and running a mud bog Monday to defend my title! I missed the last bog, and now a guy has tied me in points, so its a winner take all for the mud bog series.

[Honda300ex]

Good luck.. I wish we had harescrambles around here

[TimSr]

Hey ATC, just wondering if you survived! All that harescramble talk inspired me to run one today as well. Total mud run! I had 1st by a long shot, and then they decided to restart the race because too many cheaters were cutting the track because, whaaaa, it was too hard. (whimps!) Then they restarted and cut the hardest section out, and I was holding 3rd, and gaining quickly when I threw a chain, and it got all bound up, and took me almost 20 minutes to get it off, an back on. Thats what I get for runninga non O-ring chain that I had here, and procrastinating in getting a new one. It stretched out quickly under the harsh conditions. I still ended up taking 4th. Hope you had better luck!

Honda300EX, Id bet anything they do run HS's near you, if you do a little bit of web searching. A lot of them dont allow trikes, but if youre running a quad, there are probably some around. The one I ran today had so many downhill offcambers, Id have gotten killed on a trike anyways.

[ATC crazy]

Thats why you get a Foreman and have shaft drive so there is no chain TimSr.

After my Foreman project is over (500cc and other parts) I will enter that in a race and see how I do with it....I have the racing itch now

[Billy Golightly]

I survived, but man was it rough. All so new to me and stuff, I'm gonna definetly start going to more but I've gotta get prepared a little better.

Practice lap was great, got the feel of the course which was very tight in the woods which I like. (Proud of myself though, only rubbed 1 tree with the left rear tire on the practice lap). The woods was definetly designed for bikes and didn't think to much for quads because there were several lines in many spots that quads had to go different way then the trail actually was. I had a guy ahead of me on a YZ250 and about half way around the practice lap he locked it up and I couldn't stop quick enough and ran over his back tire. I pulled my quad off and waited to make sure he got back on and stuff before I took off, I hollered at him that I was sorry, I guess he wasn't to concerned because after he got it back up he cranked it and dumped the clutch and off he went. The course wound around throught the woods with only 1-2 straight aways long enough to get into 2nd gear. Every once in a while it would come out of the woods into a field that was nothing but what down here we call "Sand Whoops". If your not in atleast 3rd gear going really fast and double them, they will beat you to death. Later on the day during the race it was so dusty it was impossible to see anything. I couldn't even see the front of the nose cone on my 250R in these areas and it was almost as bad in the woods. To damn dry. After about the 3/4 way around the practice lap I was getting pretty bad arm pump but I lived through it and got done.

Watched the bikes race for about 4 hours and then it was my turn. I had the 250R parked at the line a little early so I could pick out a good line. When I parked it Myself and a Banshee were the only ones in the 2stroke C class. By 3:00PM There were 6. 2 more 250R's, and 2 blasters. After seeing the first 4 rows take off We got off and walked ahead about 5 yards and waited to the siren on the bull horn to go off. I slipped getting on the bike while trying to pop the kicker at the same time. I still managed to pass one person in the holeshot before the first corner. The dust was so thick I couldn't see a single thing, I tried taking an outside line where I could see better but didn't really do much better. Got to the first turn and there was about a 9 bike pile up from people in my class and the 4 stroke B class (Which left ahead of my class) I took an alternate line around the pile up which included wheelying over a pretty good sized fallen down tree and passed all of them. I cruised along for a little while myself, checking around my shoulder everyonce in a while. Seen a predator getting closer to me, and I guess thats when I got nervous and mis-shot a turn and nailed a tree inbetween the wheel and the bumper right on the left A-Arm and got wedged in there. About 4 quads (All which I seem to remember were 4 strokes) passed me while I was getting off. Cranked back up, and was doing good again, a few off-camber hill climbs I had done earlier that morning in the practice with no problem were now nothing but solid tree roots from the bikes tearing it up. I didn't have much room for speed so I had to do a little clutch work to manuever around the corner and up the hill climb. Got into the one of the open areas and it was the dustiest I'd ever seen before. The dust so thick and heavy you couldn't see a single thing. Not a breath of air stiring to blow it away either. I was a bit scared at this point because I didn't want to run over a fallen rider or have someone haul ass up behind me and run up my tailpipe. The corners were extremely hard to find in this condition and I found my self down shifting and jamming the brakes on at every one I came to until I got back in the woods. Went a little ways and some guy on a predator (Someone that passed me before maybe?) was back behing me again. Went a little ways and found the first creek crossing. Definetly alot worse since the practice. The bank was all tore up with roots showing, and the bottom of it was pretty soupy. I gassed it and made it up it without much problem which I have to hand it to the All-Traks. I didn't turn around but I heard the guy on the Predator having problems just by the sound of his motor. I did nail one tree with my front bumper shortly after this which caused the Predator to ram into the back of me, the guy behind the predator to ram into him, and the guy behind the guy bheind the predator () to run into him. So we had a 4 quad pile up right there which I caused. I got off but couldn't do anything to move the 250R because those guys had my wedged in. I had to wait for all them to move before I could push myself back from the tree and go again. Motored around through the woods some more and took some more alternate lines that I didn't think I would make it inbetween. I let a couple 4 stroke riders that werent in my class around as I had been told to do in the riders meet. About the same story, ride in the woods for a bit, come out in the field and see dust like you've never seen before, back in the woods, back in the field. I was getting very close to the end and was in the last open field section where I let a guy on a new YFZ450 around me, which a little while later I seen him going slow and I passed him, which he seemed to start following me again. I guess he wanted someone to follow through the dust, which is what I was wanting :P. But anyways, a little while later a guy on Z400 hauls ass around me and yells (To the best I can decipher) "Your chain is fixing to fall off" and the next turn later I heard the clutch on the 250R start whining which I really didn't like. Arm pump was starting to get pretty bad here too. I got back in the woods, and I was kind of "Zoned out" and almost totally went through the rider checkpoint. When I had to start moving again from that the clutch was really screaming and I figured I was gonna pull out when I came out of the woods. I didn't want to totally cook the clutch, (Or something else in the bottom end, I knew it was the clutch going but I wasn't sure what was causing it) but whatever it was it wasn't worth destroying it for another 3 laps. I pulled out (With about 3 other riders following) and checked my chain and stuff, and noticed it seemed ok. By this time i had already went out of the "Within 20ft of the red markers" which mark the trail your suppose to be on. So I just said trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro on it and stayed out. After I got cooled back off from the heat and got my composure back together I was amazed to see about 7-8 other quads had already pulled out of the race and were parked back at their trailers. I guess people from the 2-4 stroke A and B classes. I watched for a bit and seen some pretty trick quads I hadn't had a chance to checkout at the starting line. One in the 2 stroke-A class was a converted ATC250R (Which I was very impressed by the ability of the rider) Some other really hopped up TRX250R's, 1-2 Banshee's, ect. I seen quite a few exotic 4 strokes which included a KTM powered 400ex chassied quad, 2 cannondales, a bunch of polaris Predators, countless Z400's, kxf400's, and 400exs. The dust got so bad at the last corner in the open where you start another lap that they had to set a fan up, because it was just hanging and not drifting anywheres. I seen 3-4 riders almost run through the caution tape because they couldn't see the end.

Overall it was very fun, I learned alot (One is to make sure you have all the forms filled out before you stand in a 30 person line 3 times). The dust was very bad, I was praying for rain all that day and the night before but it didn't happen. I'm still impressed with the All-traks and think their a great tire. I've just gotta get some gearing that'll pull them without slipping the clutch constantly. Speaking of clutch, yesterday when I had the 250R in the shop, I was getting ready to take my sidecase off and survey the damage when I reached under the motor to pull the drain plug and....WHAT THE HELL?!?!? Drain plug was gone! :shock: :shock: I tipped it up right and I couldn't believe it, It wasn't caught in the skid plate or anything. I'm very skeptical of how it came out because when I changed the oil the day before the race I used a big craftsman 1/2 drive ratchet and socket and I tightened the piss out of it. The threads didn't strip, their fine. I hate to think someone took it out or loosened it, but it did sit up at the starting like for almost 2 hours by itself un-attended. I guess its a good thing I stopped when I did or I coulda really cooked stuff in there bad. I don't know how long I ran it without anything in it but it must have been a while. Alot of grease and dirt and build up on the skid plate that I had cleaned up to spotless before the race. But I think I fixed it now, I found a drain plug thats short enough, and the right size from auto zone, got a fiber washer, and I drilled a hole in the head of the plug and saftey wired it to the frame. Shouldn't come out now. Surveyed the quad some more and found out I almost broke the front bumper off at the 4 quad pile up. The mounts are broke complete off on 2 sides.

My mom took alot of pictures but I haven't got to scope them out yet and see what they look like because I need to be on her office computer to do that. But you can checkout some pictures of the bikes (No quads) on the course here: http://www.rcdr.org/pages/photos/2003-08_Cherry_Lake_HS/default.asp

I wish I could kept on going but I know what I need to work on now and that is the arm pump issue which was really affecting me. Tri-Z_Jim told me to eat oranges before the race which was suppose to help with that, I definetly need to try it next time. The morning of the race I had a little "Nervous Racer" syndrom as I've heard it called (Having to use the bathroom alot heh) which probably killed my hydration. I drank alot of water during the day watching but I probably didn't get enough.

Considering I had, the stockest quad there, and it was my first race, I think I did very well. I think on the first lap I probably placed very well, but since I pulled out early I know I got last. Definetly a learning experience, but I will be going to more and getting use to the racer atmosphere and the ridind. It was great fun, just a little ill-prepared and not knowing what to expect. Give me a little time to figure out a few things and I think I'll do pretty good.

[Honda300ex]

Sounds like you had fun.. Any pics?

[Billy Golightly]

common, didn't you read my post? :-P

[smokinwrench]

common, didn't you read my post? :-P

I did and I haven't read that much since high school, but it was worth reading. Hell of alot better than any Shakespeare.

Josh

[Billy Golightly]

yeah it was a little long, hehe.

[ATC crazy]

:shock: Billy....Congratulations...that has to be the absolute longest post that I have ever read in my life.

Its good to hear that you had fun...I can't wait 'til its my turn on the Foreman

[AirManCam]

Sounds like you had a fun time. I remember my first snowmobile race. Man I remember it like it was yesterday lol. I had my 1993 jag lol. I did good up untill the first tripple. I broke my rear shock :oops: But I got through and and I got a lot better and am still doing it and placing 1st 2nd 3rd most of the time. Its just awesome I hope you stick with it and get better billy!