Coalinga Enduro

This year for the Coalinga Enduro we had a dry year.  For as long as I can remember it has always been raining and snowing making a tough race seem even tougher.  Brian and I went down on Saturday to get signed up and do the computer thing.  We signed up on row 20 together since one of our computers always seems to have a problem during the race.  Nate Kanney from New York has been staying out at our house and signed up on our row along with Eric DuCray from Nor Cal Motorsports.  The route sheet didn't look too bad, but the third loop looked to be the separator.  James Ptarinski made us up a couple of trick mounts for our computers and we got everything loaded up easily.  For the rest of the night we just hung out and cooked up a big pot of pasta.  

6:30 came way too early but we got up and ready for the race.  We had 9:50 as a start time and were right in front of the AA riders.  The defending Enduro champion, Mike Lafferty tore his ACL, so he had too sit out for a couple of months.  Fellow G Brother Billie Russell was right behind us on row 21.  When one minute to go came up I started my computer and Brian was freaking out because his computer didn't start.  I gave him some quick instruction on how to get it going when our minute came up.  This didn't work so Brian was basically riding blind for the day.  We started off and made it up to the 2.9 mile marker.  We still couldn't get his computer going at that point so I just told him to follow me and eat my dust.  The first loop seemed easier than in past years.  We could run the pace during the first 24 mph section and zeroed the check.  We put a splash of gas in our bike and headed for the first reset.  Everyone seemed to be having fun with the conditions being on the dry side of perfect.  After another section that wasn't too hard to zero we finally got a little bit late in some tight twisty trails.  We were about 1:20 down but then hit a couple fireroads and got back on time arriving at the check on time and timekept it in near to the thirty second mark.  Another relatively easy check was all that was too the first loop and I was only one second off perfect and Brian just two seconds.  There was nearly forty five minutes at the gas stop and Brian needed it.  He tried to mess with his computer then noticed that his clutch gasket had popped out leaving his bike with no oil.  He also had an air bubble in his clutch line and bled that out.  The second loop is always the easiest of the day so I was expecting to do some timekeeping.  The first section was some good trail that kept us on our toes.  I got close to getting late than caught back up to time.  We hit another tight section and I was getting close to getting late then hit a bunch of riders right before the check and dropped one point.  We felt that we could have made the check and Brian was particularly mad about dropping a point but we still had lots of racing left.  After a reset the course went up whooped de do ridge and then had a check right before Jack's loop.  The speed average was 24 and that is maintainable through that section.  The rest of the section had some good trails that brought us out to New Idria where there was a check.  After a rest at a reset the course cruised down the main road for a few miles up towards the microwave tower before we got serious in some more tight stuff.  This was a good special test that we dropped one at the first check then two at the second.  Ty Davis managed to zero both the checks and still had a zero after two loops.  Brian and I were tied for the next best score with David Lyke.  Billie was still right in there and dropped one more that we did at each of the points dropping checks.  This time between loops we didn't have nearly as much time.  After a quick fill up and a drink of water we were off again.  Just about three miles into the loop we had a check in and started to hammer down.  When we got a minute late I pulled over for Brian and told him to hammer down.  Just a mile later while going up a rocky hill I see his chain pop off.  His chain guide broke and from there he did all he could do to get the bike back to the pits.  Nate Dog seemed to have some race left in him and we kept a good pace going.  Going down a rocky trail I had a couple of guys crash in front of me and we ended up with three bike in a pile.  It is hard to pass slower riders on the tight trails and the people we came up on were nice enough to pull over in a timely manner all day.  Nate and I kept hammering away and at the first check on the third loop I dropped a six followed by a ten at the next check.  After the only reset on the loop, which gave the fastest riders up to five minutes and most people no time we were back on the gas hard again.  We were in some of my favorite areas now and I was still feeling good.  I was riding steady but not pushing it too hard trying to stay out of trouble.  I ended up going 3-6 at the last two checks.  The last section got onto the Ramblers property and they wound us down some new and interesting trails.  When I got back to the scoring tent I noticed that Nate was already in there.  I asked him what happened and he said that somehow he missed the last check.  For the day I dropped 29 points, 26 on the last loop.  Ty Davis rode the best and dropped 20 for the day, all on the last loop.  Randy Hawkins had a good third loop and dropped 25, the David Lyke with a 27.  I had my first respectable finish since I broke my leg almost two years ago so I was pretty happy with the way the day went.  Steve Hatch finished fifth, followed by Fred Hoess, and Elmer Symmons.  Billie Russell had a good ride for seventh on the day with a score of 3, and as far as I know that is his best overall finish at a National.  Brian Spearle also had a good ride putting three D-36 riders in the top ten.  Russell Pearson rounded out the top ten, but only after he blew us his motor and replaced it before the third loop and left about ten minutes late.

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