|
|
Elsinore Grand Prix Brian, Troy, and I headed down to Elsinore Friday night for the weekend of races. Elsinore is a big race with lots of heritage that brings out all types of racers from the factory stars to the guys who make this their one annual race. The race starts in town like it used to but isn't as long as it used to be, with mileage between four and five miles for a lap. It has quite a bit of pavement including the start and pit area to the long straight that crosses an overpass above Interstate 15. The two other big spectator areas are the water hole and the big table top jump. The rest of the course consists of fast, choppy, rocky fireroads. On Saturday Brian and I went to sign-ups and were surprised to see $125 for a race entry. That cost us $500 to each race the 250 race Saturday and the Harry Mushman 100 on Sunday. With that steep of an entry fee I decided I was going to keep the 400 4-stroke in the van for the weekend. Right off the start in the 250 race a couple of people came together right in front of me. I hit the binders and let everyone that was going to crash to quit sliding then found a gap between them. On the second lap I caught and passed Brian who I could tell was getting used to the track. We both made a couple of attempts at the big table top. This jump comes after a big straight that we are pinned to the stops in fourth gear, drops down a gully and up the other side where a kicker is built that we hit onto a pavement road that has the far side bank built up to a six foot lip. If you hit it hard on the gas in fourth you will rebound up between twenty and thirty feet in the air for sixty feet and clear it perfect. It's quite a rush. At the finish I was eighth and Brian was tenth. Shane took the victory in the 250 race as well as about every other race on the day. A little rain overnight gave us perfect racing conditions. KTM had a big setup with all the racers bike's displayed as well as lots of promotional material. The Hardens made had a big spaghetti feed before the race to load us up with carbs for the day. We had to draw numbers for starting spots and I drew #12, which had me starting on the inside of the second row. Brian and Shane went to draw numbers and they said they already had a spot for Shane on the second row but he said he wanted to draw like everyone else and picked # 1. Brian reached down in the box and pulled out # 2 for the pick second from the inside on the first row. The start of the race in on a pavement road which turns right down a big straight and into a couple of chicanes. Brian and I got off to pretty good starts at the tail end of the top ten. Brian pulled along side of Mike Metzger on the pavement road and passed him doing his best impression of a heel clicker. Up front Scott Sheak was leading Watts for the first two laps until Shane knew what Sheaks pace was and passed him and pulled away. I don't particularly like this race because I feel it is dangerous and don't like racing on pavement so I rode a little cautious. Brian was a couple of spots in front of me but I was staying pretty close to him. Brian had the crash of the day halfway through the race. Greg Albertyn had just passed Brian and Brian was trying to get him back. They came up to the mud hole and to Brian's surprise Greg didn't jump it. Brian was already committed and had to grab the front brakes to avoid landing on Albee. That resulted in Brian nearly hitting Greg but going over the bars right into the mud. The spectators loved it and were all cheering. Brian got up and said "that guys a national champ, I thought for sure he would jump a mud puddle" Brian had to pull into the pits for goggles and got some dry cloths in the process since he was already out of contention. I just plugged along for the rest of the race and had a couple crashes of my own, one with a guy on a 100 who I was lapping that had our bike getting stuck together. At the finish Shane Watts traded his road rash from last year for a convincing win ahead of Scott Sheak and Steve Hatch. Rodney Smith was fourth followed by RT Thmpson, Robert Naughton, Greg Albertyn, Shane Esposito, Oakley Lehman, and Gordan Ward. I was 11th and Brian finished about 16th.
|
