Glen Helen 24 Hour

We had never done the 24 Hours of Glen Helen before but this year Rich Casselli gave Brian a call asking him to be on the KTM team.  Brian would just be getting home from racing back east so he agreed.  The week before the race Brian Spearle called me up and said that some guys from nor cal were putting a team together and asked if I would ride with them.  I had just had the plates removed from my leg about a month before and said I would ride but I wasn't expecting a whole bunch since I hadn't even ridden yet.  We drove down on Thursday to do practice but at the gas station at the Glen Helen exit Kurt Casselli drove up and said the track wasn't that good and invited us to his house so we turned around and headed to Palmdale to hang out with the Casselli's.  Ben Hale was riding with the KTM team and had been staying with Kurt for the last couple of days.  We hung out with them on Friday and hit a few golf balls on the driving range, then Brian and I headed down to Glen Helen on Friday night to stay at the track.  When we got there I was the rest of my teamates.  While the pro teams have four riders; the KTM team had Kurt Casselli, Ben Hale, Joey Lanza, and Brian; the expert teams could have six.  I was riding with Jessee Ochoa, Brian Spearle, Jeff Baur, Steve, and .  We could also have two bikes.  We would be riding Jessee's 525 KTM during the day and at night we would ride Steve's 525.  When I got to the track I talked to my teammates and they asked if I ever had ridden at night before.  I said I would be up for is since it was so hot during the day and much cooler at night.  The other guys said to expect to ride a lot at night.  The race starts at 9AM on Saturday and ends at 9AM on Sunday.  There was a good turnout for the race with about 50 teams entering the race.  There were only four pro teams; the KTM team; Yamaha team of Ty Davis, Terry Fowler, Ryan Dudek, and Nathan Woods; team Honda with Johnny Campbell, Steve Hengfeld, Spud Walters, and Andy Grider; and one other team on a Honda.  I wasn't expecting much of the race since I have ridden Glen Helen before and riding it for 24 hours seemed like torture.  One positive thing is that the promoters promised to water the track as much as possible to keep the dust down, which with the water shortage in Southern California is a big deal.  

When the flag waved at 9AM Kurt Casselli grabbed a big holeshot aboard the electric start KTM while the others were left on the start line kicking their bikes.  Kurt took off like he was shot out of a cannon and immediately opened up a good size lead.  My team accidentally signed up in the amateur class even though we were experts and therefore started with the amateurs giving the experts a minute head start on us.  The plans for most teams was to switch every four or five laps depending on how long the bike could go on a tank of fuel.   Casselli opened up a two minute lead in the first leg of the race ahead of Nathan Woods on the Yamaha.  Jessee was riding good for us having passed all the amateurs and was at least into midpack of the row we were supposed to start with.  Brian Spearle rode next for us and made up lots of positions.   Brian was riding hard and I went out to watch on the motocross track.  There was a table top that we were doing backwards and Spearle jumped a little too far and I saw him go over the bars from across the track.  He got up right away and got back on the bike like nothing had happened.  For the KTM team their lead began to shrink when Casselli got off the bike.  Joey Lanza was the second rider, then Ben Hale, then on the switch to give the bike to Brian Ty Davis passed them while Brian was getting on the bike.  I was the fifth rider for our team and had one shift during the day.  The course started off going down by the traffic training area.  From there the course made its way back to the REM track and onto the moto track.  Leaving the moto track there was a big uphill that led onto the ridge toward the amp theater.  It crossed some parking lots and went down a couple paved roads and up to the back check.  After the check we hit the dirt again down a sandwash that led back to the REM track which once again led to the motocross track.  It was a really good course for Glen Helen and it was watered everywhere except for on top of the ridge.  Our team had worked up through the pack and was getting near the lead in the expert class.  After Brian had his time on the bike Kurt got back on the bike and was aiming on getting the team back in the lead when the bike quit on him.  It was thought that there was a problem with the valves so the top end was torn apart but nothing seemed wrong.  The problem was traced back to a faulty ignition, which was replaced and the team was back in the race now many laps down.  The next time Brian got on the bike the ignition went out on him again leaving him pushing back to the pits.  The ignition was again replaced and Brian went back out.  There was a bottleneck on the hill leaving the motocross track that caused a bunch of chaos.  Our team got caught in the bottleneck and the team we were battling with didn't so we dropped way back once again.  When night hit it was my turn to ride again.  I was cruising along the dusty ridge and I caught up to Brian and noticed that his headlight wasn't working and he was just riding with the headlight.  I followed him on the ridge then passed him and wished him luck.  The ignition went out for a third time on the bike but at least he got to ride back to the pits this time.  Spearle and I did a lot of riding during night trying to get the team back near the front.  I had three shifts during the night and finished off when the sun rose.  I was tired at this point and was getting delusional.  I had earlier said I would stay up all night riding but when I went to bed I was done.  After a couple hours of sleep I was woken up.  My teammates said that Spearle was in second place but Larry Roseler was right on him.  Spearle had earlier said he wanted to ride a lot so I told them to leave him out there as long as he could last.  He finally pulled in with just under an hour left in the race.  Roseler had passed him when Spearle pulled into the pits and I got back on the bike.  Those two hours of sleep made a big difference and I felt really good right away.  I wanted to catch Larry right away and not have to wait to the last lap.  I caught up to him and could tell that he didn't know I was behind him and looking to pass.  I didn't get too close until the motocross track where it was watered and then I pushed to get around.  I made a pass and put in a couple of hard laps.  I was looking for the checkered flag and thought I would just have to ride two laps but the white flag still didn't come out as I came around again.  My teammates where cheering me on witch felt good and kept me motivated.  I noticed the Roseler pulled in and gave the bike to Paul Krause.  I had about a 45 second lead on them now and we were still a lap down from the lead team so I relaxed and brought it in to the finish.  We finished second in class and were all happy with the way things went.  The Yamaha team took the win in the pro class but the Honda team kept them honest all race finishing just a minute behind.  

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