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Oklahoma WORCS We arrived back home form the Six Days on Tuesday and then turned around and flew out to Funmart Cycles in Illinois the next day to get ready for the final race of the season. We didn't have too much bike work to do and after a little ride at the local motocross track had everything ready on Thursday so we got a head start on the drive and headed down to Troy's house that night. Troy did the driving duties from there and we arrived in Stillwater Friday just after dark. It had rained most of the day and looked like things were going to be muddy. On the hotel door there was a sign telling people if they were at the race track to take off their shoes so they would not stain the carpet. The mud in Oklahoma is particularly nasty and wears things out. It is red dirt and also stains things really bad. We made it out to the track and walked around a little bit. The facilities at Cooperland were first rate and featured a motocross track designed by Guy Cooper and by the size of the jump faces it looked like a Cooper speacial. The moto track was on the muddy side but the woods looked good. Brian raced the four stroke class to get warmed up. He didn't focus on going for the race win but just checked out the course and got a feel of things. The motocross track was too muddy to do the jumps but it looked like it would be good by the time the Pro Race got under way on Sunday. I decided not to race the 250 race since I was feeling good on the bike after six days and really just wanted to do the motocross tack and learn the jumps. We have a parade lap before the race on Sunday so I saved my bike for the Pro Race. When we were leaving the tack we saw Shane Watts. Shane wasn't going to be racing but had Matt Fish, one of his Aussie buddies with him. He asked how we got there and I knew something was up. I told him the pave road and he laughed and said he took the long dirt road that goes by Cooper's house and got his box van stuck half way down the road and had to unload the bike and ride it to the track. He got ahold of Cooper's uncle who had a tractor and got a tow out of the mud. Sunday brought perfect racing conditions. I was on the far inside with Brian just to the outside of me. When the gate dropped we took off even but then I got into some soft mud and the pack got ahead of me. Brian hit some hard dirt and had a good start and was in about fifth spot. Scott Sheak took the holeshot and with Lance Smail right behind him the two former motocross riders sprinted away from the rest of the field. I was nowhere near the front and wasn't making much forward progress. After riding six days I thought I would feel more comfortable than I was. Brian was caught up in some good racing with Nate Kinney and Russ Peason. Ty Davis didn't get a real good start and passed Brian on the second lap. Ty moved up into third, with Robert Naughton behind Ty in fourth. Next Nate, Brian and Russ traded spots back and fourth for most of the race. I was sitting right out of the top ten but wasn't making any progress forward. Sheak made a small mistake late in the race giving complete control of the race to Lance Smail who took the win and more importantly the five grand for doing so. Sheak was second followed by Ty. The battle Brian was in brought him and Russ up to the back of Naughton on the last lap. Brian was behind Russ at this point and had put a small gap on Nate Dog. Brian went for a pass on Russ on the motocross track at the end of the lap but Russ held him off leaving Brian in sixth spot. More importantly the couple of points Ty made up on Brian with his third place finish gave Ty the championship in the east, west, and overall. Brian finished the season second in the east and the overall. |