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Thunderhill With the excellent facilities at Thunderhill the whole family traveled to the event. On Saturday there was a King of the Hill event that was 45 minutes that sounded like fun and a good way to size up the course. Thunderhill is a road track that opens up the hills around it so the course is basically a ten mile grass track. I rode the 150 in the King of the Hill race. I had a bad gate pick and was on the outside. Off the start there were quite a few guys to work through but I made many passes on the motocross section of the track and was quickly into third. I saw that a guy on a Honda was way out front and a Suzuki was in front of me. When the Suzuki rider fell down I caught up and tried to make a pass but he started to catch the leader and pull from me. Settling for third was the best I could do but had a great time on the course and was really surprised how good the little 150 did on this fast of a course against a field of 450's. After the race I learned that it was Kyle Summers and Josh Strang in front of me who are both factory guys so it made me feel better in finishing behind those guys. We had a nice dinner inside the banquet hall and had a trophy presentation. We had some apple cider to spray on the podium and my son Owen was up front being part of the action and got a full shower of the sticky juice. He freaked out for a minute but at least had a chance to be a part of the action. Sunday was the main district race and there was a strong turnout of fast racers. Team Suzuki brought out Josh Strang, Jonathon Davis, and Rodney Smith who all train with Rodney in the winter in California. Valli Construction had Kyle Summers come out to gear up for the WORCS series, and defending D-36 champion and G Brother Brian Garrahan had the chance to run his first race with the number one plate on the bike. For Sunday's race I parked the 150 and rode the 450 XCW four stroke. We did a straddle the front wheel start and neither Brian or I got off to very good starts but were moving through the pack. Brian caught me a quarter of the way into the first lap and as he passed me he hit a big rock that was hidden in the grass and did a big nose wheelie but saved it. I could see both Summers and Strang were up front and checking out already of the first lap. Having rode the King of the Hill race I used that to my advantage and passed quite guys early in the race. On the second lap I was having my hands full with Eric Habenicht and saw Brian stall his bike so we moved by him. By this time Eric and I were battling for fourth with Rodney Smith not too far in front of us. The track was in perfect shape and was super fun railing fast sweeping turns. It was a little fast but other than the few hidden rocks it was safe. About halfway through the race Brian reeled me in. When he got by me I hooked on to him and picked up my pace. It was fun to ride behind him since we haven't had the chance to race together very much in the last couple of years. Brian had to pit a second time for gas and I didn't see him again after that. Eric had gotten by earlier in the race and was a little ways ahead of me with Rodney a little ways ahead of him. On the last lap Brian had some bike troubles but since he was the last rider to make the final lap he was credited with sixth. Kyle Summers was impressive all weekend and showed us locals how the fast you can go. Josh Stang finished second which is strong for a rider that focuses on the GNCC's. Rodey showed that he still had game finishing in third, followed by Eric Habenicht, and myself. Jonathon Davis was seventh with Jonathon Godman, Mark Kerling, and Eric DuCray rounding out the top ten. |