Melvern Race Reports

[verticaltwin]

First of all I want to say thanks... to the FMHSC crew for putting it all together, to my neighbor Dennis Utt for talking me in to trying a hare scramble for the first time, and mother nature for the great weather.

What a blast! I was pretty nervous after doing a mile or so of practice and it was slick. I'm from AZ and don't know about riding in mud! Well... I figured I would give it a try anyway. Got a mid pack start in the HUGE Trailrider class and just tried to do the best I could. Only went down once when a guy stalled his bike going over the tires in front of me, hope his left leg is ok... I kinda ran into it. Only got stuck once on the 5th lap when I tried to take the little rut in the mudhole and my rear wheel just dropped into a black hole... sorry to you other riders had to go through the muckhole while I wrestled my bike out of the hole... you could have stopped and helped, you know...

Tried to get over for faster riders, but let two guys in my class by... dangit! On the 5th lap the other Trailrider that I let by got tricked by them slick roots before you came out in the open to go around the tires... so I slipped by him and put the hammer down... what little hammer I had left in me by then... lol! I was so proud to finish the race with my buddy Dennis right behind me (but he rode 6 laps). I never in a million years thought I could ride for two hours!

I told my neighbor that my goal was to finish... and if I even finished in front of one person it would be icing on the cake. I ended up 21st out of 35 in the Trailrider class and couldn't be happier! The old air cooled TTR250 held up good and was a blast to ride, aside from getting very hard to shift about an hour into the race. Maybe I need to spring for some Motorex and a set of Barnett clutch plates? Not sure why it got so hard to shift, but then again I never rode the bike that hard before. About that, I have now experienced a new level of soreness today... places that I never knew could get sore!!

Kyle Boyd #9114

[ktmracer66]

D.O.T. 5.1 brake fluid will solve this problem!!

You must have been typing this, as my co-worker was telling me that I needed to swap to 5.1 Fluid. LOL. Seriously I came back from lunch, and already made the call to get some coming. I guess I was never fast enough last year to heat up the brakes. LOL.

Oh and... Congrats on the move to "c" ! thats awesome.

Erik


****PS: Anyone know any of the photographers out in the woods?? ****
I saw a bunch of them out there, would be nice to have a couple shots from this race

No problem!! And thanks!! It's tough, but it's a work in progress. Up until this month, the ONLY time I ride my dirtbike is at races, we race BMX and it takes up all of our time. I've decided, I'm a hare scrambler and I'm going to put more time into it!! Hoping for a good couple races to finish out the season!!

Good job in Sportsman, BTW!!

[ktm1991]

I had a blast at Melvern the dirt was perfect, super fast and flowed very well! After losing my front brakes at Thurman I spent all week trying to get those working again and didn't even think about the rear brakes! Like many others it only took a couple miles for my rear brakes to disappear, kind of scary being 6th gear pinned pumping your rear brake hoping it comes back be fore the corner! Well I got off to a good start came around the first lap in 2nd hot on Brennan's rear tire was able to make the pass and started to open up a little gap until I washed out my front I got back up and going right in front of him and he dropped the hammer made an aggressive pass and never looked back. About a lap later jadan came around and made a move on both of us. Overall a good day great battles great course and my best performance of the year! See y'all at eldorado!


Ryan Grun #255

[shredder]

I think the hay bales leading into scoring were for you Shredder!

I din't realize those were hay bales to slow my butt down, I thought they were the start to the bike wash! Holy cow man! Somebody needs to get that five dollar bill I shoved into the center of the left one to get the brushes spinning and get the water going. On the last lap I put another five in thinking it was a ten dollar minimum. FRUMMMP!

[motoracr199]

Had a good start in third and moved into second on the first straight. Killed it and let a couple go by. Once I got moving again, I just tried to keep on the rear wheel of the rider in front of me, biding my time until it opened up.

I was trailing a KTM and went for the pass on the straight. We got tangled a little and he went down. Looked back and saw he was sitting up so I pushed on. Came through scoring in first, which was a surprise because I thought I was still in fourth or so. For the next couple of laps I was playing cat and mouse with Jason 645. He's got some speed and it was awesome to be back and forth with someone you know. He even threw a thumbs up on the enduro section but I was too busy trying not to crash! Finally made the pass on lap 4 and started to pull a little gap before going down in the only rocks section (My Achilles heel). Got going again and saw him in the enduro section about a lane ahead.

I thought he was gonna pull away cause he has the secret recipe in some sections, but somehow I caught back up and passed prettily easily on one of the straights. Sprinted for the rest of what I thought was the last lap only to have Macon yell ONE MORE! at the hay bales. That tough mudder last week helped me get through that last lap really well and I finally got the ever elusive #1 trophy. #Feelinlikeamillionbucks

My list for the week.
1. First win since '07! Good to break the dry spell
2. I'm only good on the fast tracks
3. Awesome race long battle
4. Great to watch battle for the overall.
5. Thanks land owners and crew for making this happen!

[keko]

Fast fun race. Slid into the 4th position at the start but couldn't quite hold the pace and started to loose the top 3. Dave came flying up on me so I moved over and waved him on to give him a chance of catching the top 3. I pushed on and came across the line in 5th after the first lap. Settled into my groove and before long Ryan started pushing my rear fender and went by. Ryan was moving along pretty good so I thought I would try and hang with him and see if we could catch the top 4. We rode fender to fender for the next three laps until Ryan missed a corner and I went by. I had a little left in the reserves so I picked it up a notch thinking the top 4 might be wore out by now and I could give them a good battle on the last lap. Evidently they had also had enough in there reserves to get it done. Great race! Good times. Thanks everyone.

[Tank]

Melvern was a great race!!!! Had a great time and a lot better race for me. I made it 3 laps before my arm pump made it to hard to hold the throttle and control it. Thought it better safe than sorry and come on in. Wish I could have stayed out for at least one or 2 more lap, I could have moved up a few places. I felt great except for my arms. Only a few falls and want to say thanks to the sweep or maybe another racer that helped me get my bike off of my leg. I am really starting to think my bike is a true cow and not a kaw! Anyways, had a great time and met some more new friends. Price of gas to get there and back $45, price of entry and race $35, Fun of racing and meeting new and seeing old friends (Priceless)!

[verticaltwin]

Also wondering if anyone knows the photographer that was at Melvern. Thanks!

[PK]

LETKO CYCLES HOLE-SHOT WINNERS Melvern KS 9-29-13

AA Macon Ezell
A Aaron Joray
B Daron Hightower
C ADV Matt Lacey
C VET ADV Kurt Phelps
C David Martley
C VET Silva Beach
SPORTSMAN Destiny Slawson
TRAIL RIDER Tyler Toman
SR Chris Locke
JR Grant Macoubrie

Conrats guys and girls. $10 off your next purchase in the store. Valid until the next FMSHC race.

[shredder]

Wirefryer please post soon as I'm almost purple from holding my breath....why has he not posted yet? OOOOOOOhh...I know...He must be the dude who got his bike stuck in the hay bale bike washer thingy.
Yup