Virgil City Race and Poker Run Reports

[Gibber]

Hot Damn! What a place to race!

I am with Dan on his post "Where were you?". This place was awesome! It had virtually everything for terrain. Flowing and tight woods, open grass trails for the drag races, gnarly hill climbs and technical areas, rocky river bottoms, plenty of elevation and lots of spectator locations. This is a great place to race and there were lots of additional activities. I know there were a lot of things going on this weekend but it sure is a shame the turn out was not higher.

Poker run was fun. It was a great opportunity to work on course knowledge and believe me, you needed it. Rode 3 fun laps for the run then had an awesome evening hanging out with both new and old friends around the campfires at the chili feed talking about how much faster we think we are than we really are! Saturday's poker run was a nice get together and a great chance to ride.

Then comes Sunday and the race day butterflies. What a great race. The holeshot was a bit of a steep dip and a tight right hand turn on to a grassy section of the trail then about an 1/8th of a mile drag race up that grassy trail to the woods. I went in to the woods 2nd behind #1044 Jason Schupp (I think) and the 2 of us stayed in front for about half the course. The ruts in the 1st section were darn near as deep as your pegs in some places and the loose moon dirt made the dust pretty thick but none of it was near as bad as I expected.

#1046 Eric Schneider passed me in the woods and by this time Jason was putting some distance on me. Then I could see Jason again but no sight of Eric. Come to find out Jason had a flat rear tire and apparently was done for the day. Good for me but bad for Jason. Eric was on rails but I had second place! For the time being anyway. Jim Presley #1099 was more than happy to correct that as he blew by me on one of the grassy drag strips! Of course, only being 11 seconds behind Jim at scoring I knew I could catch him in the woods. Uh, Not! Apparently Jim was on rails as well. So I settled in for 3 more laps as clean as I could make them and crossed my fingers for a podium. Fortunately I was able to and got my 3rd place plaque with Chase Kyle on it. Chase was more than happy to autograph our trophies. I think he is going to need a new helmet though. His head seems to be a little big now!

It was a great day in the woods for sure. The few 800's and the one 900 that passed me were great. There were places besides the grass to pass but it was tricky. These guys made good quick passes. I think it was 938 that passed me coming out of scoring at the end of my 3rd lap. I hope I didn't goof you up but hanging with you. While I did it helped my final lap time. Thanks.

Really sorry for those who could not make it. I'm hopeful Virgil City is still on the schedule next year. This place is a true hare scramble course with great camping, easy parking and plenty of places to watch the race from. Be sure make the next one. It really is worth it.

GO TEAM LETKO!

[jschupp]

Well first of all to Todd Sexton's family and friends etc. that worked hard to set this race up you all did a awesome job I just hope I get that great start next time but no flats. Once again great property and race.

[Btrigg88]

Thanks to all who worked so hard to put this event together!!!
It was about a 3 hour drive and I didn't allow enough drive time for a warmup. That was not a course you wanted to explore for the first time when the board drops! The 300 didn't want to fire up off the line and I was dead last through the dust cloud. I felt like I was on a single rail train track. The bike was locked into the ruts and didn't care about what happening above the seat. That would have been a wild ride in the mud for sure. I was catching up to the pack when I came upon the young Toman #87 face down in the rock creek. I stayed with him until the RN arrived. We got him out just as the second lap was coming around. Since my day was shot, I jumped in behind the 900s and avoided the DNF. Besides the dust, the course was fun and challenging. I had a good time negotiating the rocks and "hills."

[JayShafe8]

I would like to thank the landowner, workers, sweepers, and scoring crew for putting on another great race.

I thought this was one of the most fun courses of the year. I thought the lower part of the property (non dust ruts) was spectacular. I enjoy the rocks and climbs as a challenge. I was amazed at how deep the ruts got from the upper part of the property. The corners were all bermed nicely for the first race, but I wonder if they got deep for the second race. Anyway, I thought the course was great.

My race started off with a second place start behind #222, until #24 snuck into the woods right before me with the late braking technique. We all rode the first lap together with some passes. I somehow found myself in 1st for a few laps. It was the first time I had done it all season so I was happy. Then #204 got up behind me for a lap and a half. I could only lose him in the dust, before he would close in on the rest of the track. I decided to let him go and lead for a bit. Sadly I made a few mistakes and he was gone. He was flat out faster than me that day. I rode out a second place finish and 5th OA for my best yet.

[Gibber]

https://youtu.be/JNjW791hYnY

Pretty modest post from Jason considering he is one of the top Vet 40 wild cards!

When I saw you had a flat tire I my first thought was bummer, I was looking forward to some racing. Then when you made that gnarly hill climb I thought this guy is gonna kick my butt on a flat! I was relieved but still a little disappointed when you pulled off. Mostly relieved! Sorry.

The link above is to the first lap. Great hole shot Jason. The white fender to my right is #1010 Bill Thomas. Hell of an effort there but I was just able to pull off 2nd behind Jason. Then of course the passes by Eric and Jim to leave me in 3rd place. Oh Well, considering the competition Sunday I'll take it!

I also have some pictures my wife took. Some pretty good ones in fact. I will try to figure out the best way to share them. If anyone out there is an expert I'm all ears.

See you all next week!