Armadillo Acres Race Report

[gcat7]

If you missed it, the Hightower's put on one hell of a good race. It had everything, hills, rocks, mud, creeks, jumps, hi speed & technical sections and even a helicopter. They did an outstanding job getting the race together and it really was fun. Shout out to Aaron's crew & Dan's gang, appreciate all your efforts! I would love to run this track again sometime for race or fun.

On to the report from the 700 club.

Lined up with the usual crew maybe 10-15 of us can't really remember. Starting line rain shower fogged the goggles which were useless all day Board drops, bike fired great, went around the bail & into the trees. Jockeying for position, Todd & I locked bars for what seemed like forever dragging us off path. We were both headed for an off bike excursion but a quick jerk of the bars, freed us at last. Unfortunately it sent Todd deeper in the sticks--sorry brother--at least we kept the wheel spinning & upright. I think ended up 4th into the second section of woods behind Ryan Walker & two other guys who may have been in the wrong class. Kept a steady pace even though it was still a bit greasy but the M59 front was getting it done nicely.

Around lap 3 or so Walker got hung up on the tree hop with the deep rut in front of it. I went around for the pass & into 3rd where I stayed the rest of the race. The track was rutting deeper in the corners but the track tacked up nicely throughout the day with plenty of grip later on. The rock sections we're great and handlebar death grip was needed in a few section for sure. The early greasy sections kept you on you toes and God Bless the steering stabilizer; it's a life saver and a great friend when needed.

Finished a solid third with 1st place points (I think) and was pleased to see the Checker...was A-OK to have the race time frame shortened.

Thanks again Gang, see you at the Ranch next week.

[kxmatt]

sorry gcat, I brought some new blood to FMHSC for his first race ever, and figured it would be nice to be on the course at the same time so I could keep any eye out for him. If it is any consolation, Im 49, havent ridden in a couple months, don't have a steering stabilizer or a rekluse, and I started last place as it seemed the race started early and I didn't get to the line until yall left. Swear my phone showed 10:57 as the c class took off. oops. Anyway it was a fun course and perfectly marked like Dan does. yz-Matt.

[gcat7]

Oh man, no apologies needed Matt it's all good. Saw the lap times & was . You guys laid down some killer laps, gotta respect that & you tore it up! Hell I'm 48, I'm fat, I drink and need a rekluse & stabilizer, steering that is, just to stay upright

New blood is what keeps the series rollin', keep 'em coming brother.

[Walker57]

First off congrats to Greg for running a good race and getting those first place points. I thought I rode decent but once Greg got around me he was definitely running better. When Matt Yates passed me I thought it was a B rider that was sweeping and was like "holy s#!t" when I saw a 700# on that YZ. I think it was two turns and he was gone for good. As for that MORE rider that is sandbagging in the 700's because he does't want to race the later race, that shouldn't matter. He needs to bump up to the 500's and then get in his helicopter and still get home before any of us. Unless his helicopter breaks down again which I thought was hilarious.

[FlyinRyan]

. That's a tough loss, I feel bad for you Greg. In a class with only C Vet racers in it on this course on this particular day you would have won it. It would have been a great 1st win for you ever in the C Vet Class. Unfortunately there are some other people racing for plaques that are C Vet Advanced or beyond in our class. This is my fifth year of racing forward motion and I've gotten to know Hightowers as being one of the more involved families in the series and it would've been neat to have a plaque with Sierra on it. However my 6th place finish didnt get me a plaque. I'm not in it for the money but a plaque would've been Kind of cool. My 6th place was not good enough to get me a plaque but it was good enough to get me a third-place points in the series I guess. I'm thinking about racing the Junior Class on Sunday at Beer Ranch though so I'll get my plaque.

[Iamdanjohnson]

Boys, Boys, Boys!!, before you get too carried away remember that I take all of this personally. I like it best when you contact me privately and let me handle it. I know Matt Yates and know he can ride the 500 class and if I ask him he will gladly move right on up. The thing is he ran an 81.1 in a class that tops at 79. That is not that far off. He would have been 4th in C Vet Advanced so the class choice could kind of go either way. The 2nd place guy ran a 78.5 in a class that tops at 79. I am not sure all of this message board stuff is making anyone (or the series) look good.

It was my hope that having season points would make all of this a bit less critical and I think it has. Those top two guys were very close on speed anyway and they didn't take points from anyone. I will continue to watch the percentiles and move people as needed. Hopefully most will move themselves up. Do not hesitate to let me know if I am missing someone. Also don't forget that somebody has got to win!

Giddy up!

[jgordo]

Sounds like I missed a good one! Really upset that the rainout put this race on the weekend my wife was celebrating her birthday, Aaron and I have been talking about his place all year!! I hope everyone comes back next year and I am actually there, sounds like there was a lot going on! I think we need more technical tracks in the series and this one sounds like it was challenging! Maybe I'll be able to come play this Sunday at Beer Ranch! Good job to everyone! Didn't hear of any big injuries and that's what is most important!!!

[millwright]

OK. So I have to kiss the bosses butt all week and burn the last of my vacation so I can head to the farm Thursday morning, just me and the dog. Everything seems pretty peaceful looks like we had a little rain ,track is perfect. I knew I had some work to do still on Carl's diner to make the morning/ afternoon switch run smoothly. No problem. Just me the dog and some armadillos. No worries. Friday was beautiful, just chilling waiting on my fam & friends to start showing up. Do some ribbon hanging and arrows on the east side. Cold beer, no worries. Saturday, Beautiful day, start setting up concessions and Hay bales , parking lot ribbon. Dan shows up and I tell him everything's done let's go for a site lap. We take off from the start heading into the west trails, not a damn arrow in site ! Dan finally stops and says we might need to put some arrows up. Slight panicky moment . Dan assures me it's all good. Squirrels love to eat these arrows and make nests out of them and it has been two weeks since you put them out he says . OK, no problem I have some good help running around today & they bail me out of the arrow situation and put up quite a bit of ribbon in spots where it was needed . By now people are filing in and it's time to ride practice. I'm thinking Wow this is all really weird but I'm still doing ok. About now, out of nowhere the sky opens up and dumps a half inch of rain in like 20 minutes. My stomach is doing flips at this point. No ,no ,no, please stop raining!!!! A little storm passes, the boys all assure me that the track is still good, if not better. Sweet . Everyone showing me the radar on their phones and it looks clear . Good deal. Let's lite the big bonfire and have a cold beer. Finally going to try and get some sleep about midnight, and realize I haven't blown up our air mattress yet. Well s#!t, guess what? Can't find the attachment for the pump. Spend 30 minutes looking for an air nozzle. Lol . Wake up about three to Pee,look out the window see stars so everything's good. Sunday : wake up at 5:30 tiptoe through the house grab my phone & see a long line of messages asking about the rain. Hmm? That's weird. Open the garage door and it's raining. At this point I believe I threw up in my mouth a little and pulled up the radar on my phone and it's all green !!! The field can't take much rain because it is already soft from the month of rain we have had, and there are some big rigs coming, I got no more vacation, I don't want to send everybody home, So we gotta run. Light rain continues through the morning, all my helpers have arrived and things are moving forward. Raining still. Stress level in the red! I believe this is where I mentally shut down I can remember Sierra grabbing a hold of me by the shoulders and saying "Dad! You gotta take a breath". And also at this point Daron stepped up and basically took charge . Dan saw me walking around with my eyes glazed over and said it's all good it'll go by like a blur today. Which it did. Before I knew it the races were over and everyone was telling me how much fun they had had. This in itself acted like the needle that popped my stress balloon and everything was instantly better! Thank you so much for everyone that pitched in and helped make the day go smoothly !! I probably owe Flyin Ryan an apology,because I vaguely remember snapping at him when he asked me a question about someone moving in or out of the 700 club. Sorry buddy! And I've got a plaque saved for you too . Thanks again everyone for coming!!!!

[jgordo]

I've got a hug for you big boy lol. And I'm pretty sure in our conversations you said something about kissing your boss but it wasn't his ass!!! Really bummed about missing this year!! It will take a broken bone to keep me away next year!! Congratulations on a what sounds like a Race of the Year candidate!!

[Spooner]

My race was not exactly awesome but the course was an awesome layout. My start was not awesome however but made some shakes and jives in the first few corners to make up some spots. After that I was pretty much just trying not to crash. After hitting the ground fairly hard last race I was a bit gun shy and I had a hard time with the front tire packing with mud which didn't exactly help my confidence haha! Got hung up on the big log on the third lap I think but otherwise fairly drama free other than several close calls with the lack of grip. I think if I would have just stepped up the pace I would have cleared it out better but this just wasn't my day I think. Came through at the end with a few minutes to go and pulled off. I was barely tired but I didn't want to risk crashing when I wasn't feeling very comfortable on the course. No doubt I would have had a blast if it was just a little bit dryer and the layout was really fun. Looking forward to this coming weekend as it looks to be dry and beer west was a fun layout last year. I had a dnf from my spark plug becoming a poor conductor of spark last year so I'm looking for vengence.