Chanute somehow never seems to change temp wise.... 100 plus and muggy as a Panamanian cathouse.
Show up Saturday evening with rookie John and his big Kawi in the bed of my poor little Nissan an hour late after thinking 2 Army Vets and a GPS can outsmart the County Road boys at their own game...., we got where we needed to be, but I will give them kudos for not marking a damn thing
!
Shredder shows up and his enclosed trailer has this funny sheen to it, well at least we got a place to crash!
We got stories to tell of that evening getting Shredder back to Earth, but they will require a roaring campfire sometime in November AT CHADWICK, with at least 15 occupied chairs around it with a jar of Midnite moon makin' laps
Raceday morning, I hit Scoring, get my assignment, map, radio, and a killer smile from both of the two hottest women in the Scoring Business
( Dan is not one of them)... and run a practice/check loop with Superfast.
Just after the wet creek section at about mile 1.5 a spotted fawn jumps in between us an runs the course in front of me till it turns sharply to the South and exited the course.
Following the little guy, I knew that the kid has the speed needed for this Series, but Wattsy could make him faster
. Hehehe.
Lineup for the first show commences and after getting the rolling train wreck/comedy club/500 class... but dont know it yet (cough, COUGH!) line known as the 700 club a clean and legal head count, mosey back to meet my fellow sweepers and notice an odd pause after the board is dropped on each class no matter what speed percentage.
( could someone post a pic of the start board HAY BALE HOTTIE?
)
Anyhoo... I'm in the back making friends with my new sweep buddy 'Luke on the Yamaha' when Juniors launch, one of them Merwin style on a XR100!
I pull back guard, help the Kid on the wild XR 100 fix his shifter (Dad, replace it with a quality steel folder from Moose Racing cuz' that one IS done.....).
Ride up on the 900 that nuked his ribs, Sweeper has it covered. Ride up on the 10 class (1035?) about 200 yards later that the sneaky, grass covered field rocks snagged and rolled, and he has another sweeper TKB ....so I move on to the first creek section and hang out.
It is very plain that the Gent assigned to this section by Taylor Farms has had it for years and does not care for my intrusion... but is willing to be a sport about it.
We where chatting about the first lap before I took off to sweep the loop when I happened to glance down and notice a blinking red LED staring up at me from the mud in the creek on the primary line.
It was a GoPro Hero3 camera... no case, no ID, just the camera.
After finding out that it would NOT fit in my GoPro Hero2 casing that was on my lid .....
I took it back to scoring, it finished the race before its owner did
.
After pulling the trigger to buy one of the pricey little SOBs... it warms my heart to see one recovered
.
I clear my 1-2-3 mile section for the first race and note that #802 and its helmet haven't left the course. Dan is informed and I zip off to cooldown and rehydrate at Hotel Shredder before Round 2.
Stacking on the fast-mover show is odd as the 500's have a full line for once
, and the rest of the field looks a bit thin. I leave early and camp out at the first rock garden.
We let em' go, and after 2 loops.... with Luke in tow... and I'm thinking the YOUNG sweeps got it covered
.... so I can punch out and load up 2 bikes and gear in my truck since newbie John ain't having himself a good day ... AND help Shredder get loaded up since his ribs are making funny noises plus he starts explaining why the Serbians got a raw deal the last election without my asking.
And then my 230 hours-on-it KTM dies at mile 2 with 50 minutes to go on the late race. Fuel/carb problem.
Luke is a Trooper about it, and busts a ton of thorn-infested brush trying to get me out of there.
The only way out is against traffic, so I cut him loose to sweep and hoof it out.
I heard an accurate comment by the EMT's hanging out at the meatwagon as I staggered by, with helmet in hand... wondering where the Turkey Buzzards where.
Chanute is a demanding lil' beast, and the grin
IS that the place has the potential to be routed almost unrideable.... you children have no idea what that place is capable of....
WHOOP!
Tim
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