Drexels "Best of The Desert" race reports

[WireFryer]

I'm almost embarassed to post my disaster of a day.., but what the hell .

Load up at 5am, roll trouble free and get to the shiny lil' burg of Drexel all dressed up in their finest right on time, and I am pleased to see the town just adds to the festivities every year, even the Lawmen ride their quads on the streets with no helmets .

The SuperFast/Shredder bunch are kind enough to save us a spot in the shade. All our Wives get to meet eachother as a group for the first time, the benifts of which remain to be seen.

Fun Fact; Sitting on your deck, the evening of July 3rd, drinking beer, watching your wealthy neighbors burn up thousands of dollars worth of fireworks... will be detrimental to your race results the following day .

Run my practice lap and know this ain't gonna' be pretty as far as my end goes.

Side note; Kmarshall9 thatnks everybody for their concern and support of his loss, especially the offers of gear and equipment .

The start is WAY different than in races past, we get a 50 foot shot up the pond dam and roll from there. The 600's do fine with the exception of a few wipeouts at the tailend of the pack.

The hottie drops the board on the 700 club, and out of the blue my XC-F don't wanna' fire, no killer W-burg start today!

It doesn't really matter because half the field is involved in a Glen Helen Dust Wreck halfway down the dam. Big thanks to the two riders who threw up their fists above the dust, kept it from getting worse than it was.

We all gnawed on eachothers tires for the first mile then thinned out, only to get into another Charlie Foxtrot about 1.5.

After that vision became the key factor, made the desicion to run another lap and see if things thinned out, they didn't.

Tucked my tail, and put her on the truck . Somedays the smart move it to park it and fight another day. Looking at the results, many of us choose to do just that.

Glad to see Shredder took home another 'trophy' from Drexel. He just can't leave the place without some kind of scar.

Tim
#713

[KTM_rookie]

Can't believe we only have 1 race report so far, so here's my take on the 700 Club race: I'll 2nd the notion WireFryer mentioned in his "Fun Fact". Enjoyed the cold beverages and relatively cool temps with family til 1am, not smart. Devon (#78) picked me up at 8:00 and I spent the next 3 hours trying to get as much water into my system as possible. During the practice lap we realized that it's going to be extremely dusty; all the loose rocks they seem to have brought in from Walter's Ranch will not be visible; therefore a good start is key. I was just hoping my bike would start on the first kick. Board drops, bike starts, and I'm staring at blue sky and listing to the right, invading on Devon's space. What are friends for?!? I get the front end down and get up on the dam only to come across the "Glenn Helen Dust Wreck". Hope all was well there.. I worked my way up to 4th by the end of lap 1 and during lap 2 (or 3?), I caught #703 & #740. I got around them toward the end of the lap but took the Chicken Exit at the creek jump, which dropped me back to 4th. (It was 2 years to the day that I broke my wrist and 3 ribs at that exact spot and I wasn't going to risk it...) During the 4th lap I reeled in #740 again and ate dust for miles as I worked to get around him. When I thought I had a small window of opportunity, I made my move only to find a hairpin left-turn awaiting me. I skidded to a stop while trying not to blow the corner, killed it and watched him go past me once again. Worked my way around him and back up to 3rd later in the lap and maintained that until lap 7, checkered flag in sight, sipping on the camelbak & idling along...when 740 zooms past me to take a gift-wrapped 3rd! Lesson learned! And the other lesson I took away from that race was "learn how to jump"! That jump looked really smooth, best one of any year at Drexel. Maybe next year... Great race, always one of my favorites. All the extra festivities make it even better. Thanks to all that worked to put this together and make it a success. Good times.

[KTM SLIM KARL]

Here I go I lined up on the in side of the 700s got 3rd out of the gate
well not relly I was the dust wreck me and one more went down
got up and to see I stop 15 700 riders (sorry)thank you for not
runing over me and my bike in motocross they would have done that
got the bike going front end was in bad shap got it back close
800s where comeing so I had to go I was 18 out of 18
I said if I am going to do it I got to do it now
In the frist lap I went from 18 to 5th I was on A mission I can not belive
how fast I was going last lap 6 min to go I pulled off I did what I set out to
do I held my own in 700 got 7th out of 18 not bad for a 150lb 54 year old
this is what I told the 700s when I lined up.

[shredder]

Once again Drexel has lived up to all my expectations...Wow! What a day, what a day!

I ran practice on the new Husky, still getting used to the smoothness, better handling and all that power at my finger tips. The Husky is about what you would expect at low rpm's but mid and high range is more like a two stroke. The more throttle you give her the faster she wants to go, man it's an addiction I really enjoy! I have never, ever ripped it up like that at Drexel, man I was going so fast around the grass / gravel road that I just figured if I had a come off or come apart I was going so fast that I was just going to slide for a quarter of a mile anyway so I just went FASTER! WAY COOL!

I line up and wait...the board drops and I hit the wrong damn button (never never ever hit the RED button - sheesh!) I shut the whole damn machine off, like slamming the car door with your keys in the car, you know what you did even before the door is completely closed. I turn it back on and hit the START button (black butt below the RED button) She lights up and says to me "what were you thinking?" I knew a good start was a must as the dust in practice was terrible.

I saw superfast as he made a killer pass on me as we entered one of the corn sections. I looked down and said "Husky, show me what ya got girl!" I pinned it and ran through all six gears - even pulled the wheel through most of em! I look over with a HUGE grin at Scott as I blow by him and it's then I realized I got a hard left hander and this is a ride I'm not going to make! So I slide sideways and give it hell but I fall and the front end washes out but I really don"t even care cause Scott's bike is fast as he is and I just made a move on this guy! So as I'm sliding on my stomach Scott appears in the dust and I hold both hands up in the air as to say "my bad" and I'm pretty sure he is crapping his pants trying to not to run over me and I'm still grinnin under my helmet...(some of my frinds think I have a sick sense of what fun...) Any how got to talk to Scott about that as he was ON FIRE that day - ripped up his hands pretty good smackin down the woop a$$! good job dude!
T climber showed up an was cheering me on in the rocky section - man that was awesome getting an adrenaline boost as I went by every lap - thanks Jeff! By the way come back with all your gear so you can really wring out the Husky, ok?

Got and pretty much held 4th position all day. The new speed coupled with control and power was mesmerizing to say the least. I eventually hit a locust tree almost head on as I slid in the thick powder dust. I deflect off of trees all the time but this one was packing THE HEAT! I noticed later that my right leg was really starting to burn and the pain was reaching my knee area. I decide to quit 24 minutes early. I found out that the thorns are in my muscle tissue and move around under my skin as I move my ankle and foot - shoot... I get to the Lee's Summit ER and spend 2 hours getting them out. one was really nasty and the doc had to break down and get a scalpel to cut that witch out. I didn't feel it at the time but OUCHY went the shot wore off (thank you hydrocodone). I just a little swollen and sore now.

Got to see Barry - that was cool! I got to have a chat with slomojo and Flathed. That was cool talking to Greg about the ride in the Rocky Mountains. If you like great stories, give me a few beers and me me to tell you about the time a guy I was following in the mountains about 12,000 ft down to 6,800 ft and Flathed has a flat front tire and runs his bike out of gas just 2 or 3 miles short of base camp after a 97 mile ride! Man he literally rode that beast till it would go no further....wow!

Thanks to all the workers - oh and the ramp was way better this year so I gave her a try in practice and decided to NOT do that again at race time. Good decision as I was just too tired to land it.

Thanks to all who helped AND the EMT's who helped me put also.

[shredder]

Oh! A big thanks to all the dudes texting me while I'm laying on the table after the doctor got finished cutting and digging.

The doctor (DR Peter Phan - no joke!) (a cool Chinese doctor) took away all the cool bloody stuff that might have made me look tough so this is what ya get! Brad...you are hilarious man, I was laughing out loud that finally got a nurse in there to check me out! (she didn't really check me out as Stacey was sitting with me...rather the nurse DISCHARGED me - yeah) and Flathed they gave me hydrocodone - not our preferred percocet - oh well.