Hank's Place Race/Mud Report

[gcat7]

Man what a fun track Hank's is --appreciate all you guys did to put the race on.

Here's my story: Lined up with the usual suspects - quite a few 1000's in this race. Got a decent start maybe 5th into the woods. Passed someone after 1/2 the lap and crossed 4th @ the line. Basically 1,2,3 & 4 went thru the scoring table thru Lap one fairly close. I don't know who was leading might have been Sexton or maybe Presley not sure. Shane was the #3 guy I think

Lap 2- seemed 1,2,3 4 where running front to rear wheels the whole lap while I was eating Weimer's 3 place dust the whole lap -crossed in 4th I think again. Will have to check the results

Then Lap 3 the rain started and didn't stop until 5:30-6 that day. All I can say is that trail was an ice rink- Front & rear brakes locked up down hill and you pick up speed, it's never a good thing. We slowed to a "don't jack yourself up" pace - Hit the sweeping up hill way too close to Shane and lost all momentum. Down I went sliding right down to the bottom. After sucking some wind and watching a bunch 1000's go by, found an alternate route up the slip N slide knowing full well the off-camber root infested hill was coming up. Sure enough, at the off camber spot it looked like a bomb went off with bikes and bodies everywhere. I followed some dude off in the weeds and made it thru no problem and skied back in the down poor with the race cut short - 5th I think.

Then the real fun started watching escape from Mudville for the next two hours. I'm sure there a few campers & motorhomes still there.

God Bless the 4x4.

[Gibber]

C'MON GUYS! I SPENT THE WEEKEND IN BED WITH SOME SORT OF FLU BUG AND MISSED THE DARN RACE. SO BRING ON THE REPORTS!

GREAT REPORT GCAT7. TODD IS STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHERE HE ENDED UP. HOPEFULLY RESULTS WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW.

I THINK ALL THE RIGS ARE OUT NOW. CHUCK MARTIN AND TODD SEXTON SAID THE SPREE ESCAPE CAMPER LEFT BEHIND IS NOW AT THE TOP OF THE HILL. I THINK IT IS JASON CHANDLER'S BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET A HOLD OF HIM. IF ANYBODY DOES PLEASE LET HIM KNOW.

NOW BRING ON THE REPORTS DAMMIT!

[Spooner]

I'll go first for the 700 club. I had a mechanical take me out last round so I was hoping this would go a little smoother. Bike seems to be running a lot better so I think I solved the issue. The practice lap was uneventful-the course seemed pretty straightforward with only a few tricky spots. I knew the big double log crossing would bite some guys.

On to the race I got a good start and was second into the first turn. I took the inside line hoping to pinch off the leader but decided I didn't want to get T-boned and I don't think Phillip did either so I backed off. He was GONE from there and I attempted to keep up but I tried to play it safe. Around a mile into the first lap I was in a right sweeper and the front tire rolled off a small chunk of wood. When the tire hit the dirt again it decided to go to full lock right and send me over the bars. Awesome. Wouldn't have been so bad but it made the bike pointing off the trail past a tree so I had to do a 360 to get it back on the trail. I had a good lead over 3rd but by the time I got the bike the right way and letting guys by I was back to 9th.

The next lap I picked off Eric Shneider when he ran wide, and then at the double log crossing one 700 was stuck and John Gordon was stuck behind him trying to go around. The first guy finally got his bike out of the way and I was able to leap frog to the front of the group. Was 5th at the end of that lap. Pretty uneventful after that. Jared Kirkland did decided to eat it pretty good right in front of me and break his bars, I quickly asked how he was and he said he was OK so I marched on. Gordon did make a kamikaze pass on me I think on the 4th lap howling like he had a mental condition or something. I assumed he would ping pong off a rock so I let him go at the end of that lap but somehow he held it together to the end. Ended up 6th-not super happy as I feel I probably could have ended up second or 3rd with the gap I had early in the race but while I lost a bunch of spots by crashing I was gifted several back. Someday I'll end up on the positive end overall though

Luckily I had loaded up before the rain hit. I went down to check scoring about 2 and it started to rain a bit so I decided to head out and man am I glad I did. Really sucks for all the guys that not only had to deal with the course but getting their vehicles out as well.

[jimpres]

First and foremost I want to thank the driver of the tractor who pulled us out so we could go home. I also want to thank Amy, Ezra, and Ephraim Schneider for taking down my canopy and putting our stuff in the trailer so it wouldn’t get wet. I am very grateful to all of you for your help.

For the race I had a great start went into the Woods in second where I just stayed and looked for a place to pass. Finally about half way through the person ahead of me went wide and I was able to slide under him and off I went. I went through scoring in first. The second lap I was feeling good and was riding a great race for me never hearing or seeing anyone and went through scoring in first again. The third lap I felt the rain drops, in the beginning that felt great cooling me down. The rain kept getting stronger and the track turned into an Ice Rink and I slowed down to a crawl. Every time I tried to pick up the speed or get to a corner I would slide and hit the ground. When I on the straight away by the fence I picked up my speed again and caught an edge on my front tire the bike slid out from under me and I went flying into a sticker bush head first as I hit the ground a log or branch came through the eyeport and nailed me right below my eye (got me a nice shiner for my efforts). I hurried up to get back on the bike and took off again. I let some of the fast guys past wondering how they could ride on this and just tried to survive the rest of the lap. As I was going through scoring I found myself in second not sure who passed me or when but I knew that was it for me not worth getting hurt worse.

Now just waiting to see where I actually placed.
Great race thanks to the Land Owner, everyone who set up and help out.

[Gibber]

Keep it up guys. These are even cooler not having been there. I can almost see the drama unfolding right before my eyes!

Seriously, I am enjoying these reports!

[Bridgebuilder]

Another 1000 report .
I'm not sure it could get much hotter sitting on the line watching 1st 5 rows take off . The 500s take of , take a couple deep breath ,hoping I remembered to put my bike in gear . Dan drops the board luckily my bike was in gear into the woods with another hole shot . Turns out that my best qualification as a racer so far . So it sounded like a heard of bubble bees behind me for couple miles until 1004 flew by me like I was backing up. Went through scoring at 2nd . Shortly after scoring Todd passed me in a crossing. So I trailed him for remainder of lap 2 and into 3 .
When the rain hit and trail turned to ice my competitive blood turned to piss I pulled over let couple guys by if they could peddle faster than me have at it . I stopped to look at the off camber hill and 1044 took advantage of a place to pass me but that didn't work outo so well he got stuck next to the big tree . I went low and tried to come up on flatter ground but tipped over when I broke over the top . Picked bike up and peddled rest of the way in moving over for fast guys that didn't seem to notice it had even rained . Pretty cool to watch them ride in it tho .
Never so glad to see a checkered flag !! I think 6th place .
Thanks to all the people that picked up my gear and had it dry and Ryan for waiting around for me it cost him an extra night of camping . And I roosted his camper bad trying to get out .sorry buddy
The parking area looked more like a mud boggers event than a hare scramble.
One for the books for sure !

[jgordo]

Spooner I don't see how on earth you could have thought this race was 'fairly uneventful'!! This race was one of the most fun races I personally have had since Tony Toman and I had our epic battles in '14!!

I made my first mistake of the day when I chose to move to the far outside on the line with the 736 instead of taking the far inside right beside the 711. Why I thought a straight shot on the outside would be good I'll never know but Eric and I got pinned and started our own course through the knee high grass! I made it into the woods in front of Eric but we were at the tail end of the pack. Not very far into the course, maybe a mile I see the old familiar 711...in the middle of the trail headed straight for us!!!! Nick dodged into the grass before we got to him and the freight train went around unscathed. I was stuck behind an unfamiliar Beta that had something I was very used to in the woods...a BRAKE LIGHT! Every time he hit his brakes I found myself jabbing way to hard on my own. I just knew Eric was going to slip inside of me on one of my panic jabs. He never did and the first lap flowed by fairly nice. I was pleased to see I was in 4th and tried to settle down some and be smooth.

Somewhere around the two mile mark I noticed the deep braaap of the 736 had been replaced by a high pitched buzz...I finally snuck a look back and saw the 740 Kawi trying every alternate route he could find to get by me. At one point he was 5 feet to my left in the jungle bouncing off of trees and logs!!! I wasn't following to close in the real dusty spots and he went wide left up on the hill and went around me....I thought to myself 'that line could be useful!' As he pulled away I thought back to Beer Ranch East when he to Ryan and I he had run out of energy on the 4th lap....go man go!! I'll stay at my comfy pace. At the dual log jam I caught back up...only because Chuck Martin had decided to parallel park between the logs!! Well I found out you can't go right!! Boom there goes the 711 and 736...dang man!! On a side note I hope Chucks finger nail doesn't fall off, it got smashed pretty bad when he was parking between the logs.

Remainder of the second lap and the entire third lap consisted of Spooned, Schneider and I riding about 3-6 seconds apart! Man that was fun!!! On the fourth lap Eric was getting tired...or delirious because I saw his head bounce off no less than 10 branches!! In the ravine with multiple lines going downhill Eric must have missed a gear and ended up stalling his bike. I went right around and was bumping up behind the 711! He was keeping just enough speed so I didn't have opportunities to pass...until that wide open grass stretch!! I started slamming gears and sloooowly catching up. Fifth gear WFO and screaming like a man possessed I blew by Spooner!!! Unfortunately now I was about to hit the woods WAY to fast! Somehow I managed to save it but I was sideways, bouncing off trees and loose rocks all the way down the hill.

The last lap I swore my rear tire was flat and kind of backed off. I shouldn't have because I was catching the 740 and had there been another lap or even another mile I might have caught him. During my sight lap all I could think was this course was going to be way to tight and kick my butt, once we all got out there racing I discovered that the track flowed really nice and I actually enjoyed it!! Back in the pits I had time to change and load up and watch the beginning of the the second race. Luckily the wife decided she had perspired enough and said it was time to go. We packed Shane and Dave Johnson stuff up so it would stay dry and got the Heck out before even a drop of rain fell. I wish I could say I felt bad for the second race guys but at Beer Ranch West I got caught in the same thing on my last lap!! Luckily that field was pasture and no one got stuck.

Dan said Orrick might be real technical...I'm on vacation the week of the 4th, hopefully I don't have so much fun I have to miss it!! Happy 4th to everyone and see ya at the races!!!

[Richard Hammer]

Well by now most people know how the beginning of my race went... Did some scouting beforehand of the start and saw an inside line that was clear and knew most wouldn't take it. So Dan drops the board and the mighty #624 roared to life and I dumped the clutch only the bike jumped but bogged, clutched it and bogged again. Looking into that issue. Finally got her going just in time to be back half of the pack. This is where my scouting paid off and to my surprise no one had taken the inside line. Go scooting through and this results in an instant bar to bar battle for fourth with 635. I got a lil anxious to ensure I was out of the dust and battled a bit to hard going slightly off trail to the right. This was a critical error as I found a laid over log and came to a very sudden stop while the entire class cruised by. Got up and checked myself out determined no blood and still conscious so I'm good to go. Got it going and settled in for a bit at the back. About halfway through the first lap I followed a 700 through the bushes in the open field and made a few passes. Wasn't paying attention at the scoring lane to my place as I was sure I was a ways back. Pretty uneventful until i came through on the 5th lap and seeing I was in 4th! Ok I can do this time to pour it on. I picked up the pace and caught up with 603 halfway through the 6th lap. Time to start pushing him, he looked back and saw my number and tried to pick it back up. I could tell he was tired as the bike was swapping badly and he was fighting it. Bam wash my front end on a loose downhill turn and thought that was it. Gave chase again and to my surprise caught up quickly. The battle was shorter this time as he got loose on an uphill turn and I cut inside. Time to take it home. Put a few lap pets in between us and checked out. Pulled directly through scoring and to the truck where the bike and I fell in exhaustion. Started the cooling down process and trying to keep my lunch down. Heat got to me and I lost my mouthpiece to my camelback around lap 3 or 4 so it was a hard fought race personally. Made it out before the rain hit and was nice to get home early enough to clean things up and eat some real dinner at home. Good to hear everyone got pulled out safe and finally made it home.

[Gibber]

Anybody but me think Gordo was drinking more than chocolate milk when he wrote his report? So he was on the line with the 736?

Maybe Gordo is just obsessed with the Rocket Ship! Surely he meant 746 the Infamous Orangecrush!?

Man you guys are great! Keep 'em coming!

[orangecrush]

First off I want to tell Jim Presley that my wife has read your post and your welcome. She and the boys were happy to help, she knew you and Ed would be coming out of the woods wet and wanted to make sure the situation in the pits was a little easier on you both.

Here I go,
I knew it was going to be a hot day and dusty one. I looked at the starting area. I was not pleased on how short it was. The first corner was going to be sketchy. No hole shot I thought to myself. I lined up so I had a straight shot to the ditch. I was all the way to the left. Gordon looks to see how I was lined up. He decides to move closer to me, like I had a good idea.

When the flag dropped Gordon puts his front tire in front of my path causing me to change my line. Nice block Gordon. I settled behind him after the start. There was a least two bikes laying on the ground with the first 1/8 mile. I stayed on Gordon the best I could. Later I see Spooner facing the wrong way. All have to do Spooner is follow the arrows. I was later approach by a rider behind me yelling and revving. I stopped just to see who it was. It was a 740. This is the guy causing all the ruckes in the class. How ever I could not track that green 740 down. I made my mind up right there if someone starts scream and revving, I will not be pulling over from here on out. I don't care what class your in. If you can't pass me, then you don't need to be in front of me.

I kind of figured I had Spooner behind me, but I was not sure. Until I got bumped into some cedar trees cause me to miss a corner. There was no way to back out, so I gassed it and plowed my way through the limbs. it was just in time to see and hear Spooner "WHO HOO" me. I rode as close as I could, no way around. It was kind of like fishing. Spooner would pull away, I would real him back in, he would pull away. Each time he would pull away he was trying to create a dust cloud so I would loose track of him. I don't know how long this went on, but I was having a blast trying to push him into catching Gordon. It worked, we found Gordon giving advice to some riders how to get over those big tree roots. When Gordon saw me, he tried to stick his front wheel in front of me again. Not this time I said. I plowed his front tire out of the way.

Now we are running along with Spooner in front me and Gordon behind me. It seemed a few times I lost that two stroke sound behind me. I guess Gordon was fishing too.
Gordon if you saw me shaking my head, it was because I tried a different line to get 711. Found out I didn't duck my head low enough as I caught a limb on top of my head. My eyes started to watering. I was try to shake it off. It really hurt and it was a bad idea to take a different line.

Later in the race we caught a junior racer. Spooner got the youngster to pull over for him. I hesitated was not sure what the junior rider was going to do. Gordon yelled GO!! I took this opportunity to use the junior rider as a blocker. I later passed the junior rider off trail through tall grass splitting trees. I was hoping it would slow Gordon down. I don't know if it worked for sure. I found my way back to Spooner. I was going to make a pass in a rocky ditch section. I hit the brakes too hard, I didn't want to run him over. Instead I stalled the bike. Here comes Gordon on my left getting stuck between two trees. I tried to get the bike started before he got free. It didn't workout. I couldn't catch back up. My legs started cramping up. There was not enough head room to stand up and ride. I fell off my pace and proceeded in survival mode. I finished 7th not bad I said for a dusty race and missing the last two races.

Gibbs, I walked and rode around the parking lot looking for you. I figured it must be too hot for you to ride is the reason you didn't show up.

After watching the start video's, who ever decided to take out the green 740 machine. I just wanted to say keep up the good work.