Raced a little Hare Scambles on Sunday (that's where the race promoter sets up a course about 8 miles long, and then sets a time limit to run the course over, and over, and over...) in Idaho. The beginners and Ametuers raced first for 1 1/2 hours, just to get the ground all chewed up. By the time the experts started the 2 hour race, a lot of the course was just a long dust rut, with the steep hills and draws nothing but mush. Unfortunately, we have not had any rain in a long stretch, so the course just fell apart. In the end, a lot of folks just quite, especially those on smaller CC bikes. But, as you might expect, my big 500 was the ticket in this event.
One cool thing was that Brian Brown came out to race. As I came into the home check, he arrived immediately behind me on his final lap. I encouraged him to go around and finish ahead of me so I wouldn't have to endure one more "fun" lap, but he was unwilling to rob me of the fun for which I had been so willing to pay just a few hours earlier. (In a Hare Scrambles, when the time limit is reached, everyone is finished, regardless of how many laps you have gone. So, if Brian had passed me, I would not have lost any places in my class or overall, but would not have been FORCED to take another loop. Ugh.) I've known and ridden with Brian since he first threw his leg over a 125, so I knew he was just having fun. I took took my final lap, although a little slower than the previous laps, as there was no one behind me to take a position.
In the end, Brian won the overall, another Kawasaki won the second and third overall, and my big green won the Over 40 Expert class (11th overall), one full lap plus a lot of additional positions in front of second place in my class. In all, one of the dustiest sandiest, most brutal events I have ever entered. Except for the ISDE events, this one gets the toughest award. Boy was I thrilled to have all those horses under me during the race.
The bright spot in the event was catching a Blue 250 as we both approached a long loose uphill with a ditch and a steep downhill at the top. I took a high position on the side hill, and hit fourth gear as I passed the little 250cc as we crested the top of the hill, going twice the speed as the little stuggling quarter liter. Don't even remember going over the ditch, as I was too busy trying to scrub speed (and raise an ungodly amount of dust in the process. Poor little 250 guy) before hitting the steep rutted downhill with a sharp left hander at the bottom. Ya know, never saw that Blue bike again. I guess he was scared of my big green monster...
Way too much fun...
Rick
