DMC Pit Report

bleedBLUE-Scott · January 22, 2012, 06:28:37 PM

Well the trip started with a LOVELY seven mile rock crawling journey out to the rockpile

and then a nice dust storm for the icing on the cake. Could barely even stay outside it was so windy, and didnt let up all night. Oh well its the dez, what do you expect. Got up bright and early and was greated to a lovely breakfast from Ryan and his wife (thanks again!). Headed out to the bomb and had a sweet practice (the bomb was actually fast this time! *Shocker*) Got a bitchin start and had a pretty good ride. Only one looped it cuz ive been fighting off sickness for a good week now :/ But it was only Ryan and I holdin down the reins. But none the less a solid finsh for both with NO FLATS.

Richie Wohlers · January 22, 2012, 06:53:12 PM

Quote from: bleedBLUE-Scott on January 22, 2012, 06:28:37 PM
Well the trip started with a LOVELY seven mile rock crawling journey out to the rockpile and then a nice dust storm for the icing on the cake. Could barely even stay outside it was so windy, and didnt let up all night. Oh well its the dez, what do you expect. Got up bright and early and was greated to a lovely breakfast from Ryan and his wife (thanks again!). Headed out to the bomb and had a sweet practice (the bomb was actually fast this time! *Shocker*) Got a bitchin start and had a pretty good ride. Only one looped it cuz ive been fighting off sickness for a good week now :/ But it was only Ryan and I holdin down the reins. But none the less a solid finsh for both with NO FLATS.

Good job guys. I'm bummed I couldn't make it.

KGB · January 23, 2012, 05:52:30 AM

Made it to DMC but did not find any Four Aces other than Paul Ashford, and Jerry Mann hanging out by Brett and Glenn. So Jerry and Brett pitted me. Sorry, looked for stakes and flags but I could not find you guys.
First time starting with Expert line at a National Hare and Hound....what a chaotic start everywhere dust, nearly got T-boned by someone on a yz 250 going mach III trying to avoid the dust. There is a whole other level of competition on the expert line for sure. Nuts! My start was prolly mid pack but was picked off by several better riders. Came into the pits and Jerry and Brett were surprised to see me in so early or forgot I was on the expert line. I took a digger past Boone Rd going uphill on Loop 2, tagged a rock and endo'd 4th gear humming. Steve Williams was behind me when it happened and said I was lucky. Spectators atop the hill that saw it got a rider a Checker down to help. Lost a lot of energy and time getting going again. By the time I got going again, I had lost about 10 mins. and my rythme was out of sync. The second loop had two or three sections requiring some skill, the rest was relegated to a freeway of highspeed sections that had a few pucker rocks to keep you honest. After already hitting the deck I rode to fininsh.

Snowman · January 23, 2012, 07:59:14 AM

Glad everyone (almost eveyone KGB) had a good and safe ride. Wish i could be out there also. I have been trying to find out how the course was on the D37 message board but it seems as if everyone is beat or they just have any stories to tell, which is weird for a DMC course.

Bartman · January 23, 2012, 09:22:40 AM

Nice report! Looks like a club points battle is brewing early in the year! KGB/Ryan neck and neck!

Richie Wohlers · January 23, 2012, 12:01:24 PM

Quote from: KGB on January 23, 2012, 05:52:30 AM
Steve Williams was behind me when it happened and said I was lucky.

If Steve was behind you, you must have been having a really good ride!

KGB · January 23, 2012, 12:13:14 PM

Quote from: Snowman on January 23, 2012, 07:59:14 AM
Glad everyone (almost eveyone KGB) had a good and safe ride. Wish i could be out there also. I have been trying to find out how the course was on the D37 message board but it seems as if everyone is beat or they just have any stories to tell, which is weird for a DMC course.

I think everyone is keeping comments to a minimum since Lance Black was a fatality. Lance was an awesome guy to race with and pretty nice guy all around. As an ammie we engaged in a few contests, where he always seemed to get the better of me. The accident must have happened behind me because I only came up on one downed rider that was being taken care of and was standing up waving me on.

Ryan Romero · January 24, 2012, 08:05:39 AM

In my opinion, the best race so far including all of the 12 or so I did last year. Start to finish; the course was perfect and it seemed like I had a decent ride. Not sure how I did yet but I don't really care because I was having so much fun.

When we arrived, as Scott had mention above, it was windy beyond belief. Rolled in around 1:00pm on Saturday and just getting the trailer set up was a chore in itself. That was part of the reason there was no flag flying... it would have flown away. We ended up just hanging out in the trailer for the entire night playing games with the baby and relaxing. Scott and his dad came by around 5 or 6 so that was good; we talked and briefly laid out a plan for race day.

Race morning woke up to beautiful weather, stoked, had been talking with Brett Saunders about an exhaust system so went over to his camp and got a virtually new bad*ss FMF system for Trigger. Strange because I didn't see KGB... Had breakfast and went and ran the bomb with Scott a couple times. Had a decent start, one kick, and had clear air for about half of the bomb. First loop was so good, perfect mix of fast and tech, did my best to conserve for loop two. Stopped for gas and Joe filled me up as my wife fed me Gatorade. Second loop was more of the same great layout but maybe a little too much sand. On the other hand after trudging through the fine powder sand we were rewarded with really sweet downhill sections, tight canyons, and wide open valleys. It was strange because through most of the sandy areas and technical uphillâ€™s I was dicing with about half a dozen guys. Then on the steep, twisty downhillâ€™s they puckered out and I made up a ton of spots. I even noticed I made a position on one guy in my class. Once I saw that, it was on. They gave us a good 10-15 mile, with one good hill, straight shot to the finish and I had Trigger pinned. There was no way the dudes I passed in the hills were gonna come back on me, and they didn't. Finished the race in a little over 4 hours.

Very excited as this was my very first D37 last year, I was a beginner in the Open HWT and only did one loop (it is still my only trophy) and this year I was able to complete the entire course confidently. Very happy for Scott to get his finish, finally broke the flat streak!

My sympathy goes out to the Black family; I canâ€™t even imagine how they are feeling right nowâ€¦.