4 ACES NATIONAL

[KUDLA 363x]

I didnt see a thread for it below and the d-37 board is down so I'll just get it started on here! (even though you all know how the course was I just gotta get this race report outta my system)

the night before the race it rained for about a minute making no difference at all. the bomb was about 3 miles away from camp and there was no start line just flags on either side so people were scattered everywhere. the bomb was pretty tough, covered in rocks, whoops, and, (what almost took me out) rain ruts length-wise on the trails. I got a pretty good jump off the bomb. I think I might have been in third on accident because I was boggin off the start, but I got good drive and happened upon a smooth line flyin right next to the flag truck. slowed down after almost goin over the bars in one of those rain ruts and 10c flew into my line and then I was riding in dust the rest of the bomb. the first loop was pretty fast with a lot of different lines you could take (thanks to the experts) making it easy to pass and I was able to move up pretty quick. I had a really good race with 13c and 15x most of the way. came into the pits about 8th 250 ammie and got out gainin 7th. I guess my pin fell out of my steering dampner soon before or after because I was swaping all over the place through the whole second loop. it was pretty fast and headed straight into the hills. this is where it got tough. at the first huge down hill I finnally got passed back by 13c. then the "best 3 miles of your life" started which was pretty much all virgin trails through the moon rocks. then a huge uphill (not steep just super wide) covered in the lava rock where I crashed the one and only time. 15x caught back up to me but fell a few times so I was able to stay ahead. soon after we dropped into trails C1 and C2 and followed the same route as the Jackrabbits 2nd loop for about 10 miles. hit a really really fast road and made a hard right after a road crossing into deep sand a rocks which definatley isnt my favorite. after the 75 mile mark I knew they would through us into some good rocks and hills just to break us and they did, but it wasnt too bad. then we flew across a fast valley to the finish. I ended up 7th 250 ammie, an awesome finisher pin and some huge blisters on my hands from my new grips. medium compound scott grips = must wear under gloves! over all it was a great course. markings were a little confusing in one or two places but I think a lot of it got knocked down by the experts. it was pretty well manned, I didnt have to stop and wait for any of the checkers to come over and mark my card, they were all on top of it. Like I said earlier the only complaint was the lack of lime at the beginning so everyone was kinda scattered but what can you really do about that now. it was definatley a national caliber race and not my best finish but my best personal ride.

oh yeah and I dont know if that was the best three miles of my life, but definatly the most interesting...

THANKS 4 ACES FOR ALL THE HARD WORK!!!!

[Richie Wohlers]

Did the "best 3 miles sign" end up getting placed?  I assumed nobody made it out there to put it up.

[KUDLA 363x]

I didnt see it, but a little after the 45 mile mark I saw two stakes right next to eachother with nothing on them where it looked like it might have been at one time...

[MotoJeff]

Did the "best 3 miles sign" end up getting placed?  I assumed nobody made it out there to put it up.

The sign was not up when we were pulling ribbon but I had the honor of pulling the "I love Richie" stake.

[MotoJeff]

Hey Erek, you looked like you were still riding strong at check 5, 2nd check of loop 2. I don't remember seeing your bro Ryan come thru. How did he do?

[KUDLA 363x]

thanks a lot! I felt really good this race. I just need to practice down hills in the rocks. thats definatley my weak point. they're especially tough with my sprained wrist thats healin kinda slow. Ryan ended up 11th over all which is great seein as he needs the points after the DNF at DMC. He was having trouble with his bike stalling and he got tangled up with someone on the first loop and was playing catch up the rest of the race but says he still felt pretty good otherwise. I think we both had good mojo goin and felt great this weekend, we just gotta work on our starts. I've been getting good ones I just have to push all the way to the end of the bomb and ryan is still figuring out his kx450f.

[RElmo]

Did the "best 3 miles sign" end up getting placed?  I assumed nobody made it out there to put it up.

The sign was not up when we were pulling ribbon but I had the honor of pulling the "I love Richie" stake.

LMAO !  :lol:

[Ghostrider]

The Sign did not make it up.  When I arrived at check 6 Sunday at about 10:00, the sign was sitting in the back of my truck and nobody seemed to know how it got there.  Had I got the sign Saturday morning I would have gotten it up.  The start of it was actually that wide non trail huge lava rock hill.  We named it Maui.

The sign now resides in Dave Stogell's room over his bed.  He put an asterisk over miles and stated it meant minutes.