D-36 E Street Scrambles
 

Last weekend I broke free and managed to get outside and give my bike a little TLC. I changed the transmission oil and put in a fresh air filter. I also managed to replace my clutch fluid and adjust the lever throw. I also cleaned out the power valve cover. My S-12’s are holding up really well for having about six trail rides and four races on them, I am hoping to get at least two more races out of them.

After a couple weeks fight with the flu I felt ready to get out and get in a little action…on the track. I missed the 2nd and 3rd rounds, so my season is….well not going the way I wanted. The 4th round of the District 36 Cross County Series was held in Marysville, California at the E Street MX Park. http://www.estreetmx.com/ The “E” Street facility is located right next to Feather River and the soil is very soft river sand and loam….very thick loam. I talked my wife into joining me for the weekend, she was eager to come out and see what my day was all about…….besides, I needed someone to help me out with gas if I needed it. The weather over the last week been excellent and most of the rain has moved on, it was going to be a perfect day for a race and I was feeling good. We arrived at about 6:45, found a great place to park. I headed over to sign trailer and got all signed up for today event. The “C” VET, seniors, Super Senior and the Sportsman was going to be the first race of the day.

The E Street facility is mainly a motocross course with several nice jumps and a couple of table tops all of which were pretty tame. When I was in the service I used to ride the deserts of So. Cal so I felt pretty comfortable with all the sand. I really need to keep the bike on the pipe, speed up and rail the outside of the turns. We were lined up on the 2nd row and there was 30 seconds between start of each row. When the starter’s gun went off I nailed the kick starter and………nothing??? Again a good swift kick…….nothing, a third kick, BAMMMM, away we went……almost dead last off the line. I just kept my cool and rode around the outside of the first turn, avoided the major bottle neck and tired to stay out of trouble. I then started to pick off a few riders at a time, and still manage to get to know the course. The course was winding its way towards a small tree line. At the tree line there was a huge bottle neck, the course was marked with ribbon, and was cut between two trees which caused the bottle neck. The pack ahead of me started to break the ribbon and go around the two trees’, which relieved all the bottle neck. Once through the tree line it was time to get back on the gas and try to get towards the front. The motocross sections were really fun; there was a nice step up jump that was fun. The course had some serious power robbing sections. There would be a 180 turn and a long straight away with ankle deep sand I just keep the 200 pinned and railed the outside of the turns to keep from scrubbing off my speed. As I came into scoring I was pleased to see that I managed to get into 20th place. The following laps I just used my head and tried to ride smart. On the third lap I managed to sample a little sand, I came into turn a little hot, trying to keep my speed up and my front tire into the rider that was ahead of me rear tire and I high-sided! I knew that I could not make the entire race on one tank of gas due to being on the main jet so much so, on lap seven I came into the pits for a splash of fuel. I rode to where my wife was standing ready with the gas can. I killed the motor and dumped in a gallon or so of gas. I changed my goggles and took off to finish out my day. I was put down a couple of positions due to the gas stop, so it was time to put my head down and moving again. I managed to bust out nine laps, which made me pretty happy. I finished 41st overall and 16th in class…. http://www.ama-d36.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duplPailQ_g check out the guy on the yellow bike, blue MSR gear and orange camel back 375X