Race Report: Tree Hugger Harescrambles

[SpeedyManiac]

This weekend we had the 4th annual Tree Hugger harescrambles up at the West Kootenay Motocross track (www.kootenaymx.com). Forecast was grim...rain and unfortunately the weathermen were right. Racing kicked off in the rain at 11:00am.

I was racing expert, alongside 2 others (small turnout, local race): Ryan Durkee (2nd in points) and Sean Hoodicoff (local guy, has been cleaning up in Intermediate so he decided to step up). Craig Murray (GG EC250) and his son Tyler (YZ125, but hopefully EC200 next season), whom I hung out with in Greece and had stay at my place before the race were in Vet Expert and Intermediate. Both Murrays amaze me; Craig just finished the 08 ISDE with a silver medal at 49 years old and Tyler, age 15, is really coming on strong in the Intermediate class.

Off the start I had my typical last place start. Luckily with the low turnout this wasn't a big deal. Sean and Ryan both put some distance on me on the motocross track, but I quickly caught them once we went into the woods. Conditions were slick, with technical offcambers full of slippery roots. Perfect GasGas terrain.

Ryan bobbled on a bridge letting Sean by while I still followed in 3rd. I took a bad line on a rocky uphill and got stuck for a moment, letting Ryan and Sean get out of sight. I caught Ryan on a slick rooty uphill and made a clean pass. We both caught one of the pros and made quick work of him. Shortly after passing that pro, we caught Sean (1st expert). I settled into his pace and decided to apply pressure, hopefully causing a crash. Sean made some bobbles but didn't crash. Luck was on my side as Sean took a bad line through a mud hole while I managed to get through clean, moving up to first expert. Ryan and I distanced ourselves from Sean as we continued along the course. The course was pretty gnarly, with mostly tight singletrack full of rocks, roots and MUD. We got a 'break' up an old skid road that is now a washed out mesh. Hello, ruts! After the skid road, we cruised up a muddy logging road with me managing to hold off Ryan on his RM250. It was then back into some singletrack, including a gnasty rutted uphill. My Gasser worked like a charm and took me right up the hill with no difficulties. Throughtout this section of singletrack Ryan and I played cat and mouse with the gap changing whenever one of us made a mistake, but me leading the entire way. After a checkpoint we came out onto a VERY, VERY muddy logging road. Ryan managed to make a pass on me in the sketchy conditions, but I hung with him into the next singletrack section. Early in the section I made a pass on the inside of a corner regaining the lead. I pulled a small gap in the section, but Ryan closed back in as we came out onto another logging road. I pinned it, but Ryan got me on the outside of a corner as we headed towards the end of the first 25km lap. Ryan bobbled on a log right near the end (complete with spectators) but unfortunately I couldn't make a pass. At the end of the lap Ryan had 3 seconds on me with Sean somewhere back behind us.

Durkee pulled me on the motocross track but I closed back in on him once we got in the woods. I rode smooth and consistent, trying to minimize mistakes. After the checkpoint, Ryan had built a 15-20 second gap on me and both of us were absolutely railing. Another couple minutes later I came across Ryan as he pulled off the side. He hit a rock and cracked his waterpump cover and had no tools. I tossed him my toolbag (complete with quicksteel) and continued on with a now solid lead.

The rest of the race was fairly uneventful for me as I had a very comfortable lead with no pressure. I tried hard to catch my buddy in the lead in the masters (pro) class but it just wasn't happening. I passed lots of defeated racers having trouble out on the course with the deep ruts and slippery conditions. I just rode smooth on my Gasser and tried to keep it upright. The rekluse was excellent in these conditions, letting me concentrate on line choice and making forward progress. I got stuck on the odd root and had one tip over, but nothing serious. Near the end of the last lap I hit a stump with my injured foot (broke at ISDE), cross-rutted and took a trip over the bars.

I pulled into the finish just before the 3 hour cutoff and since my lead was large, decided to let time runout instead of risking more injury to my foot. In the process a Craig got by me and went out for a 4th lap (he started a row behind me) so I gave up 2nd overall (only had 2 pros at the race, I got one of them though) but still got the class win.

This is my first win in the expert class and I'm definitely stoked! I'm bummed Ryan broke his waterpump cover as I was having fun battling with him.

Oh, by the way, there was 5 gassers at the Treehugger - 2 250s (mine and Craigs, which are both ISDE bikes from New Zealand) and 3 300s. Out of that, 3 of the bikes won their class. Not bad I'd say. I still can't say enough good things about the bikes and honestly think they're the best bike going for technical trail riding. Go GasGas!

[2 strokes 4 life]

Good to hear. Hopw the foot feels better. I cant wait to try my first one this weekend. Its supposed to rain and possibly snow all week and then be nice that weekend. Should make for some interesting racing. Thanks for the report.

[REVERUP]

Congrats! Nice report and nice ride Steve.

[SpeedyManiac]

Originally Posted by 2 strokes 4 life

Good to hear. Hopw the foot feels better. I cant wait to try my first one this weekend. Its supposed to rain and possibly snow all week and then be nice that weekend. Should make for some interesting racing. Thanks for the report.

Well, did you race the double header up there? If so, let's get a race report!

[2 strokes 4 life]

Ohh i wish but my Father was out of town and my ridding buddy could not drive eaither because he was hunting in the bush. It sucks because last year I had a ride but my bike could not race due to a loud exhaust system. This year I had a mint bike all preped but no ride down. I was very disapointed to say the least.

But, my Dad broke up with his GF so now all his weekends will be free for next season so I am going to try and make every PNWMA race for next season. I would also like to come down there and do an early ride because last year my practice trails were frozen until the end of May at least and thats way to long to go without ridding. Thanks for remebering.

[SpeedyManiac]

Best bet for early season riding is to go to Kamloops. I was snowed in on a lot of my trails until June last year (but the lower elevation trails were fairly clear by mid April).

[2 strokes 4 life]

Thats worse than my trails. I might have to go to Kamloops then.