Pcgp D-36

[Rick]

The opening round of the 2008 District 36 http://www.ama-d36.org/ racing season arrived on the 20th of January. The venue was at the Prairie City OHV Park, Sacramento, California. It had been several weeks since my last taste of racing; I did two Marathons events that were hosted by the Lodi M.C at the Lodi Cycle Bowl back in December. http://www.lodicyclebowl.com/

I arrived at Prairie City, OHV Sunday morning ready to go. This season I have decided to race in 40+ Vet Class on my trusty GasGas EC200. Today I would be racing in the third race of the day. The AA / A & B would run the 10 mile + course first. We’ve had a lot of rain up here in Northern California so the course would be pretty sloppy. I arrived at the park as the first race was in progress. I managed to find a place to park, and then headed over to sign up. I then dropped off my gas can over on pit row. If I needed the extra gas it was staged and ready to go. I then headed over to get my Gas’er sound checked, I passed with a 92db.

With the second race underway it was time to get dressed and give the bike a final check. With the second race coming to an end I headed down to the start area with my stick in hand to keep my bike propped up for the start. I found row six and line up about five bikes from the inside. I nervously waited for my row to start. There was a one minute separation between rows, with my bike leaning on a stick, the starter fired off the shotgun and my day was started, one kick and we were off the first turn. My plan was to use the first lap to sort out the course and see where I could make up ground for the remaining laps. The course had several high speeds sections and a few areas that were like riding on a cobble stone street with a light film of wet clay….very slick.
I managed to come into scoring area without a first lap soil sample. I now had a pretty good idea of the course, I just needed to put my head down and get moving forward. On the fast sections I was giving my 200 all she had against all those orange, red and blue 450’s….seems to be the bike of choice for VET racers. I was using the tight sections to pick off and make clean passes, as my second lap came to an end. On the third lap I felt really good and continued to push. My bike was running great and I was feeling good. I just needed to continue to move forward and try not to make any mistakes. I got a little aggressive and made a pass only to give the spot back….and then other spot. I stalled the bike in a tight 180 turn in very soft loamy soil, re-fired and finished my third lap. Lap four was going to be the breaking point, if I would get a fifth lap or my day was over. I managed to keep moving forward on the fourth lap and stay out of trouble. As came up to scoring I was told to keep going, I have one more lap. I also had a freight train of riders behind me. I did not want to give up my spot, but as fast as the course was, I thought I might be low on fuel, so I rolled onto pit row and found my gas can. There were two young ladies sitting on a hay bale right next to my gas can. I killed the motor and as I was taking off my gas cap when one of the girls grabbed my can and started pouring my fuel, she dumped a gallon and said “get going” I fired up the bike and rode out of the pits at 5mph. I knew I plenty of fuel in the bike, I just needed to ride smart and stay out of trouble and I could have a good day. I managed to get through lap 5 with no major problems, or soil sample.

I finished the day with an 85th place in class out of 193 starting riders. My Gas Gas finished strong. http://www.ama-d36.org/results/2008-...or-Overall.txt
My next race was going to be the Thunder Hill GP on Super Bowl Sunday. On Wednesday I came down with the flu and elected to pass.

All in all it was a geat day of racing, no broken parts, the bike ran perfect! I managed to not sample the red clay and I was the only GasGas at the race.....