My dad and I headed out to Henderson, NC for the Virginia Cross Country Series race there. Yes, a Virginia race in North Carolina. I’ve only rode about one time since the SORCS 8 Hour at the end of May, so again, starting the race I was a bit rusty. (excuse)
Until this race, I had not been to a VXCS race since probably 2007 or earlier, and had not been to NC Motorsports Park since 2008, so I was pretty excited. I also had some cool new number plate backgrounds in the form of green duct tape.
I signed up and they gave me number 405. Since I didn’t have the number on the bike and they have old school style scoring, they gave me 3 sheets of sticker paper with my race number written on them. This added to the sweet looking backgrounds that also featured Offroad Junkies stickers, “Goon It Up” and “Team Awesome” written on them.
As I lined up for the start, a guy helping the kid next to me complimented me on the sweet “Goon It Up” phrase written on the side plates. As more riders lined up we all talked, and since they didn’t recognize me, they asked about what series’ I raced and whatnot. It was pretty cool to not have a ton of people know me for once.
The riders meeting was to the point, the prayer was good, and the start was on time. I was so happy about all of that. On the start the guy that runs the VXCS series held his hat in the air to signal 10 seconds and dropped it for the start.
The start of the race was on the motocross track, so you went right into the motocross right off the start. As he raised his hat, I threw my foot up on the starter, took a deep breath, hoped for the best. He dropped his arm and we all took off. My bike started great and I had a pretty good jump heading towards the first turn. However, the 250-B and 4 Stroke B classes started on the same row, so the bigger bikes shut me out before I could get the holeshot.
As we rounded the second turn my back end kicked a little, I chopped the throttle for a second and next thing I knew I was in last place. Oh well, I’m here to have fun.
Going through the motocross track we hit a couple of tabletops and a step up, I was still hanging with the pack but was getting roosted pretty bad. Suddenly everyone else just rockets away and I find a bit of a gap, time to pick it up son! Coming up to the last few jumps before heading into the woods, I decided it was time to do some goon riding. I threw a couple of sweet bar humps, one good jump, then hammered down through the dust, jumped off the motocross blindly into the woods. Honestly, that was really sketchy, but probably not as cool as that just sounded.
We get into the woods and I’m still right with the pack. However, I also forgot that the Virginia guys are pretty fast. About 3 miles in the top 2 had finally checked out. Oh well, I’m here to have fun.
The track was pretty fun. Usually I don’t digg too hard on fast open stuff for miles at a time but this wasn’t too bad. It kind of reminded me of The General GNCC in a way. I actually recognized some of the trails from the 4 or 5 races I had ran there before, and they were actually trails I enjoyed.
Towards the end of the first lap my back end kept sliding out in every turn. I didn’t know what was going on at first, but after a few times and one good wadd up I realized the tire was totally flat. Oh well, I’m here to have fun.
I keep on keepin’ on. Coming out of the woods onto the motocross I asked myself, “To goon or not to goon? That is the quesion.” and as expected I gooned it out. There was a good sweeping turn coming into scoring, and the back end came way out through that turn. It probably looked pretty cool but I thought I was going to die. I come into scoring, stop, they call out my number and tell me to go. Old school, yes. I believe I was third at the end of that lap, and I could see the next guy in front of me.
As I head back out onto the motocross I slow down a bit to check out the tire. Yep, totally flat. Oh well, I’m here to have fun.
I did some more sweet goon riding on the motocross track and head back into the woods. A little way into the woods I can feel something else weird. Somewhere I managed to get a vine wrapped around the rear wheel and sprocket and stuff. It was kind of odd the way it was wrapped and I really don’t know where it came from. I spent a few minutes unwrapping it because my race was already shot thanks to the tire.
After taking my sweet time screwing with that I take back off and spend a while sliding all across the trail. Eventually the rear tire was about to come off the rim, so it was time to call it quits. I found a spot and took it back to the truck. Oh well, I was just there to have fun.
So that was it. Pretty sure I still got 3rd place in 200-B.
Props to the guys at NCMP for the great track. Also thanks to Vision Moto, Offroad Junkies, Davidson Cycle Center, and who ever else wants to imagine their company here.
Now I’ll likely take some more time off before I do some other random race. Until next time, stay tuned to www.visionmoto.webs.com and www.offroadjunkies.com for all sorts of awesomeness!
Bolton Adventures 