Yuma, AZ race report 3-10.

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bnd
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Yuma, AZ race report 3-10.

Postby bnd » Tue Mar 14, 2006 4:55 pm

I went down to Yuma, Arizona for some R&R over the past 4 days & shipped my bike down there to race last Friday night.
The weather sucked as that cold front that hit most of the west snuck it's way all the way to Yuma, which is a few miles away from Mexico.

The track was fun & very fast but here are a few downers for me.

- I got 15 minutes of practice even though sign-ups lasted an hour. They wouldn't let people on the track without supervision & I guess volunteers are in short supply.
- The track lights were HORRIBLE!! I can't see very well at night in the first place & this was just iceing on the cake. Imagine RC with just half of their lights on.....that's about it. PLUS going down the first straight up onto a big step looked more like going into a tunnel than anything else. Very scary & frustrating to say the least.
- The gate was very slow & just didn't jive with the light cadence, a big delay between red & green.

They had 11 moto's & I had low points in 36-50 cruiser. I ended up 2nd overall. I lost to the local hotshoe. He was the fastest 40-something I have EVER raced against! (sorry Mike K.! :) ) I honestly thought this guy was in his teens when I practiced against him & he ended up being 45 yrs old. His main advantage over me was his gate, he had it wired. I would catch him out of turn one but it stayed even after that. In the 2nd moto I realized I had to get him in the first turn if I had a chance of beating him so I low-highed him with my left foot out, just as soon as I went up into him I lost the frontend & barely saved a washout. That let the 3rd place guy pass me but I stayed on course & got up under him in the 2nd to last corner for the pass. The main was my best lap as I got right on top of the leader & it was actually a good race to the stripe but I don't know how hard the hotshoe was pushing it.
After talking to him, he's never raced a national & was this "ex-pro mt. biker dude" who was in killer shape. No doubt in my mind he would do some damage on the national circuit.

The track was very fast & tight. Looks like it would be alot of fun just to putz around on & learn a few things. There is a Marine base right there in town & there was this young Marine who was 22 yrs. old who just started racing & asking me for some tips, very nice guy & was riding a pretty nice Standard he bought off of E-Bay. The people were nice but the weather was windy & cold. If I would of raced my 20" I would of been kicked down to the 17-18 expert class.........no thanks.

Thanks to Heather for all your help. 8)



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