First Flat track race

My first flat track race went well. I had two goals: not to crash and not get lapped. In the first heat I did ok, I didn't crash or get lapped, but I finished 5th out of six riders. Between the races, I talked to one of my competitors. I thought I was racing 15-16 year olds, but no, these kids are more like 12. But they have been doing this sort of racing since they were about 7, so they have 5 years of experience on me, and they are fast. In the final main race, I finished 4th, only because two other riders crashed, but that's part of racing. I did however get lapped by two riders. It was lots of fun and I have much to learn. Bike and tires worked great, so things are looking good for the future. Next race weekend is Dec. 13th, so I'll hope to do better then. Cody is really starting to get the hang of it and was even "backing it in" at the corners. Some day, he may very well be one of these fast kids I'm racing against.

Going Flat Track Racing!

It's been awhile since my last installment, but I now have something to report. At the beginning of October, my friend Jason was wondering what type of racing he could get his kid into. Cody is 6, so I told Jason that I had heard there was flat track racing over in Puyallup, about 10 miles away. So we went and checked it out, thought it would be fun for Cody and went about getting him set up. He rides a KTM Pro Jr., a liquid cooled 50cc dirt bike, that we put some Pirelli scooter tires on, and he was ready to go.

He was doing so well, and it looked like so much fun, that I decided to spend some money and try and give this a shot. There aren't too many dirt bikes that I can touch the ground on, and seeing as I have no idea what I am doing, I decided to find a used CRF150R and race with some very fast 15-16 year olds. Ok, not everyone in this class is a teenager, but 90% are. I found the bike on craiglist in Portland while my friend Matt was in town from Fairbanks. I asked him if he was up for a road trip and he was game. We drove down there, bought the bike and returned.

But it still wasn't ready, as knobbie tires don't work well on the clay track. Plus, I also want to use this bike for some supermoto next summer, so I needed new rims and tires. I couldn't find any deals on Ebay, so I just decided to get some new rims. I did, however find a great deal on some tires on Ebay, so that helped the budget. I also bought a tire changing stand from Harbor Freight tools that works great, and Matt helped out with a race stand, thanks again Matt. Today was spent getting the new tires mounted on the new rims and then onto the bike. It all went well and turned out pretty good.

Tomorrow will be the first day on the track. Ok, not the very first time, as for fun a few weeks back I took my little TTR90 out there, but that was for fun. I did learn on the TTR90 that this is not as easy as some of the people out there make it look. Tomorrow, we'll get to see how I do. I'm not expecting much, as the "kids" I'm racing against have been doing this since they were, well, kids. And they are very good. I'm hoping to not get lapped by them too many times, but it should be fun. The bike itself is a fun, fast little bike and I'm hoping one of the young guns out there will take pity on me and give me some pointers, but I won't hold my breath. See you at the races.