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Troy
Motocross
August 12th saw the
CMRC Atlantic Fall series get underway at the new Troy,
Nova Scotia track in Cape Breton. This track was
built and run by Mason MacLean, his wife and volunteers
from the area. In actual fact, there was a
motocross race run at this track way back in 1989.
For this year the track
was re-designed to include some nice, user-friendly
double jumps and a great set of whoops which held up
well during the entire day of racing. Conditions
during the weeks leading up to the event were hot and
dry with ZERO rainfall, making for very dusty track
conditions. Thankfully, due to Mason's hard work
throughout the day, the dust was kept to a minimum and
the racing action was great.
Unfortunately I didn't
take a single photo during the event! I meant to,
I really did, but by the time I clued-in, it was already
too late and I had to get ready for my last moto.
So, to make up for it, let me write a few words about
the GP Pro/Am moto which must have been pretty exciting
to watch. I know from a rider's perspective it was
a real thrill to participate in.
GP Pro/Am
Kirk Avery didn't holeshot the race, but he wasted no
time getting to the front of the pack. It was
clear his intent was to check-out on the boys, and
that's exactly what he did. Lap after lap I was
dismayed to see Kirk stretching out his lead, while I
was racing in 4th place behind Joe Doucette. It
was clear to me that my race would be for second, and
while I was thinking about this, Caveman Joe crashed at
the top of the hill and was actually laying on that
large mound up there as I went by him. He seemed
to be okay, but he was slow to re-join the race.
Meanwhile local hero
Avery MacDonald was doing some checking-out of his own
in second place. No matter how I tried to keep him
within a reasonable distance, he continued putting time
on me and my Honda. So far off was my pace that as
I went off the large downhill jump after the whoops,
he'd be coming down the hill on the other side of
that uphill/downhill section - a gap of about 7-8
seconds. It looked like a distant third place
finish was in my future.
But, after referee
Frank Campbell gave the halfway mark, I knew I just
couldn't settle for third - I had to try for at least
second place! It was a large margin to make up,
but I figured if I could just wick it up a bit and hope
that Avery MacDonald might tire and settle into a
comfortable pace, I might close within striking distance
by the end. So, in the coming laps I increased my
pace and began to attack the track with greater and
greater aggression. Soon I could tell I was
hitting the obstacles faster than before, and turning in
faster lap times than I had all day. Finally, the
track was coming to me and the distance between Avery
and I began to shrink.
In the closing laps I
could finally see him on the same straightaway ahead of
me, and to my surprise I could see Kirk Avery too!
And he was behind Avery MacDonald! I
figured Kirk must have crashed because he had such a
huge lead earlier in the moto (later I learned he did
have a nasty crash in the big left handed
sweeper).
Now I had an
opportunity to definitely improve my position - maybe by
two places. I pushed harder and harder but I was
running out of time. As I bashed my way through
the whoops and braced myself for the coming berm I
noticed I was not tired - I felt great. I thought,
"Finally I have my conditioning back" since my
broken collarbone from two months ago. My
confidence was building and Kirk and MacDonald were not
too far away from me now - maybe 2 seconds as we crossed
the finish line on the white flag lap. I held the
power on extra long on that straightaway and made up
another second. We all hit the whoops at full bore
and around the next corner and up the hill. At the
top of the hill was where I was making much of my time
in the previous laps and as I crested the hill I gave my
250 all kinds of throttle. At the same time Kirk
swapped a little bit and I came right up on his rear
wheel. It was a surprise to him because he didn't
realize I was there and he turned his head and looked
right at me! Darn! My surprise attack was
over and now he twisted his throttle even harder than
before.
We shot down the hill
and over the little double jump. I thought of
making a move here, but it seemed risky and I didn't
want to take anyone out. Avery MacDonald was just
in front of us and I could tell Kirk and I were pushing
him to his limits. We were all bunched together
tighter than a knot after 20 minutes of racing - Larry
McCaw (the track announcer) must have been shouting into
the microphone. I had no way of knowing - I
couldn't hear a thing over the roar of our three
bikes. We rounded the next corner and leapt our
way through the double-jump, tabletop, double-jump
timing section and approached the next big left handed
sweeper - this was my worst part of the track all day,
but I did what I could do to stay close to the
leaders. Into the final two corners I didn't
follow Kirk's line and tried to line him up for the last
corner - he went to the inside on Avery MacDonald and I
went to the outside with Avery. MacDonald hit the
berm well and shot off for the finish line . . . I came
in too hot, and shot over the berm altogether - I just
couldn't hold the line, it was too much speed.
Avery MacDonald held on for the win, Kirk crossed the
line in second, me in third.
It wasn't the way I
wanted to race to end, but I really put in my best
effort. I made up a lot of ground on Avery
MacDonald so I felt positive after the race. You
can't win them all, but races like that prove you should
never quit and keep pushing to the end - Avery MacDonald
won that race because he was in a position to capitalize
on Kirk Avery's crash. And he was in that position
because he didn't stop pushing!
See you all in
Fredericton,
Roddy
Photos
are in the Media Gallery
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