Daniel Boone MX
London, KY 2002
Since this is Mom's Column, and this Mom had to be at USA National Cheerleading Championships in Anaheim (actually I had a great laugh at all of the people that had to be at London, since I was sitting pretty in 84 degree Southern California weather and they were in what may be known as the Boone Typhoon), I called upon other Mom's to give me their best perception of Round Two of the Outdoor National MX Series. The main consensus is that although Daniel Boone MX didn't go through the usual four seasons, it was indeed a weather miracle weekend. Actually I would love to hear how the local weather man forecasts weekends like this. Do they have a 'Weather Term' to describe rain that comes at a horizontal angle?
I first called on our local ib Racing Mom, Kim Adams (Derek Adams - Open Pro-Am), to see what she thought about London. According to Kim, "It rained so hard we had to put straw around the motorhome. It was a muddy mess. I felt sorry for the guys that raced, but I felt more sorry for the ones that had to clean up afterwards." (Trust me when I totally understand that, being one of the 'Ones' who had to clean up after a mud race, I can tell this was a challenge that could have made prime time on Fox TV.) Kim added, "We had our mucking boots on, they (the Pro class) got halfway around one lap or so and the rain came in sideways and soaked us through. It was raining and then it sleeted or something,. Our mucking boots got filled halfway through. I remember (Tim) Farr came by with no goggles, then someone else came by with none. I just felt so sorry for them."
Mainly it started out with a threat of nasty weather that was fulfilled in varying degrees. Saturday the drizzle started. Drizzle, no problem. Drizzle upgraded to Showers, which turned into occasional Rain, which grew to Steady Rain by Saturday night. Sunday there was a slight reprieve before the major dump began and according to one witness, "All them trailers and motorhomes parked in what they thought was good places, began sliding down the hill." Evidently the parking at London is minimal. A lot of people chose to park on a slight incline so that they wouldn't get mired in the muck when the weather hit. So picture some very pricey motorhomes and trailers all parked just like cordwood on a hillside, and one of the top one slipping just a little bit and bumping the one down hill: that's right, Dominos!
Many of you know that Dana got himself in a bit of a fix in Macon. Exertional Heat Stroke was definitely not going to be a factor this weekend. Of course if anyone passed out in this weekend's race they would need a lifeguard to rescue them! Dana spent the entire time between Macon and London under Doctor's orders not to lift anything larger than a water bottle and to do NO exercise other than light walking. Jamie nearly had to sit on him to keep him in one place, but she was able to follow the doctor's orders to the letter, including keeping his burns bandaged and healing nicely enough that Dana was released to race in London the Tuesday before the race. Of course since they were traveling from Colorado Springs, Colorado, that meant they had to leave the same day he was released (translation= no practice for over a month). Dana, Skip, Grandpa Jim, Jamie, Derek, Jim and Kim all arrived in London not knowing whether or not Dana would even be able to hold onto a bike, much less actually race. One obstacle was fitting his glove on over the bandages. Although his hand had begun to heal, it wasn't even close to 100%. It had to be kept clean and dry. This proved to be one heck of a challenge for Jamie with the Boone Typhoon building. Dana promised to take it easy and just putt around the track so he could get used to riding again.
Saturday's Pro Qualifier found Jamie working extra diligently to tape Dana's hand up to keep the elements out and the good stuff underneath the bandages. Evidently she did a great job since he was able to holeshot the qualifier. London was working on the Summer part of the weekend; the weather was warm and sunny to start with. Dana had the lead with Jasmin Plante, Steve Runkel, Tavis Cain and Keith Little hot on heals. Dana worked up a comfortable buffer up till halfway through the race. Just before the starting line jump (where a good size group of spectators and the mechanics all watched from) someone's dog bailed from the owner and Dana literally mowed the dog over. He had an over 18 second lead over Jasmin so he pulled over and yelled, "What do I do???" For those of you who do not know, Dana is a HUGE fan of animals. He didn't see the dog run out; it was on the down side of the jump, and it really shook him up to hurt it. Skip told him to, "GO!" and he went over with the owner of the dog to see what assistance could be given. Although the dog was traumatized (as well as the owner, Dana and a lot of other people who saw this unusual situation), the dog was not seriously hurt, and will probably be up to his old tricks of trying to evade the leash in no time. Right after the mowed dog lap, Tavis decided to take a daring move and go for a pass in the back section triple. He went for it to try to get around Steve Runkel and ended up endoing himself and distracting Steve just long enough for Keith to see an opportunity to slide into third position, and within striking distance of Jasmin Plante who was still running second. Keith ended up reeling in Jasmin for a narrow second place finish in the qualifier. After Tavis took inventory of what body parts and what bike parts still worked, he ended up not too much worse for wear, but still had to run the LCQ.
Pro Moto one started out with Tim Farr taking the holeshot with Jeremiah Jones, Keith Little and Dana pushing him around the corner. So much for Dana taking it easy. Tim was running the Honda CRF450 that he had run in Macon. I know for a fact he was torn between his old faithful YZF and the new Honda in Macon. Julie LeMay, Tim's fiancé confided in me that he really had a hard choice there and to be honest she didn't know until he came out of the first corner in Macon what color bike he would be on. Evidently Tim has found his comfort level with the Honda. Farr was able to hold Jones off for most of Moto one. Having Jeremiah Jones (or any national caliber rider for that matter) knocking on your rear bumper and looking for an open window to get around you for over half of a twenty minute plus race has got to be unnerving. Tim didn't appear to have any worries as he calmly and efficiently ate up track. Jones made a few risky moves and got around Mr. Unshakeable but only for a turn or two, when Jones ended up overshooting a turn and executing a textbook perfect 'All-System-Stop.' Jones wasn't the only one looking for a window. Dana was waiting for opportunity to knock and was ready for the challenge. He charged into second and quickly caught up to Farr, but Jones had also quickly started his 250 Sparks engine with one solid kick and really only lost a couple of seconds on Tim. A couple of seconds in a tight race can be the equivalent of two or three positions. Luckily for Jeremiah it was only two positions. He proceeded to press Dana and Tim. All the while that the action in the front was going on (with Dana just putting like he promised), Doug Gust was doing what he loves best: working his way through the pack. Jones had to not only fight to hold position and hopefully gain position, he had to hold off one of ATV's legendary masters. Offensive and Defensive riding all at once. Actually I think all the top four riders were literally hanging on for dear life and hoping that they didn't take each other out. Jones worked his way around Dana with Gust sliding in right behind Jones. Somehow Keith Little and Kory Ellis had worked there way up to the front lines and slid into respectable top five finishes for Pro Moto one.
I heard there was some excitement over a yellow flag and what the rule was about passing under caution during Pro-Moto One. I am not certain exactly what happened but evidently someone (or several someones) were down on the course and a yellow flag was waving. Jeremiah Jones did what he thought you were supposed to do and didn't double anything, didn't pass and didn't get DQed for his effort. I think there must be some ambiguity as to the rule here because someone else did pass and nothing happened to them. Brenda Jones, Jeremiah's mom, says, "I think the yellow flag is the main thing that really confused us. We were really confused as to the rule, I think it is my fault that he didn’t go for it in the first moto. I told him he would be disqualified not just docked a position or two. Kept telling him to watch out for that yellow flag, I probably drilled him too much on that." There was a lot of discussion and a lot of excitement over some happening that I am unclear as to what happened. Anyway nobody got in trouble for passing on that particular yellow flag in Moto one.
Pro Moto two was a different story. Since the Pros run at 12 and 3 (according to AMA rules), and the weather had been so dismal all day, many of the lower parked Motorhomes and trailers had made the wise decision to get out of Dodge before their fates with mud were decided for them. The crowd could see some threatening weather working its way directly to the track, and saw the writing on the wall, but had no idea just how nasty it was going to get. I heard from a lot of people that they got out just in time. Many of these were out on the Interstate when the weather hit, and aid they could barely keep it on the road. Even the locals said they had not seen much worse, weather wise. Most everyone, everyone that was smart anyway, ran for cover. As the Pro-gate dropped and Farr chalked up yet another holeshot (is this an endorsement for Honda and Mark Baldwin or what?), God turned the faucet on London, Kentucky. Jeremiah and Dana tucked in behind Farr looking for and hoping for a mistake to let them by. Dana wasn't having any of the Jeremiah getting by first this time, so he made his move in the first lap and commanded second. High winds hit about this time along with the rain, forcing the riders to take inventory of the track and their machines and decide how best to change tactics to survive the race. When I say high winds and rain, I am not kidding. Everyone said that the wind and rain made it appear as if the rain was coming in horizontally. Skip said he was soaked completely through to his skin with water running in rivers down the middle of his back within thirty seconds of the beginning of the rain. Dana ditched his goggles right away, since they were doing no good in these extreme conditions and went for one of our Nor-Cal-Highly-Tested-Rain-Mud-Race techniques: Hit the mud puddles hard enough and open your eyes real big so that it washes the big part of dirt and mud out . Jones got around Dana and once again Mr-Work-Your-Way-Up Doug Gust slid in right behind Jones. Dana chose survival and a hope of an open window for his strategy. This turned out to be a good choice when Doug found himself reenacting his childhood summers and using the section just past the Supercross Six as a Slip and Slide. Jones evidently felt a bit of nostalgia and toyed briefly with the notion of hanging out with Doug, but he ended up just tangling with him for a minute or two. Dana charged by Jones, but once again Jones recovered and quickly began to work on regaining his position (can you say, 'Never Give Up?'). Somehow Tavis Cain had gone down on the downside of a jump just before the finish line and the yellow flag was once again flying. Here is where things get a bit confusing (as if all the mud wasn't confusing enough). Tim came through and it was waving. He slowed and didn't double anything and easily took the checkers. Dana came through with Jeremiah tight behind him. Dana thought it was waving so he did what he was told the rule was and rolled the doubles also. By the time that Jeremiah came to the yellow, he didn't see it waving so he raced through and passed Dana at the checkered flag. To say the least Dana was perturbed about this, and stopped on the hill with the flagman and proceeded to let his protest known.
The powers that be determined that the flagman had been waving the flag as Tim and Dana came through, but not as Jeremiah did, so everything was ruled official. It doesn't seem possible that he quit waving that quickly or maybe that he (the flagman) even remembered correctly withseveral irate pros and officials staring him down, but the final ruling was that no infraction had resulted from the pass. Dana and Jeremiah did their best to review what happened just to make themselves sure of it, but it was hard to see with all the weather.
This situation is an example of why our series needs specific 'training' for our flaggers with minimum age and skill levels so that there are less of these type of mistakes for future participants. To be fair, I think that flagging is a difficult and often thankless job, but we still need to have some basics understood by the people that we are entrusting our rider's safety too. First they should possess the necessary intellectual capacity to understand when they should USE a Yellow, Medical, or other type flag depending on their specific duty. Second they should possess the necessary stamina to STAND at focus on their area during the races. I don't see any problem with them taking a break (sitting down, eating, drinking water, or painting their fingernails -- another story yet to be told...) between motos, but definitely a flagger should be ready to assist or guide the racers when need be without the distraction of attempting to get out of one of those low chairs (that are so hard to get out of when you have been sitting in them for a while -- I personally have seen flaggers struggle to get out of chairs during a race when a crash happens in their area). Third, flaggers need to possess the physical strength to assist in removal of debris or assist a rider out from under their bike when appropriate. Fourth, flaggers need to possess common sense how to USE the flag - example: a rider is down on the inside of a blind corner: the flagger should stand a distance in front of the downed rider, blocking and protecting the downed rider, and direct traffic to the outside of the corner, waving the flag near the eye level of the oncoming traffic. As far as I am aware of, these exact instructions are not printed anywhere. However, it is what I would expect a responsible flagger would do for a downed rider. Finally, the flagger should meet a minimum age of say 16 years old in order to realistically comprehend the importance of their job at a race. I have seen some very young people flagging in some of this season's races (as well as preceding year's races). Now these are just my wish lists for flaggers, and I know that I can have higher than normal standards sometimes, but I am just looking for what is the safest in an unsafe world for our riders.
Tim Farr went 1-1 giving him the overall for the muddy weekend, withJeremiah Jones taking home the #2 plaque andDana Creech earning his first ever podium finish in the Outdoor Nationals. Needless to say,Grandpa Jim's face nearly cracked from smiling so much. Skip couldn't have been prouder (or wetter) so he made Dana pose for this pic. We are so incredibly amazed at this because of the fact that Dana was only 'putting' (remember he promised to take it easy).
I am sorry that I really don't have much on the other riders at the races.
Jason Dunkelberger must have done something good, since Skip was able to snap a couple of good shots of him.
Shane Hitt also must have been in the right place at least for this shot. And I am not sure howTim got behind Dana here, but maybe it was in practice.
My sources were extremely limited. Debbie Heatherly, Wesley Heatherly's mom, said that the Four Stroke B class was once again one of the tight races. Wesley didn't qualify because of "gate trouble, mud trouble and simply bad conditions and bad luck for the weekend." She s says that he had fun and really enjoyed the fact that his class has grown to over 61 riders all trying for the 20 spots in the main event. In fact the first two Outdoor National MXs set records at both tracks for ATV attendance. London had over 640 riders on hand for the weekend. 640 ATV Riders all in one place!
Debbie had a thought about London. She says, "They need to either move the date, because the weather is always horrible. Maybe set back a bit in the schedule. We had no snow this year. But the trailers and motorhomes like to never got out of the mud pits. They had added to the parking, but if you got down in the lower area with motorhome and a trailer, I don’t how you'd get out of there" Wait for Spring? Build a barge?
Debbie added her best recollection of injury reports, including Josh Garland (from Lawrenceburg) breaking his collarbone in the 2 Stroke B when he cased jump. He should be out about six weeks she thought. John Natalie went down ugly according to her, but knowing John he probably brushed himself off and will race the next race with little or no visible damage.
I have an update on Mark Burns who kissed the handlebars in Macon. Somehow he really whacked himself in the eye. He happened to be in the emergency room when we were so we got to see him in all his glory. He sent me pics to share with you all. This is before, and well, he is all better now. He heals fast.
Well, I wish I had more, but Skip was the designated video guy and camera guy this weekend. You know how his videos look (thank God you can't hear them when I post a picture from video....). Mostly he gets his knee, the camera strap, the trees and once in a while a glimpse of the race. This time he wisely chose to be Dana's mechanic and try to snap a couple of pics for me (I loaned him my camera, and believe me I was sweating that one). Anyway, you have him to thank for his awesome photography skills in London.
That's all for now. Drink lots of water (not track water though...), and don't forget to call your Mom to let her know you are safe.
Mom
|
