Muddy Creek, Tennessee is back. Last year we traded Muddy Creek off for Parker Valley. The only thing Parker Valley had on Muddy Creek was the pit area. But pretty much from there on out Muddy Creek beats the H-E-double toothpicks out of Parker Valley hands down. The track, although not much more technical than Parker Valley, at least through times consistent with other tracks (somewhere around 2 minutes). From what I remember last year, Parker Valley's was well under 2 minutes. Muddy Creek is a fast track. There are few air spots, and the rhythm section isn't that tough (of course I only watched, the riders may beg to differ with me). Most of the track can be seen from nearly any spot around it. The main part of the track lays down in a bowl with the track itself running the ridge of the bowl and occasionally dipping down into the bottom making it a good track to watch, even from a golf cart. The pits are a bit of an issue. They are on a hill. Make that two or three hills. Kory Ellis and Team Duncan picked one of the best spots but they were down all by themselves in the lonely area at the bottom of the bowl (of course their area WAS level...). The main pits were pretty tight and definitely on an angle. The other little drama that usually accompanies races at Muddy Creek is the rain (hence the name 'Muddy Creek'). The drive down to the track was all kinds of interesting for us. The area is really pretty, but dang if all those roads don't look the same after a while. I knew when we got to 'Meth Camp Road' we were in the right place. I guess I found the road name humorous since California is maybe a bit less innocent area. Obviously there was a bible camp down the road. In our area I can picture cars that go boom rumbling down that road looking for quick 'pick-ups.' Anyway, I who pride myself on an incredible sense of direction, found myself turned around a couple of times (it really shook me up).

We pitted with Mike Walsh again. Mike brought Walter along again to help with his pit needs. Of course Walter is one of our favorite people so we were one big happy family again. Since we were expecting a monsoon (predicted by the Weather Channel) our mechanics, Skip and Walt (with support from Mike and Dana) began to decide just how best to prepare the bikes for what was looking like a very wet weekend. Friday's practice was held under bluebird conditions. The area had had rain for the few days prior to Friday's practice. Then with the track operators putting out the extra effort and grooming the track to near perfect conditions, and finally with the weather cooperating, it made for some of the best riding we have seen this year. I figured I had better make the most of the day and find all the Kodak moments I could, since there were huge black clouds on the horizon and they looked like they were heading our way.

Saturday night the rain did finally come in and it wasn't a spring shower. It was a torrent. Big fatty raindrops that super soaked the ground, especially the starting line.

It looked like the area around the starting line and directly across the track from the announcer's stand were the best places to shoot and catch some action, so those were my first choices on Saturday for qualifiers and first heats. I slipped and slid down to get a good shot of the start and found that if I didn't play my cards right I would end up on my end. As it was, I survived the weekend without seriously embarrassing myself, but I did destroy one pair of tennis shoes and a perfectly good pair of sandals that had heretofore escaped the notice of my six month old puppy, Lexie, who has a particular fondness for my shoes. Aaron Price, Jeremiah Jones's nephew, found out just how hard it was to get through the start line. He bogged down something awful and waited for assistance during the 70cc class. I of course, waited with camera ready for what looked like a great shot of his daddy pushing and him hosing his dad with mud. But alas, dear old dad must have played that game somewhere before and also knew the pretty picture it would have made. Apparently he used the infamous words of Mr. Tom Carlson and told his protege to 'Just ride it Boy!'

It turns out that there was quite a bit of action near the start line. After the mud packed in some the starts were good. The track itself was a fast track and the riders are coming off one of the crazier parts of the track before they come right up to the crowd that seemed to bunch up at the hairpin right after the starting line. There is a big dip right after the corner that had a lot of rider's front bumper imbedded in it. Any little lapse of concentration and they were going down. Actually Dana was one of the unfortunate few that had that honor for the weekend, but I will get to that in a bit.

In the mean time (between races that I was looking for and checking what's up in the pits), I decided to fulfill one of the most requested photos that you have sent in: pretty bikes of pros and near pros. I think it would be a personal preference on what is the baddest bike out there. It depends on what you are into. Of the 250s Jeremiah Jones is definitely a top runner. Here is Jeremiah's 250R: 1, 2, 3. Even Jeremiah's dank old practice bike is pretty sweet (of course you know I am kidding when I say it is 'dank'). Shane Hitt has one beautiful bike 1, 2, 3, 4. Next we see Gilbert Attix's 2003 ride 1, 2, 3, 4 and Dustin Wimmer's pretty machine (that his mom polished right before this photo by the way) 1, 2, 3, 4. Tracy Solomon runs a number 19 (the same as Wimmer) but her bike is pretty in other ways. Her significant other, Gilbert Attix, makes sure that her bike is standing tight every time she hits the dirt (of course Tracy kicks in and helps maintain it as well). John Natalie's Legacy tuned quad is one of the nicest on the circuit as well. Mike Walsh runs blue flames courtesy of Walsh Racecraft and Sheridan Race Products, his bike is probably one of the finest out there as well. Jasmin Plante's import (actually it's a 450 Honda like a lot of other ones, it just travels over the Canadian Border frequently) is one pretty machine, and is about to get prettier (but then you will have to read all about that in my next column). Digger Doug Gust's TC Racing maintained Pro bike is obviously one of the fastest machines in the quad world of racing (or maybe it is the monkey on it's back).

Of course my personal favorite quad pits in our trailer....Dana's 450 photos (I undressed it just a bit for your personal inspection) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Saturday all day rain threatened. The Weather Channel predicted mondo rain happening. But for some reason, we escaped all of Saturday races with only a few scary fat drops. Still, our mechanics and riders prepared for the worst that threatened to come on Sunday (it seems like Mother Nature is especially fond of dumping buckets of rain at 12:10 pm and 3:10 pm on Sunday afternoons). Skip had the idea of cutting plastic (that looks suspiciously like the lids to Rubber Maid storage containers...) and utilizing zip ties to make a deflector to keep some of the mud off the rider and hence the weight off our rider during a heavy mud race. Our bad 450 ended up looking like a candidate for the New Flying Nun series (OK this joke may escape all of you who don't have Nick at Nite or who didn't have the pleasure of that particular series in the late 60s early 70s). We were ready for anything.

As I am writing this, I nearly skipped the Pro-Production race for Saturday. I am sorry to say that this class continues to uninspire me. I am working on it though. Before each Pro-Production Race I recite ten times, "I really like this Class, it is the wave of the future." I am giving it my best shot at being interested. So here is the way it went. Doug, Tim, John. Big surprise. What an upset! OK, OK, they looked good out there, but it was again, in fact, ho-hum. The one bonus is that since the action is somewhat limited, I am able to score some pretty pictures. I am sad to admit, though that I have trouble remembering all the little details of this race when nothing really changes after lap one. OK, then you ask, 'Why don't I just quit watching it then and give these guys a break???' I think it's sort of like a train wreck. You know what will happen and you can predict where things will probably end up, but you can't stop watching on the outside chance that it might have a different outcome. Maybe I am expecting too much. Probably the problem with the Production class is me. But hey, everyone deserves an opinion. Even when they are wrong. Actually, to be fair, I had a chance to cover all the riders/races I wanted to by Pro-Production moto 2 and I checked out and went into town to see a cheerleading gym. See the way I had it figured, if I didn't make it back in time for the second moto, it would be sort of like those afternoon soap operas on TV. I can tell what is going to happen and nothing really changes between one episode and the next. So I figured if it was Doug's day then he would own it, and if Tim had it well that's what would be. I could guess that John would probably be a top guy, probably in the top three, and Korywas having a cruddy weekend so he was out. So the only real wild card for a top position might be Tavis or Dunk. Tim and Mark Baldwin had to work out some 'steamy' problems, but all worked out good enough for Tim to give his favorite girl a ride. I did have a great time at the Cheer gym - Top Gun Cheerleading in Kingsport - my cheerleaders competed against them in Hawaii at the Aloha Internationals and I had a great time visiting them.

As Sunday unfolded, we in fact weren't ready for everything. Dang. Pro moto one found Dana looking real good for like three laps. He didn't have a great start, in fact my money was on Tavis taking the hole shot or maybe even Doug. The flagman really had his money on Shane Hitt or Jeremiah. Shane had it with Jeremiah a wheel behind him on the inside. A couple of people had issues and bobbled. Dana came out in like 7th or so. He got to work getting around people. He passed Shane in the second lap and found Tavis right next to him. They played tug of war with each other for a lap and were right at the hair pin after the start line (remember I said it was the action place) and Tav hit a rut and caught Dana's rear tire just as he was getting around him. They both did snap rolls. Dana's bike ended up imbedded in the snow fence with a lot of spectators looking real surprised at just how fast that happened. Dana jumped up to make sure Tavis was OK (he was). They both apologized to each other since neither meant to hook up and Tav took off. It took Dana a couple of minutes to re-group and unwind his handle bars from the orange fencing. He was in last place. Meanwhile the race went on. Doug had a decent start and found Keith Little and Joe Byrd, who is having the best year of his life racing, were in hot pursuit. Jeremiah tangled with John Natalie so they were both way back. In the back of the pack, Dana had worked his way around a couple of people and was actually seeing the back end of Tavis when he went he lost concentration in the whoops, had rhythm issues and ended up head first through the wire fencing and between two boulders (picture the time that Pooh got stuck in the tree). His bike found itself up on the road, completely off the track. Luckily for Dana, Rocco Arno was there to disentangle him from the fence and help him get back going. Things could only get better.

Moto two everyone was out for that all important holeshot. Once again the flagman in the corner and I were taking bets on who would be first in the corner. I had money on Dana (I have to do that you know...) and Jeremiah Jones. He had Keith Little and Doug Gust. I don't think either one of us won the money, but all of our riders were nearly four across into turn one. Dana came into turn one in fourth and proceeded to redeem his nearly last place finish in moto one by holding onto a solid finish in moto two. Joe Byrd came on strong from a not great start to work his way through the pack and finish with a solid third place overall. John Natalie couldn't buy any luck today. He had engine trouble in moto one and in moto two. Jeremiah Jones ended up making a couple of small mistakes and then literally being out powered on this wide-open 4Stroke freeway. Gust and Little were the ones that literally took off like they were on illegal fuel. In fact someone else must have questioned the speed they were looking at because the was a big tear-down after the race of the top two bikes, which were both completely legal by the way, but that just explains how incredibly fast they were going. Jasmin Plante had solid finishes both motos to hold onto a sixth place. Steve Runkel had one of his best finishes so far this year with a seventh. Shane Hitt continued with his good finishes in the top five again.

Women's race had all kinds of action. In Women's A, Heather Rose/Byrd took the lead and keptAngela Moore at bay the entire race. For those of you who have ever found Angela behind you, and not liking it, you know this is not the most comfortable place to be. Angela pulled out all her tricks to no avail. Heather rode the fastest I have seen her ride in I don't know how long. Nice work to both ladies. Paula Shank continued to earn the title of 'Miss Consistency' this year. She rides a solid race and never seems to waver. Women's B, found Tracy Solomon, Jamie Rentz and Cindi Hart trying to settle differences. Cindi has put a lot of time in improving her skills this year and it is beginning to pay off. Jamie is simply a great rider with a lot going for her. Both of these riders seemed comfortable with the track and the speed definitely did not intimidate them. Melissa Kufel and Michelle Reiser are both up-and-comers. Look for them to kick some serious butt in the near future. At the beginning of Women's B class we found Melissa Bailey and Tracy Solomon tight in the front of the pack, until Tracy lost concentration, in fast downhill section. Her bike bucked her off and took a dive off the track straight into a grove of trees. Thank goodness that she is female, because Melissa Bailey found her self looking over her handlebars at Tracy flat on her back and under Melissa's front tire (which was parked on her, well her torso area). Melissa of course released the parking brake and pushed her bike off the Tracy speed-bump. Actually, it all happened so fast, we weren't sure at first that Tracy didn't ride her quad down into the trees. I am glad that she just slowed Melissa down a bit and maybe needed a couple of Advil and an ice-pack to heal up. Good thing she isn't a guy! And they say the girls don't play rough....

The 250A class continued to show promise tomorrow's leaders of the pack. I look for many of these guys stepping up a notch next year. Speaking of stepping it up, Cody Miller and JR Hinds continued their struggle for dominance this day. My money is on Cody for the overall, but JR will be there I know. No matter the outcome of the season, both of these riders are destined to be front runners in whatever they choose to do. Joel Hetrick is also a standout in his class. With the support network behind these youth riders they can be anything that they put their minds to.

We had a great time at Muddy Creek this year. I hope that this next year our weather cooperates as well. Let's all pray for springtime weather.

That's it for now.

Be careful, ride hard and don't forget to call your mom and let her know you are OK.

Mom

Extra Photos:

Dana 1,

Josh Upperman and Skyler Stewart battle