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July 4th 2004
By Dennis Oaks
Today was the reschedule date for the Lake Geneva race. I
was glad to see a race so close and when I was preparing this
morning, it was so sweet to go 20mins to the track!
When I arrived I was so relaxed and had plenty
of time to visit and watch some racing of other classes. I
was looking forward to today and hoping for a really tough
mud race. We had about 1/2" of rain last night and dust
was the last thing we were going to see today.
The track looked a mess and the woods section
looked even worse ( I was grinning ear to ear) I love tough
races because it evens things out a bit and become a race
of smarts and endurance. I was lined up at the starting line
and preparing mentally for this 2 hour race. I was practicing
starting the bike in gear and was not happy trying to kick
so hard . I was a little worried it would fail when I needed
it to go first kick (dead engine start) The time came and
sure enough It did not start. I kick again and again watching
the line all pull away! I finally push it down into neutral
and she fired right up so off I went in dead last. Not the
start I was looking for and with the KTM money here for the
first three places I was more than disappointed.
I took off and new I had to ride as hard as
I could and make up ground quickly while all were in sight.
Starting on the motocross track was not my strong point and
it was real muddy! Going as fast as I could with out losing
the bike in the mud I managed to get by a fair amount of riders
before we hit the woods. The first hard up hill off camber
the bikes were piled up and this again was a great passing
opportunity. I was riding mad and was pushing as hard as I
could shoving my bike over and through anything in my way.
During the second lap I finally started to calm down ( feeling
I had got into a good position). I did not want to stop charging
and continued riding as fast as I could and still hang on.
I kept moving up and getting more and more motivated as the
race progressed. I felt good and it was great the have friends
there cheering me on. I did have a few mishaps but they were
quick get off's, I think I was trying to turn down hill a
bit to fast and gravity pulled at me hard! I kept up the pace
the entire race and ended up in third with a second in the
KTM money.
I was 1:20 seconds behind the guy in front
of me and really don't know if I could have ever caught him
or not? But I was very happy with the results and had a great
time riding in the mud !
Dennis
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