I have to admit my attendance at the final round this past weekend
was a bit of a last minute decision on my part. I had originally
planned on going to the final OMA round in Illinois, but with all the
rain they had during the week that kinda swayed my decision because
that place is nasty even when it is dry. Then with my house in looking
like Hurricane Katrina swept through it, I was really thinking my time
could better be served by staying home. I realize my attendance at the
KORHS races this season has been spotty at best, but I figured I needed
to do something to get my mind off of all the things going on at home.
I have had a busy year to say the least. First: I got married in
June to my longtime girlfriend Laura (in Cancun). It was frickin
awesome. Then we found out we were going to be parents! Trust me, it
still has not really hit home yet. So that brings me to the present.
Laura and I are now living at my Dad's while our house gets a complete
makeover. I am talking everything! The inside was completely gutted,
but it is going to be sick! On top of that, the deal was I get my
dream garage. Needless to say I got my garage first. haha It is
awesome. Well enough of that. I just figured I would get everyone up
to speed and maybe shed some light on the reasons for my absence this
season.
Well, I have to say that I have a love/hate
relationship with the track at Big Hill. I like the property and the
rocks, but something always seems to go wrong. I guess I needed to
exercise my demons with this place. You could not have asked for
better weather even though it rained a bunch the day before and I was
just looking forward to riding a bit with my buddies Al and Chris.
Chris and I checked out the first bit of trail before the race and
decided that it was going to be pretty "sketchy" on the first lap.
Mainly due to all of the fallen leaves on the ground covering the
nasties (rocks, roots, ruts, etc.). Neither one of us were to excited
on being the guys breaking trail. Definitely the biggest draw back to
starting on the first row.
On the start I lined up to the very inside on
the shortest first straight I have ever seen! Not a bad thing though,
cuts down on the carnage in the first turn for sure. When the green
flag waved Al, Chris, and I charged the whole 5 feet to turn 1 and low
and behold I was out front heading to the trees. Not where I wanted to
be, but I will take a holeshot any day of the week. I don't get many
folks. As we wound through the trees on the first lap, it was kinda
nice being out front because I could control the pace and stay clean.
Al got antsy a couple of times and fell trying to pass me which was
great. I was trying to ride and focus and at the same time I was
laughing my butt off. He was trying to be the first lap fast guy! haha
Guess you had to be there. We were going so slow. It almost felt
like we were on a trail ride checking out the trees and wildlife. I
knew things were going to get a little more technical in spots as the
race wore on and the pace was going to go up drastically. So I kept my
eyes pealed for alternate routes. At the end of the lap I missed some
arrows or something and all of us missed the finish check. I stopped
and Chris and Al yelled "keep going". So we took off on lap two.
As the race wore on the 3 of us swapped
places numerous times and had a good time dodging rocks, roost, and big
water holes. Along with watching each other cross the infamous creek.
My undoing was the fact that I stopped for fuel with 2 laps to go and
did not get a fresh pair of goggles. About a mile into that lap my
goggles completely failed. I guess with all the water and grit
something got in them and messed them up bad enough that I had to pull
them off. Not a good idea when you are racing in those conditions with
the roost being especially bad. So I had to back off Chris's back
tire. I got some new goggles before the last lap and put on a charge.
My charge was slowed by the first lapped rider I caught when he
completely roosted the crap out of me after continuous hollers and
ruined my nice new goggles! It happens. I rode the last lap as fast
as possible with only about 50% vision. I did make up some time on
Chris, but the damage was done. I wound up third, but I did get the
best of the Big Hill track for once. Congrats to Al and Chris on
riding great and Jim Douglas for his help. I would also like to
congratulate the KORHS crew on another fine season.
The next time I see you guys at the races I
will be riding a new Kawasaki KX450F courtesy of Team Green and Rex's
Cycle Shop and I will be a proud father of a baby boy. So that is my
life report and race report. Hope everyone had a good season and year
and I am really looking forward to 2010.
I would definitely like to take this opportunity to
thank everyone for all of their support throughout 2009: House of
Horsepower Suspension, Lexington Motorsports, WKC Powersports, Amsoil
Lubricants, All-Finish Concrete Const., Dirtricks.com, Enduro
Engineering, Fastway/Pro-Moto Billet, TireBalls, Cannon Racecraft, FMF,
Scott USA, O'Neal MX, One Helmets, MotoXtremes, Maxxis, DZ Graphics,
EVS, Stuk Designs, Wasting Time Films, and all my friends and family
(especially my wife) for all their help.
Marty Michels #439
