I have always wanted to try motocross racing – so this weekend I decided to give it a try. I had to purchase some boots, a chest protector, and a new set of golves – also I had to join AMA District 14 and pay a $20 pit fee and $25 class fee – and there I was racing with 7 other old guys on old bikes.
My motorcycle is a late-70’s Suzuki PE175 which I have owned since the early 80’s and have ridden it through out that time. The PE175 is a trail bike that was based on a motocross bike of an earlier year. It is kind of over built and has started on the first kick for over 20 years.
My race was uneventful. I had two goals: (1) not crash and stop the race (2) not get lapped. I was planning in going for last place – I accomplished that as well.
At the practice I met the other riders – that was fun – they encouraged me to relax and gave me good advice – slow down over the jumps on an old bike. The track was really mucky in places – I really had to stretch to make corners without slowing to a crawl – this pointed out a pre-race mistake – need to stretch. The first lap I was stretching while riding. I won’t make that mistake again. The mucky track made for some very obvious lines that were easy to follow. Practice was three laps – seemed like forever.
At the start of the race, I let everyone leave before me – and they did tear off. One guy had a 1999 bike and the others were real vintage. Each lap I got more confident – particularly of where I could go fast and where I needed to go really slow – there were some double jumps on the back straight away that I almost endo’ed just going over the hill because it dropped so quickly after the crest. After a while I started to feel like a big sand pit in Leota and just started riding. By then I had been lapped by the guy with the 1999 bike (but no one else). I was quite ready to get off the track after four laps.
All in all a fine Sunday morning. Here is an Action Photo.