Stimilon 2010 reports

[Paul_E_D]

Well, the real men showed up and rode in some truly tough conditions today. (I wonder how the dog party was?)

An early am practice session and the track was mint. I lined up for the first race of the day, Keepin It Real, the 2 stroke open. Any level, any cc, all 2t. I got pinched into T1 and fell in a huge fluffy berm. By the time I got running, I was dead last, but OK, I'll put my head down. I come into T3 and what's this? rain! A deluge in fact. The track quickly flooded and my thoughts turned to surviving the five lap race.

The surface was changing with every lap and I had to focus hard just to see where I needed to go. In my haze, I missed the checkered flag and I'm blasting into T2 when the corner workers jump over the berm and one of them (the big guy) dive tackles me right off the bike! I'm stunned. They're saying checkered flag and I'm like OK but WTF. THe guy says I slipped! Holy hell, WTF. I was easily doing 15mph and he twisted the forks up badly on impact. I feel like an idiot, but rest assured that he's the idiot! We're both OK. I finished 10th out of 21.

More to come...

["Dangerous" Dan K]

Holy shit... he tackled you off the bike?!!?!?

Congrats on the good ride and finish all the same.

[typeone]

just, EPIC. i love that f'in track but man does it hand it to you late in the day, especially with unsavory weather thrown in. reports later, just rolled in.. .

i had a blast once again, great to ride w/ all you doods. Squirrel, i gots your special chair and French Lady Bag

man was that a fun day oh, and uh, Dowd is unHuman hats, off.

[Chippertheripper]

Best race report ever.

[Paul_E_D]

Holy shit... he tackled you off the bike?!!?!?

That's what I was thinkin. It was totally an accident, and I could have really hurt the guy. The mud/sand slurry on the ground was really slick and the bankings are super steep. Why he tried to step out in front of me is a mystery to me, but I saw workers on the racing surface a lot.

Race 2 was old 30C. I'm thinkin I can podium this one seeing as it's my second MX race and all, so I line up on the inside. I don't get the best launch, but I get a clear run through the inside rut and make it to T2 in 3rd. Perfect! I quickly reeled in and passed for second and lapped there til the white flag. I'm thinkin I have it in the bag, when I go into the now deeply rutted T2 I came up quickly on the leader, and I take the same rut as him. Well, he parks it and I hit him and go down as he motors off. By the time I get going a bunch of people go past, and I finish 9th. Doh!

"french lady bag"

[BLACK SQUIRREL]

"french lady bag"

I use it to go to "Rock Climbing" Gym

I'm Sore had a blast time to clean the cockroach,

[JustInMass]

Glad to hear all the fun. Conditions must've been quite interesting - as I'm reading "fluffy sand" to "deluge" conditions.
Good for you guys

[Paul_E_D]

Did any one pick up one of my "earth toned" MX jerseys???

[typeone]

Did any one pick up one of my "earth toned" MX jerseys???

ah, bummer, i scanned the ground before i left but it was dark already... the 'earth tones' must have been complete camo. if anyone has McBiggitys cell you could text him to grab it, they were camping tonight. i think i do have your SLR gray T though, i hung it inside my ez-up after the first monsoon. prob still in it, i'll check.

[BLACK SQUIRREL]

Glad to hear all the fun. Conditions must've been quite interesting - as I'm reading "fluffy sand" to "deluge" conditions.
Good for you guys

The Problem was After the rain the ruts at the bottom of the hill and on the jump faces Got wet and dried in to very Hard surface you could no longer cross the as soon as your front wheel went in thats where you went regardless of where you rear was going.

[BMFR6]

Well, the real men showed up and rode in some truly tough conditions today. (I wonder how the dog party was?)

[typeone]

my report... Justin, you missed out man. bummer you werent there! you had first gate pick for every moto

tired and a little sore this morning but dont feel all that bad really... pretty psyched since Southwick was only my 4th or 5th time out on the dirty this season. i definitely was losing massive amounts of energy, mental and physical, by my third race. ended up bagging my 4th race and tapped the Rockies instead.

practice went pretty well for me got in a little groove remembering the track, LOVIN the Pirelli Scorpion MXS/MXMS combo i ran. both front and rear hooked up so well the bike just tracked awesome. lots of traction in the loose stuff on the gas. tons of good feel in the front. the Husky ran excellent as well. speaking of, it was great to see more weird bikes there... i think 4 or 5 of us had Huskys on the line along with a decent spread of new bikes on display.

race 1: moto 1 of NE, this year i wanted to focus on looking further ahead and keep the gas on through the sand earlier in the day before the monster ruts form. this worked great as my first moto for NE went pretty well. i ignored the softer ruts and just gassed it, floating the front wherever i needed to go. start was so-so but moto one felt REALLY good. the short course combined with softer ruts was a blessing, i just kept the gas on as much as i could. felt good to start pushing through the pack, snagged a Kawi seconds before the checkered. crazy fun first race of the day. snagged a 5th place, wished i had committed to a better start.

race 2: moto 1 of 30c didnt go as well, still felt pretty good but the larger pack w/faster riders made for some quick passes on me a few times into the race. got spooked once when a guy snagged my line, i downshifted too fast picking a new line and stalled the bike. that sucked, took a bunch of kicks to fire and lost a lot of places. i got confused what lap we were on as the flagger sorta waved the white and then sorta the checkered a lap later but i wasn't actually done. that sapped more time as i had to get back on the gas to catch who i could. i cant remember what i scored in that race but i think around 16th or so (?)

race 3: moto 2 of NE was going pretty well, way deeper ruts now, like real deep. i kept saying they felt like inverted rails, you had to just commit and gas. the short course was now changed again to a semi-short course... my start was so-so, think i was running in the top 5 again but then lost it in the long exit of T2, that corner was so tricky late in the day it was eating riders left and right. i made it through the main corner on the gas but then hooked a deep rut on the exit and leaned too much to the right. wrecked into the sand, bike still running, got up and out of there... losing about 10 places as those guys said i came around in 15th... put the head down and tried to stay upright cause the track was getting just brutal. i was laughing at myself through some of the ruts at the bottom of the hills, especially the one over by the spectator table. those ruts were NASTY. i had both feet out just to make it, total pussy. hahaa. i diced it up with few guys swapping spots but after people were eating it i started to make it back up into the top 5 again. one guy on a Honda was fun to race with... he would pass... make a mistake... i would pass... make a mistake... then i passed him for the final time, told myself to stay focused and he'll eat it trying to catch me. it worked. think i got 5th again for that moto.

race 4: way too drained to deal with the track, it was brutal. we sat in the stands watching Paul go for it (nice work by the way!) and the last corner before the finish straight was entertaining. the ruts that would form were just directing riders right towards the fence, a hail bail and a water pit. like a magnet they would hook it and get pulled to the left. you had to really approach that one correctly or you were going down.

i hope Stimilon comes back again next year... killer event

[Paul_E_D]

Ya, You had the pace to win that first never ever. The ruts later in the day really made these races of attrition.

Race 3 for me was Keepin It Real, heat 2. My new goal was to stay upright and I did. I put in a conservative ride to 9th place. Nothing I remember in particular, except that I was getting pretty tired.

Race 4 was heat 2 of 30C. I was hoping for a podium again, and I got a mid pack start and worked my way to 4th. The ruts were deep at this point, and I suck at them. Everytime I tried carrying speed through the ruts leading to the jumps, my front tire would just fold. Finally, it bit me and I bailed straight into the face of the spectartor jump. I was on a steep slope and it took me forever to get up it from a standstill.

I tried to get back into the race, but I was really frustrated. Don't know where I finished that one.

I had a blast riding, and learned a bit too. Hangin with the dirty bastards crew was great as always. Can't wait for next year...

btw, Everyone rode great out there. No one went in the drink or hit a chain link fence. Although, I did see Biggity headed towards me running reverse course at one point!

[Kurlon]

Damn, sounds like a riot. I will have something for next year damnit.

[seth399]

nice sounds crazy! I am washing my bike for the 2nd time since riding 207 yesterday aha

[McBiggity]

sore. exhausted, physically and mentally. Talk about a crash course in MX. lol. I need practice and lots of it. 2 diggers for the day and I skipped the 2nd moto of both my races.
Had a blast though, can't wait til next year and hopefully I will have some more track time under my belt by then

[lrrs313]

Love reading these race reports. Southwick is a lot of fun 1st moto; 2nd moto not so much. How bad were the whoops for you guys? Sounds like with the rain they might not have been too big?

[breakdirt916]

great ride reports, sounds like a blast!

do they have an on-site photographer?

[union]

sore. exhausted, physically and mentally. Talk about a crash course in MX. lol. I need practice and lots of it. 2 diggers for the day and I skipped the 2nd moto of both my races.
Had a blast though, can't wait til next year and hopefully I will have some more track time under my belt by then

That 125 isnt helping you in MX. The suspension is valved for the woods so its a lot softer then it would be set up for MX. Just as the MX setup would make you sad in the woods after riding that bike. A least you had a good time. You still need to hit the trails with us this season

[Paul_E_D]

There were virtually no whoops since the flood hit in the first race of the day. Instead of whoops, we got soupy ruts, followed by firming up ruts. Ruts that wants to either suck you in, or spit you off into the drainage swails or fences! It wasn't classic southwick, but it was challenging in a different way.

Matt Francis photography was there. I haven't checked to see if his pics are online yet.

Edit: Nope, not up yet, but check here: http://mattfrancisphotos.photostockplus.com/

[lrrs313]

There were virtually no whoops since the flood hit in the first race of the day. Instead of whoops, we got soupy ruts, followed by firming up ruts. Ruts that wants to either suck you in, or spit you off into the drainage swails or fences! It wasn't classic southwick, but it was challenging in a different way.

Oh fun. Had some of those ruts when I raced there this spring, so I know where you're coming from. Definitely sounds interesting.

[typeone]

yeah, i was all prepared for a whooped out sand course but the rain changed everything. those ruts were just evil late in the day. i think crossing them was impossible, way too deep. great practice but man were they tough. watching the rockstars was mind boggling. more gas = more better.

what blew my mind was watching the main events... 250 smokers are one thing struggling up some of the hills but seeing the leading 450s struggling up the hills proved it was muck out there. Dowd had insane momentum everywhere, RAILING the high sides of almost every corner. amazing to watch and truly inspiring.

[Paul_E_D]

I was glad to see that pretty much everyone was struggling with the conditions. If I lost my momentum on the 125 it took forever to get going again. Wheeeeeeee, weeeeeeee, weeeeeeeee. Still going nowhere! My bike ran strong though, now that the powervalve is opening again!

[typeone]

get that rear brake sorted? my bike is still dirrrrty and gear in a pile of stink

pics are starting to surface... Aaron Codling Photos, type Stimilon in the 'Find Your Event' box. only a few but he says theyre adding daily.

[typeone]

Pitbike Endurocross course. We had a 1hr+ break due to weather, the full pitbike races were later in the day.

The end of the vid shows how evil the rains got

YouTube- Stimilon motocross 2010