SORCS Round 8

Dust, Crashes, Carnage, A Big First Win
And a bad day for anyone named Scott!

Aonia. This was one of the most challenging races of the series. Positions kept changing, people had all kind of weird things happen and it was super hot. The course was nice, and offered some exciting racing action.

Before I get into the racing action, Cam won! He got his first BIG win. It was very exciting and he really worked for it. It was a great weekend for Cam, but not everyone fared as well.

When the four stroke B class came off the line, it was Zach Lovell taking the lead, with Austin Allen in second, Cam in third and Scott bringing up forth. Jennifer Albright (GNCC regular) was in fifth. They stayed pretty close going into the woods. Scott hit a tree in the first woods section and had to stop and check out the damage. More on the damage later. When they came around for the first lap, Zach still had the lead with Cam still holding on to third. Scott had dropped back to fifth. Austin was in second with Jennifer in forth. Zach led for two laps, with Scott moving up to third. On the 3rd lap, we were waiting for everyone to come around, and out of the woods came Cam in the lead! He had a pretty big lead, with Austin in second, Scott had moved up to third and Zach was in forth. Cam looked smooth and fast, hitting all the marks. This was almost too much excitement. We kept wondering what was wrong with Scott, but after working his way up to third, we started thinking that maybe we could have another 1-2 finish like the Tennessee race. On the last lap, Cam was still in the lead with Zach in second, Austin in third, Scott was in forth and Jennifer in fifth. They took the checkered flag in that order. Cam was too hot and thirsty to be excited, but me and Brenda took care of that for him!

When Scott got back to the pits, we discovered the extent of Scott problems. He not only hit a tree at high speed, he T-boned Scott Insinna after he ran off the track. Scott hit Scott!!! Scott "Bossman" Insinna ran off a dusty turn and Scott came into the corner trying to make up time lost in the first crash. When Scott hit Bossman, it re-injured his wrist. Scott ran the rest of the race with a busted bumper, he cracked a Hiper wheel, and warped a brake rotor! With all the damage, forth looked pretty good. Scott felt real bad about hitting Bossman. Bossman is one of our racing buddies and we certainly don't want to see anything happen to anyone on the course, especially our friends. Bossman didn't even know who hit him until after the race. I hope Scott is feeling better. All he knew was number 84 hit him. Derek said that number 84 was Scott. We have got a lot of work to do to get ready for round 9. I think Zach had some electrical problems as well.

Cam has been pretty hard to live with since the win. He can really talk trash! When you see him on the forums, give him a tough time. He needs it. Right now, as I write this, he is walking around the living room shouting "I beat Scott, I beat Scott".

Derek had some really bad luck breaking his spindles and crashing out on the second lap. Scott Insinna finished forth. After the "Scott-Scott crash" he had trouble going over the tough parts of the course with injured wrists. Sean Callahan won his class. Phil Bearden got another first place finish.
My parents got to witness their first ATV cross country race. It was a real exciting one, and they really enjoyed it. It was nice to have mom and dad spend the weekend with us and they got to experience a typical race weekend. Plus they got to meet all out friends. Speaking of friends, Ty Blair was there but he was not racing. He was pit crew, umbrella man, plus, he gave Cam a big pep talk before the race. He swears that the pep talk is what caused Cam to win the race! Could it be....

Brad Lord and his sons, Chandler and Camden, joined us for the race. It was nice having them in the pits. Brad got lots of video footage as well. We have got to get Brad out on the track with one of his ATV's next year.
Overall, this was a good weekend. Nobody got hurt, Cam finally won, Scott had a respectible finish in spite of all the problems. Brenda says hello and we hope to see everyone up in the Mountains in the fall. Should be some good pictures with the leaf season in and, hopefully, plenty of sunshine!

Later.......

Cam's 450ER Voted Quad Zone Quad of the Month

As if he didn't get enough attention, Cam' s TRX450ER was voted Quad of the Month at Quadzone. Check it out on the Quadzone main page!




Congratulations Cam!

SORCS Round 7 Madisonville Tennessee

Back On Track in Tennessee

Round Seven of the SORCS series is history, and what a wild race!
The Tennessee track was great, I heard several people comment on the course and many said it was the best track yet. A big congrats goes out to Eddie and the entire SORCS team for a great job. Everyone worked really hard to keep everything running smooth. The biggest thing everyone had to deal with during the race was the heat. The heat was really bad during the race. It was very hot and lots of people were struggling with heat and dehydration. But hey, you can't do anything about the weather but enjoy it.

The night before the race, Madisonville got a hard rain and on Sunday morning, upon arriving at the track, we saw lots of mud everywhere, and with a big crowd, parking was at a premium. Phil scoped out a good spot, but it was muddy everywhere. We did eventually get the pits setup and got down to business.

First things first, When the green flag dropped for the Fourstroke B start, Cam got a great holeshot! Going into the first turn, he held of several attempts at passes and almost gave Brenda a heart attack! He stretched out going into the second turn and kept it on 4 wheels (almost). He led the whole field down into the motocross section. On the first lap, the field was tight with Zach Lovell overtaking Cam in a motocross turn. Scott got a horrible start and came off the line in last. Going into the wood section, it was Zach, Cam and Scott. The track was a mix of tight woods, a motocross section, a grass field and plenty of off-camber action. Going into a sweeping off-camber turn, Zach's quad got sideways and Zach had a tremendous getoff! I think he flipped about 3 times. He was OK and remounted in third place. Going into the motocross section for the second lap it was Scott followed closely by Cam, Zach was in third place and Jody Waldroup was in forth. Jody ran into some problems on the first lap when someone crashed in front of him and the quad landed on the rider. Jody stopped to help the downed rider and then continued on. That put him at a disadvantage but it was certainly nice of him to stop and help a downed rider. After the second lap, everything settled down for some good fast, technical racing.

Everyone was cutting fast lap times on the last two laps. Scott stretched out his lead significantly, while Cam maintained a good pace to secure second. Zach charged hard and did a good job of overcoming the crash. When the checkered flag dropped, it was Scott taking first place, Cam came home second, and Zach got a well deserved third place, especially after his crash. A lot of people would have probably dropped out after a crash like that but Zach kept it going for a good finish. Overall, Cam's bike handled great, he rode really hard and got a good finish. Scott was smooth and fast. It is deceiving how fast he is! He was also trying out some new jetting and suspension settings and worked with those during the race. The competition has been really good in their class and I am really proud of their determination and skill during this series. They are really maturing as riders and it is showing on the track. Cam was stoked after the race. That holeshot really got him going and gave him a big confidence boost. Scott really enjoyed the race and said the temperature really didn't play into the outcome of the finish. It's nice to have a race that you can really enjoy and not have any major problems. The last couple of races, before Tennessee, have been a stuggle for Scott with suspension problems, bent tie-rods, and crashes, but he has ridden smart and minimized the problems for good overall results. In the Fourstoke B class, Austin Allen finished fourth and Jody Waldroup claimed the top 5 position. In the overall, Scott placed 6th and Cam placed 8th.

Richie Brown had a good race in the Pro class and finished in second place. I think he led for several laps. Ryan Morphew took first place in the Pro class. Derek Robinson got 1st place in his class, and fourth overall. Ty Blair finished second in his class. Scott Insinna had mechanical problems and was forced to drop out with a broken radiator fan. Overheating was a real concern for bikes and humans at this race!

Sean Callahan got another first place finish in his class and his son Blake finished fourth. Good job Blake! Both Phil Bearden and Phil Griffin took home second place trophies in their respective classes. Phil Bearden came in the pits after the race with a course marker stuck between the carb and the rear shock. It looked like someone had tried to exorcise his bike! Phil Griffin was sporting some really neat riding gear! Phil G tried to ride a good conservative race. He said he didn't want to do anything stupid and not be able to pick up that new KTM 300EXC from Neely's. He said he was scheduling a day to pick it up and a day to break it in. Phil, if you have trouble with your schedule and can't break it in, I VOLUNTEER!!! That would be a tough job, but I would be willing to sacrifice for a friend :-) !!!!

Brenda was all over the track getting some great pictures. The dust was hinderance all day while trying to shoot, but she still got some awsome pics. When the race was over, everyone was orange all over, and Brenda & I were still orange when we went into Wendy's to get a bag of burgers for our long trip home. You can get some really strange stares when going into a resturant when you are orange from head to toe! If you don't believe it, just try it sometimes.

Well, that wraps up Round 7. We all made it home in time for a decent nights sleep, and headed off to work or school. We are very thankful for a safe trip and safe race for all. It is always good to see your racing friends and spend a little time with them. We can't wait for Aonia!

Trailer Graphics

I am working on graphics for our trailer. I am not a graphic artist (don't laugh). I am using GIMP to create the graphics. Click on the image below to enlarge and check it out.
Tell us what you think.