SORCS Round 10

The 2006 season comes to an end

Seven months ago, the SORCS series started. Round 10 seems a long way off. Now it is over. After the race, many were happy, some were a little disappointed, and everyone was a little sad. Sad that the series was over. Sad that we would not be meeting again this year to be with friends and compete against each other.

When you spend seven or eight months going from race to race, it gets to be a way of life. The minute a race is over, you start planning for the next one. If you didn't have a really good finish, you analyze your race and plan what you will do different in the next one. When the series is over, you can't plan for the next one. The next one is a long way off. Sure, you are tired, and need a break, but you really didn't want it to end so soon.

Like it or not, the 2006 SORCS series is history. It was fun, it was intense, and we enjoyed every minute of it. Now, on to the race coverage.....

We have got to hand it to Eddie and his staff, they did an excellent job of managing the final race of the series. The bikes started on time, had a good race without any major problems. The mini's started at noon. Next up was the ATV race. The quads started leaving the line at about 1:10 PM. Excellent!

The weather was perfect, it was a little dusty, but you will not hear us complain. After last months mudfest, we were ready for a little sunshine. Brenda was able to get some great pictures, and CSR Racing had a good race.

There were a few wild moments when the quads started. A.J. Shook got stuffed in the first turn and had no place to go. He got a bad start, but more on A. J. later.

When the four stroke B row got the green flag, Scott did something very uncharacteristic, he got a good start! He came off the line in second place. Scott has had a somewhat lackluster last quarter. His finishes were OK, but not up to his expectations. He has fought a quirky suspension all year. Well, he finally had a bike that was handling to his liking, and took full advantage of it. He was on a mission. I could tell he was having a blast on the track. His bike looked good, he looked good and he was setting a great pace. Scott settled in behind GNCC regular, Daniel Eger. Eger is a LTE sponsored GNCC Open B competitor. He paid the SORCS series a visit and signed up in four stroke B class. Eger took the lead on lap one and Scott kept the pressure on for the entire race. Scott got close several times but not close enough to try for a pass. A win would have been great, but a DNF would have been bad. This was a race down to the wire and Scott knew what he had to do. He had to drive a smart, competitive race. The track was tight and dusty. This was the tightest track of the entire series. Scott and Cam loved the course. The tighter the better! Not much else to say about Scott's performance. He avoided all the bottlenecks, hit all the lines and had an excellent finish to a great series. You could tell he was in his zone. With his second place finish, Scott wrapped up the SORCS Fourstroke B Championship. Congratulations to Scott, we are very proud of you.

Things didn't go so well for Cam. Cam has been getting great starts lately, but this race wouldn't be so kind to him. He came off the line in about eighth place, and was in the middle of a wild pack. On the first turn, several riders got bunched up and one rider rode over a couple of other riders. One of these riders was Jody Waldroup. No one was injured, but it was very exciting. The crash spilled out into the crowd, and sent everyone running. Cam started charging but ran into several bottlenecks that held him up. He also had to fight slower riders on a tight course. He was charging hard, however, he could only work his way up to a fifth place finish. You can't really complain about the finish. This was a fast rough course with a ton of dust. I know Cam was hoping for a good finish, but fifth got the job done. With his fifth place finish, Cam racked up a 3^rd place finish in the Fourstroke B Championship. On the plus side, Brenda got a ton of really good pictures of Cam stylin' on the course! Congratulations Cam, we are proud of your hard work and great finish. You have come a long way since the Blaster days.

Zack Lovell was a victim of a bad start as well. Zack came off the line about 5^th or 6^th and was forced wide in the second turn. Fortunately, Zack held it together and started a charge. Zack worked his way up to a solid 3^rd place finish. Zack and Cam rode hard and really charged, but didn't have enough time to overcome the start, the tight course and the slow riders. With Zack's 3^rd place finish, he got 2^nd in the Fourstroke B championship. We would like to congratulate Zack on a great finish! This was an exciting series and we really enjoyed competing with Zack.

Fourth place was awarded to Austin Allen who drove a great race. Austin rode hard and was very aggressive. In fact, Austin grabbed the holeshot. I was very impressed with his performance, and his consistency. For Austin's efforts, he took 4^th in the championship. Scott, Zack, Cam and Austin were very consistent during this series, they showed a very professional attitude, and although the competed fiercely against each other, they showed a sportsman-like attitude that many others could take a lesson from. Great job guys!

One of the most impressive rides of the race was put together by A. J. Shook. A. J. was blistering the track with his aggressive lines, and speed. A. J. worked his way up to first in his class with some impressive passes and was set for a great finish. But it was not to be. A. J. rode into the pits in the bucket of a tractor, the victim of a busted wheel. I know A. J. was disappointed, but he wasn't hurt and rode a great race. A. J. took the ATV Pro championship Sunday.

Sean Callahan finished second and wrapped up a series championship. Congrats to Sean. Sean also competed in the AM Bike race. He got a second out of that race as well. I'm sure he was a little tired on the ride back home, but it must have felt good getting two second place finishes on one day. Blake Callahan had a good race as well, finishing fourth. For the series, Blake took first! He was looking real good and Brenda got some good pics of him competing. Blake is getting better every round.

Leila Partin competed in the last round and had a good day. I believe she got first place in the race and finished 3rd in the series. It looked like she was having fun on the course. Mark Coffey was racing a new quad, and looked good until a bottleneck caused a four minute delay. After the bottleneck, he set a really fast pace, but he could not overcome the delay. Mark said the quad handle good and he was setting some fast laps. Mark finished the season out with a 3rd.

As far as the rest of the crowd, Phil Bearden got a series 1st place. Derek Robinson finished the series in 2nd. Ty Blair finished 3rd for the series. Scott Insinna placed 2nd in the series.

We also had the pleasure of having The Whiggum family join us for the final event of the series.

Helen and her brother, hung out in the pits with us and ran around the track with Brenda taking pictures. We really enjoyed visiting with Tommy, Angie, Thomas, and Helen. We hope they enjoyed the race!

Once again the Lovells, Coffey's, Partins and the entire Blairsville gang showed CSR Racing some great hospitality. We all went out to eat on Saturday night and had some great Mexican food. On Sunday they had a big cookout to celebrate a great series. Thanks to everyone, we had a great time. We feel like we have made some great friends. It has been such a pleasure competing with such nice, talented people. We wish all of our new friends the best.

It is hard to beat a weekend like this. Almost everyone had a good finish, nobody got hurt, and the weather couldn't have been much better. I'll have the pictures posted soon.

We hope to see everyone at the Awards Banquet in Marietta in November. Now, go get that bike ready for next year!

SORCS Round 9

Rockcrusher turns into Mudsplasher

We tried to avoid the obvious. We had been getting weather reports from Telida Lovell all week long. We were glued to the Weather Channel and constantly on the weather web site. We looked at the radar all week long. We prayed for good weather. Well, it just wasn't meant to be. The ride up to Blairsville was beautiful. Nice hotel, great weather. But the lightening on Saturday night after supper was a preview of things to come.

It started raining on Saturday night and when we woke up on Sunday morning, it was still coming down. It was raining during breakfast, while we were loading our luggage, and as we approached the track, which was a muddy mess, the rain kept on coming.

The rain eventually stopped but the damage was already done. We just had to make the best of it. Brenda was wishing for nice sunny weather so she could get some good pictures. But maybe next time.

The AM race was a bottlenecked quagmire. Lots of bikes were stuck all over the track. It took a while to clear the track off. The ATV race was shortened to three laps. When the Four stroke B class left the line it looked like everything was going to go fine. But..... then the action started. I guess Scott, Cam and Zack had a game plan. The way I see it is, they decided to get the crashing out of the way at the start of the race. If that is what they were thinking, everything was going as planned. Cam and Scott got a good start while Zack's bike had problems starting. After the first turn, someone spun in front of Cam and Cam done everything except fall off! Scott tried to avoid the impending crash but traction was at a premium and he could not avoid running into his brother. They were stuck together trying desperately to make some forward motion. Zack got past the Rogers boys and was looking good until..... yep, someone came out of nowhere and t-boned him. It flipped Zack's bike. So, here were Scott Cam and Zack crashed on the second turn. By the time they took off, they were at the rear of the pack. Everyone was gone.

Since they had the crashing out of the way. The top three riders in the Four Stroke B class set about taking care of business. With the first place position already taken care of by Daniel Eger, Scott, Cam and Zack were setting a blistering pace. It was like they were unaware of the fact that the track was a sea of mud. They were also oblivious to the fact that they were giving their parents a heart attack. By the time the trio came around for the second lap, it was Zack in second, Scott in third and Cam was in fourth. Cam was flying once he got past a bottleneck. He set one of the fastest laps of the race. Cam was really upset that the race was shortened. After the race was over, the boys said that round 9 was one of the best races even though it was extremely muddy. The final results of the Four Stroke B class was; Daniel Eger, Zack Lovell, Scott Rogers, Cameron Rogers and Austin Allen rounding out the top five positions. It was so muddy, it was hard to tell what was going on.

Derek Robinson placed first in his class and got second overall. Derek was on fire as well. Ty Blair captured second place in the Senior class. Sean Callahan placed first in the Quad Utility class. A. J. Shook placed third in the ATV pro class. Blake Callahan settled in for a fourth place finish after a first turn crash.

Considering the weather, we had a really good race. Everyone came back in one piece and not a lot of damage to the equipment. The trip back home was smooth and uneventful, except about 45 minutes of rain and a real slowdown past I-285.

The Rogers family would like to say THANKS to all the folks up at Blairsville. We feel like we have made some great friends up that way. The Lovell family are some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. Tommy and Telida Lovell invited us to go out to eat on Saturday with some of their friends and family. We had a great time and really felt at home. They had a great cookout on Sunday despite the downpour. That is what is so great about this sport, you meet some really nice people and so many families are involved. Once again, thanks.

I can't believe Bill Bryant traveled in that nasty weather to hang out with us. But I'm glad he did. Bill brought me some brand new springs for my KTM. That made it feel like a new bike. Thanks Bill! We can't wait until Round 10. Actually we are hoping for nicer weather. Brenda really wants to get some good pictures at the last race of the series, and she really wants to see some leaf changing. We also hope to check out the Sorgum Festival. One more race to go.......