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.......