USRA Round 8, Monticello Utah, June 20, 2009

Mike and Chad and the boys made the long haul down to Bull Hollow Raceway in Monticello Utah for the 8th round of the USRA Desert Series. None of us had ever been here or raced here, but it ended up to be a very enjoyable race weekend.

Despite all the incredible rains received by Northern Utah, conditions were dry and dusty. The high elevation offered some relief from the temperatures though.

This was a Hare Scrambles type event, incorporating the MX track and about a 12-13 mile off-road course.



The track is mostly clay, and after watering the track, it was super slimy in spots.

In the Mini Expert class, Josh got out in front of the pack and held the lead for the first 2-3 loops. He slid out in a corner and his good friend Carson Giles got around him. Shortly thereafter, the petcock on Josh's bike turned off and it took him a minute to figure it out. He finally did, and got back in the race and maintained his position for a 2nd place overall. He and Carson had a blast racing.


Karson Bailey had another good finish with a 3rd place overall. Karson is Mr. Consistency. He never looks like he's going super fast, but he really is, and he rarely makes mistakes. His consistency has him in first place in points in his class.


Kobee was riding great and finished first place Schoolboy. He was very excited about his finish and rightfully so.


Benji had a great lead for the first couple of loops in the 65 class. After pitting for gas, his bike sounded like it was running horrible. He managed to finish another loop but said he had to doggy paddle up all the hills and had a hard time keeping his bike running. This cost him a few positions, but he loves riding with his other buddies so much that it made it that much more fun for him.



Due to the Grand Prix style start, the Experts were racing by themselves on the course which required an earlier than normal start (which was nice due to temps). The boys had barely ridden off the track, when Mike was already on the line. They had a two wave Expert start and Mike had to start on the second wave which meant he would be eating dust all day.


After an average start, Mike kept it pinned around the first couple of corners and was in 3rd heading out on to the desert course.




The two guys in front of him took each other out trying to make a pass so Mike took the lead (of the second Expert Wave), and managed to stay there for the majority of the race. He caught and passed some of the first wave. By Loop 2, Boe Bland had caught Mike and as seems to be the tradition this year, the two of them raced side by side for the next 2 Loops.


Boe passed Mike in the pits and he couldn't ever catch up to him, finishing with a 15th place overall for the day and second in class behind Boe.

Firebirds Hare Scramble - USRA Round 7, Cherry Creek Utah, June 6, 2009

A week removed from Idaho City, we were ready to try it again. This time it was the 7th round of the USRA Desert Series and there was a solid contingent of the FAST Racing crew including Mike Knight and sons Josh, Kobee, and Benji. Eric Smith and son Trevor, and additional FAST Racing team members, Karson Bailey, Bridger Langeveld, and Tyler and Colby Ekins.

Bridger's younger brother Skylar Langeveld was racing in the Pee Wee race for his first ever desert race as was Trevor's younger brother Matthew.

Temperatures were nice, but as can be expected in the desert, the course was very dusty.

This was a Hare Scrambles event and the club said they had a great new mini loop put together. According to the boys, this was the best course of the year! Josh managed a second place finish in the Mini Expert division. On a dare, he wore the white and pink gear of a friend, and was styling on the start line:


Karson and Bridger both had great finishes in the Mini Novice division. Karson had a 3rd place finish and Bridger had his best finish of the year with a 6th place Novice finish. We were all proud of both of them (images from Dave Turner Photography).





Kobee and Benji also did great in their respective classes (Schoolboy and 65). Kobee was 2nd Schoolboy and Benji was 2nd overall 65 after having a great battle with his buddies in the 65 class.





Trevor, Tyler, and Colby all finished and had a great time on this really fun course.

Skylar and Matthew raced on the pee wee course and Skyler was so proud of himself for completing his first ever desert pee wee race. Way to go guys!!!!



Mike and Eric were the only Fathers racing in the big bike class. Mike managed a great start on the Expert wave and held a Top 10 position for the majority of the race. Without about 10 miles to go on the second loop, he lost the entire sole of his boot, and ended up losing several positions, but finished with a respectable 12th place overall finish for the day.



The course was a lot of fun despite the dusty conditions. Eric said he enjoyed the course as well and we all felt it was another successful race weekend in the books for the kids and families.

Thanks Firebirds.

Here is some footage from the Firebirds of the Expert and Amateur Start.

Idaho City 100 - May 30, 2009

The Idaho City 100 (ISDE Qualifier) is the most looked forward to event of the year for Mike Knight and several other members of FAST Racing. This year was particularly exciting because Mike was going to to have the opportunity to ride it with his son Josh. Josh is 13 and has been attending this event with his Dad as a spectator for 8 out of the last 9 years. It was finally his turn to be a participant rather than a spectator.

Mike & Josh prepare bikes for impound on Friday night.


Mother Nature wasn't being very kind though and the forecast was for hot and dusty conditions. Two years ago we experienced similar conditions and it was brutal. This year turned out to be just a notch below that as far as challenging conditions.

Mike, Josh, and Jarrod Garr were all on the same minute. Here they are leaving from the Red Bull Banners in the pits, ready for 112 miles of singletrack fun!




The course started out great and Josh was doing incredible. Big guys were "in his way" and he was eating up the challenging terrain without any difficulty. The first Special Test arrived and Josh took off with Mike a few seconds behind. About 2/3rds of the way through the test, Mike came around a corner and found Josh laying in a pile of sticks unable to get his bike moving. This burned a lot of time and caused a lot of frustration. Back on the course and a few more burned corners and the first test was over without great results. Josh settled down and continued to ride to the first check with several minutes to spare.

Josh


Mike


On to the next section and second special test. This time Josh adhered to the "slower is faster" principle and got through the test and section without issue. Although not riding as fast, he was riding smoother.

The course started to "toughen up" though as we rode some more southern exposed ridgelines with minimal to no tree cover. The heat alluded to earlier began to take its toll. Josh was slowing and bottlenecks and downed riders in some of the technical sections began to present some challenges. We rolled into the next check (gas check) 5 minutes late after battling the heat and severe dust from bottlenecks. Josh asked how far we had gone and when he realized we had only gone 35 miles (and had almost 80 to go still), it really deflated his spirits.

Since we were already late to the check, we took our time, drank some water, gassed up, and then headed out.

Another 3-4 miles into this section, we came upon a severely rutted, rocky, and exposed ridgeline trail that went straight up, and up, and up. Bikes were littered all over the trail and before long, both Mike and Josh's bikes were boiling over. Bikes weren't the only things boiling over, and by this time, Josh was "baked". He was not feeling well and concluded he could not finish. We rolled into the next Check, took the C course bailout, and rode back to the pits. Josh was frustrated with himself, but was very sick and could not go any further. It was a difficult lesson in both the mental and physical challenges that occur in a national caliber event such as this. There is a reason we witnessed only 1 other mini bike attempting it on Saturday out of 300 riders. We were all proud of Josh for his efforts.

Now, on to the other FAST racing team members. "Fathers" Cory Pincock and Travis Tams of FAST racing were also racing on Saturday and they both did awesome!!!

Cory, fast and smooth as always, finished out Day 1 as 1st overall A rider and a Gold medal. Congratulations Cory!!!!

Travis finished as well, competing in his first ever Idaho City as an A rider. He dropped a few course points but otherwise performed great in the special tests and earned a Bronze medal in the A4 Vet class.

Results for both days are here:
http://www.moto-tally.com/brr/Results.asp

We will definitely be back next year and are already counting the days.

Here's a bit of video from Sunday morning from the Start as well as the Grass Track.