White City H/S

[Dave Withrow]

Anyone headed to IL for the AHRMA H/S this weekend?  Haven't seen much written about the event.

[brian kirby]

I'm already there, I rode the course today on the '72 JP and the '77 MC5 400. AHRMA always has one Novice and one Expert pre-ride the courses to make sure they are OK, since my Sister lives 22 miles from the race site I got to do it. Nice place, and surprisingly for Illinois prairie its pretty hilly, a couple of shallow creek crossings and lots of trees but nothing super tight. There is about 3.5 miles of trail, it is a little greasy in spots so if anyone is considering coming to this race, make sure you have fresh knobbies.

Brian

'72 Berkshire

[Mick Milakovic]

Hey guys, how was the racing?

Mick

[Larry Perkins]

Probably a mess but Brian can confirm.  I heard there was 2 plus inches of rain that way and it was enough that the MOVMX state MX was cancelled in St. Louis.  Brian tell us the tales of rutty mucka mucka.

[Dave Withrow]

I didn't make the first day........I heard the conditions were pretty brutal.  They shortened the track on day 2 and eventually took out 1 of the creek crossings.  It was good to see Teddy and the gang.

[Dave Withrow]

A shout out to Fred Ziglar and the CCDR crew for doing what they could to make the event happen

[brian kirby]

I bet Larry has been here before when it rained, it got really nasty. Definitely the toughest vintage race I've done so far and not far off the toughest modern races I've done. Thursday when I did the pre-ride it was perfect, a little damp but no dust. If it had stayed like that it would have been nearly a perfect vintage course. Unfortunately, it rained Friday night.

Saturday's vintage race I got the holeshot on the '72 'Piner and held it until half way through the second lap. The course was greasy but had not rutted up too bad yet. About a half a mile past the scoring tent starting the third lap my muffler came loose, since I didnt have anyone in my class I pulled off and stopped. In Post Vintage on the '77 MC5 400 I did not get the holeshot, but had a good battle for the first lap and a half with Eric Rigby from Mississippi on a '76 Yamaha YZ400. He made a few more mistakes than I did on the second lap and I was able to get away. By this time the course was unbelievably rutted and slick. Lots of places you can see skid marks of both sides of the rut where everyone was using their boots ass ski outriggers. Eric went into "survival mode" on the start lap three one lap before I did so I was able to hold and extend my lead. To give a little idea of how bad the course was, it was three miles long and I only did four laps in 1 hour and 10 minutes, in a "normal" event with a three mile course I would probably do 8-10 laps. On my first lap of Vintage I did 12:54 even with stalling the bike, the course deteriorated so much and I was so tired it took me over 25 minutes to do the same course on my last lap of PV. I was really glad to see that checkered flag.

Then it rained again Saturday night...

Sunday they shortened the course to the most flat dry section out of the hills which was about 1.5 miles. I got the holeshot again in Vintage, and again my muffler fell off (poor engineering on my part but I could not redesign it at the race). PV I got an OK start, and was leading Eric Rigby again, but about 4 laps in I jammed my knee that I hurt earlier in the year and I had to quit. So for the weekend I got 2 firsts and 2 seconds, not bad I guess, but I'm upset I could not finish PV on Sunday.

I want to thank the Cahokia Creek Dirt Riders for their huge effort, with the conditions as bad as they were, their club members where everywhere on the course rerouting and getting tired stuck riders going again. I've never seen a club have so many course workers out chase riding at a vintage event before.

A link to pictures and helmet camera footage coming soon.

Brian

'72 Berkshire

[brian kirby]

Helmet cam from Saturday Vintage and PV

http://www.motionbox.com/filings?folder_id=78673989

Mom's pics from the whole weekend

http://picasaweb.google.com/AHRMACC/WhiteCity10#

Brian

'72 Berkshire

[paul a. busick]

Hi fellow POGERS.
 Chi Jer and I survived the the weekend at White City and brought home trophies.  It was too bad that the weather had to hit everyone so hard. and we really didn't get the smashing bad weather that they had in TN.  The riders from that ares were trying to rent boats so that they could get in their home driveways.
 Not enough can be said for the Cahokia Creek Dirt Riders. The club members literally bent over backwards to make the best of a bad situation.  No matter where you were on the course, there was a club member there to lend a helping hand and words of encouragement. I have been to a few events in my time, but have never seen a group fly into action and try to make the race the best possible under such miserable conditions. Most clubs would have thrown up their hands and locked the gate. Not these boys-they gave us 2 days of all out effort so that we could enjoy ourselves and then said how sorry they were that the it was so  bad. Hats off to the Cahokia Creek Dirt Riders!
 Also many thanks to Brian Kirby and his mother for some great helmet camera and still photos. Is it not amazing how the images always seem to make everything look so nice and clean compared to the the actual conditions? But that's racing isn't it? And to my knowledge, no one held a gun to our collective heads and made us do it.
 See you all down Old Dusty,
  Amherst Paul
       

[garrettccovington]

Whooaa!  Thanks Brian.   Just finished watching the 400 race!  The 1st lap, I'm thinking, I gotta go do this. This looks like fun.  2nd lap the same.  3rd lap, I'm thinking, wait a second, this is looking pretty tough, especially the last 3/4's of the lap.  4th lap.  I don't think I'm good enough to ride this. That was insane.  Now, I'm back to, I gotta go TRY this.  This is one of those things that Finishing would be a victory for me.

Good camera work.  Its funny how the trees, kept the camera lens clean.

I got to figure out how to take these movie's I know you've posted answers on this, so I'll do a search.

Going back to look at the other stuff.

G

72 six-day
79 KTM MC80 250

[brian kirby]

G,

I wanted to quit at the end of the third lap but I didnt know how far ahead of my competitor on the YZ400 I was so I kept going. As I went through the scoring tent I saw the time was 45:10 and I said to myself "I am not coming back before 60 minutes is up. It ended up taking me over 25 minutes to do the last lap because I finished at 1hour 10min. It turns out he only did 3 laps so I didnt need that 4th lap. That last lap was brutal, I was so drained I fell a lot just because I didnt have any strength left to catch the bike if it got squirrley in a rut. You are already on the limit body wise just riding and you have to pick the bike up and drag the front wheel back into the rut/trail. By the time I got going my heart rate was through the roof and I was light headed.

Another thing is helmet camera footage never shows how steep the elevation changes are and it always looks less mucky and wet. You cant even see the ruts, which were in the majority of the course, and all of the up and down hills. I watch at this footage and it does not even look like the race I rode it appears so dry. It was tough.

Brian

'72 Berkshire

[garrettccovington]

3/4's thru the 3rd lap I could tell coming up out of the creeks and keeping a eye on the course workers, I could kinda get a sense of the steep terrain and ruts.  

This is one you can save for the kids.

Mom's pics are pretty neat too.

I think I'll watch it again

G

72 six-day
79 KTM MC80 250

[David Laite]

Motionbox is down for site maintenance however the photos are perfect, each and every one! Thanks for posting, David.

1973 Penton Six Day
1973 Penton Jackpiner
1982 Yamaha XT200
1982 Yamaha XJ650J Maxim
1984 Husqvarna 400WR
1987 Yamaha YZ490
2005 Honda CRF450R

[brian kirby]

It should be back up now.

Brian

'72 Berkshire