HPCX - MAC series Race #9

Cat 2,3

The weather improved overnight, but the Sunday race down in Jamesburg NJ was still super nasty. The course in there at Thompson Park is known to be a muddy even when it is dry out. With 3 inches of wet snow being ridden into mud all day, it was as gloppy as one can imagine. 2 sections had to be run, and another 3 sections were being run by half the field as it was nearly as fast as riding them. Speeds were slow, turning was tricky and muddy ruts were throwing guys into each other and into the course tape. Hunter started 2nd row again and despite not being a true "mudder", Hunter had a great race and finished 2nd. Here's how it went down.

     "The start chute usually suits me here. It is a 150 meter paved uphill drag race that goes into a steep section of grass, which was of course this year was super muddy and slick. I think a lot of the guys in the field expected to have to run as soon as they hit the grass. Getting in front of that mess was important and I got to 3rd wheel. I went around one guy in front of me pretty quickly and the next rider had a bit of a problem in the first 180 turn. So i got to lead the race for the next 3\4 of a lap which was nice. I think there must have been some bottlnecking after that first tricky corner cause there was a solid gap to 2nd place group pretty quickly. I just tried to settle in and get used to the course, as I did not preride it. The course was almost the same as year's past so I knew pretty much what was coming. But with so much mud EVERYWHERE, it was important to know how to hit certain sections. There was one rider who went by me ( the winner from Saturday ). I went to work on keeping him close but He was going pretty good.

Hunter, running the start chute late in the race.

       I had a little trouble on the 3rd lap, falling twice on a slippery off-camber section. In the process I bent the derailleur hanger bad enough so that it was rubbing the spokes and so I had to pit. The Shelbatron was waiting with the pit bike, but that bike had way less bite in the mud, which took some getting used to. I had the benefit of riding alone so I could choose my lines and slide side to side in the mud without worrying about pin-balling off other riders. It probably helped me keep building on the gap to the chasers, which ended up being about 30 seconds by the end of the race"