Weekend Warrior: I Know What You Did Last Summer

Well, I know what I did this summer... the end of this summer anyway and I thought that you'd appreciate this experience. Purely by coincidence I seemed to have saved the best experience of this summer for last.

Quickly, I have spent the better part of my life riding dirt bikes and snowboarding, riding off-road at the typical places you'd expect anyone from the Northeast to ride: sand pits, trails and more recently motocross tracks that have opened their gates for practice days. I raced motocross a bit, although now it's mostly just play riding with friends at local motocross practice tracks or on a friend's farm or private track. Of course we keep up on the latest MX and SX races usually attending a national or two, plus either the Anaheim or Vegas rounds of the Supercross series.

Anyway, I consider myself a decent rider, although I am old enough and not nearly fast enough to compete at a top amateur or professional level. The thought of attending Loretta Lynn's Amateur National to race just seems out of reach. Whether young or old, the thought of competing at the nation's premiere event doesn't seem to escape my mind. How could it? What could beat a week-long moto adventure, way out in the hills of Nowhere, Tennessee, packed with the best racers from all over the country, plus family, friends, motor homes, rope swings, parties and an endless supply of golf carts? The weekend (or week as it is) of a lifetime with the chance to be the best in the country. I might not get that chance at Loretta's, but I came pretty darn close to the "experience" last Labor Day weekend.

Jump back to mid-August and the riding thus far had been great. We'd put in some great weekends, hitting up numerous locations across New York, New Jersey and New England. With the obvious limitations on trail riding in New England, we spent more time on the growing number of motocross tracks now offering open "practice" riding days. Spending that much time on a race track had given me the racing bug... not to mention my new YZ250F that is just awesome. It makes me feel like I actually know what I'm doing.

So when my brother, Dave, told me about this 3-day race scheduled for Labor Day weekend that was supposed to be the "Loretta Lynn's of the North East," two things popped into my head. Number one was "sign me up," which of course, I said out loud. And number two was (inner voice this time): "What, am I crazy? I'm not that good!"

To make matters worse, this race, the New England Regional Championships was supposed to be the best of the best. It will put each of the six New England race organizations up against eachother for the chance to claim the fastest race organization in New England. Again, I had to ask myself: "Was I really ready for this?" I better be; after all, I did agree to it.

So here we are planning for our great big end-of-summer moto weekend. All the while, Dave was assuring me that this will be an amazing event. My bother, his wife and now six other of our friends, (one of whom was flying in from California like a rock star), will rent 2 RV's and set in motion what will end up being the moto-adventure of the year. Did I prepare? Sure. I rode a few extra laps and went jogging a few extra days. Heck if you want to call cutting back from 12 beers to 6 on the weekends a valiant effort, then I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

All set and ready to roll. Friends, family, even the girlfriends are in for the big weekend. We roll into Winchester Speed Park in Southern New Hampshire well after dark on Friday night. It's busy and you can tell this event is big even though its dark and we will not get to see just how busy until morning. We manage to park next to each other to from our own little "factory" pit area.

We wake at sunrise to find we are nestled into a valley surrounded by a small mountain range. The track is covered in fog and it looks really cool. I climb atop the RV and look out over the hugest sea of RV's I have ever seen. They are everywhere. This thing is real, "I have no business being here," is all I could think. We head over to sign-in and spot the wall of Pinnies that riders will wear to represent their corresponding race organizations: New England Sports Committee, AMA District 34 (New York), NEMX, NEMA, Maine Moto-X, just to name a few. Needless to say I shall not be representing any of these organizations, lucky for them.

To give you an idea of just how organized this weekend was going to be, Dirt WURX came in to build the track. Yeah, the same guys who build all the Supercross tracks built the very track I was about to race on. Their pretty impressive motorhome was stationed on vendor row right next to the Factory Connection rig, which I might mention was going to treat everyone with a guest appearance by Mike LaRocco, and not just shaking hands and signing autographs either—he was going to race! MX transponder was also on hand to do the scoring. It feels like a full-blown professional event. Sponsors... They had a few! Honda, Factory Connection, Amsoil, Atomic Snowboards, Planet Fitness, Smith, Scott, Tag, One Industries, Twin-air and others. The fact that they were going to give prizes all the way back to 10th meant that with some luck I could grab some swag, too.

Ok, practice goes well, so well in fact, that I start to feel confident about having to race in a few hours. The track is just awesome, some of the fog, still lingering. It's fast, fun, way wide and not too technical. I am not really overwhelmed by any of the obstacles out there, even though I know that I am not clearing the larger jumps the way the experts are. The layout really lets me feel like I know what I am doing out there. I entered 2 classes: +25C and +30 C. That would give me two motos each day, which isn't all that much but I later learned that I need the rest in between motos.

When they finally call my very first moto, the fog is gone, the sun is out and the track looks epic. It is time to go racing. My first moto is great, I get a decent start and I ride well and finish 3rd. I really couldn't believe it. Sure I am only in the +25 C class but these guys are on the gas. I really had no idea that I was not only going to hang, but finish strong. My second moto (+30C) is almost a carbon copy of the first as I nail down another 3rd place finish. Too cool! So it's back to the RV camp we have set up for a BBQ and some bench racing from the day armed with print outs from the MX transponder trailer. I tell you, with your lap times on paper you can do some serious trash talking! Better still, I find that I am not that slow after all, only a few seconds off my "B" level brother, Dave, and our friend's lap times.

I would have celebrated with a beer at that moment, but it'll have to wait because it's time for the round one of the two-night 50 races being held on the Supercross track (also built by Dirt Wurx). As much fun as I had racing, watching was way more fun. I crashed, drilling the starting gate trying to cheat. Why does the guy working the gate have to pay attention to my cheating ways? He saw me looking over at him and so he flinched before dropping the gate and it worked: Wham! I went nowhere fast. Anyway, it just didn't compare to the unreal show that local featherweight superstars Suzuki's Michael Picone and Hondas Justin Barcia put on for 15 or 20 minutes. It was crazy, they were going off! The bleachers were packed, and those two made aggressive passes on each other at least 10 times a lap, clearing jumps most wouldn't on full sized bikes and doing it all side by side. Unbelievable. They had everyone pumped up. The DJ was rockin' some great tunes and the free Red Bull was flowing; what a night. Back to the RV for a beer, relax a little and get ready for Day Two.

Day Two greeted us with the same early morning fog that quickly burned off and left behind perfectly sunny skies, a mild 70-degree day and a perfectly prepared track. While in staging for my first moto of the day, I was able to watch the 125 youth race in which Suzuki's Mike Picone cleaned house. Followed by the smallest, fastest mini racer I think I have ever seen: Honda rider Justin Barcia. The kid was running in the second gate, the 12-13 yr old 85cc expert moto behind the older 14-15 expert 85cc. Starting in the second gate didn't slow this kid down as he hunted down all but one of the 14-15 yr old riders and with one more lap, probably would have been alone out front. Just amazing.

Thinking I'd seen it all, I have to look twice to confirm that, yes... Mike LaRocco is actually racing the moto before mine. The gate is full of fast New England riders like Pat Barton, Chad Charbonneau and Eric Soucy. Mixed in with The ROCK is the entire Factory Connection crew. Their gate drops and that Charbonneau kid checks out. Mr. "Nice guy" Mike LaRocco waits a few seconds in the gate before heading out and quickly going to work passing everyone, including his very fast boss at Factory Connection, Ricky Ziegfelder. Mike and Chad hook up in the later part of the moto and put on a "how to go fast" school for everyone on and off the track.

All this excitement and I forget that I have to race in a few minutes. It's a great cure for the pre race jitters, that's for sure. I have another surprisingly good day on the track. Decent starts, thanks to my kick ass YZ250F and solid riding finds me finishing 3rd for the day again. Today my motos were in the early part of the day, which gave me more time to walk around, watch other motos, and even help a few friends out with their motos. Plus I had time to fire up a great BBQ lunch, and spend some quality time in our "factory" pit area prepping our bikes for the last day of racing. It was great to just take in all of the day's events and all around great atmosphere.

What more could I expect from today?

How about another crazy night of Pit Bike racing, complete with yet another fully catered dinner and top it off with a huge fireworks show! Exactly what I was thinking. We followed the small army of golf carts and pit bikes over to the SX track and had ourselves a good 'ole time. No racing for me tonight though. I had done a number on the bike the night before, which was ok by me because the cold frosty ones were really doing the trick. After a few hours of watching mini mayhem we wandered back to our RV and with the evenings "quiet time" or curfew upon us it was time for the ten of us to pile into the RV and get in a good dose of the movie Dodgeball before calling it a night.

Day three is here before you know, it and as each moto concludes, the top ten riders are called to the podium for some healthy prizes and trophies. The trophies for the top three places are huge and actually tower over some of smaller riders. Oh, did I mention the fact that there was some six-foot-tall absolutely gorgeous model brought in to present the top three finishers their trophies and complete a short interview? Right, of course there is... and now I have to finish in the top three. Mark my words; I told JD and Curt: "It's top three for me, and I will ask out the trophy girl when I am up there and she is sure to say yes. All I need to do is finish 3rd or 4th and I am in, easy."

Everyone who I came to the race this weekend with is done racing. They all finished in the top ten in their respective classes. All that we need now is my big Podium finish.

Had I mentioned how much I despise 4-strokes? Well I do. Yes, I stalled it while running in third. And no, I could not get it started. My hopes and dreams shattered by that one swift kick (or 80) that it took to finally get going again. BOLLOCKS! I would have to settle for fourth overall, and miss my chance to kiss the trophy girl! The criticisms from JD and my other friends were kept to a minimum; they knew I was really bummed out. They would wait until later to let me have it about choking and blowing my last moto.

All in all it was one of the best weekends ever. We had three full days of moto with friends and family. A perfect racetrack, great racing, all nestled in epic New England scenery. The Winchester Speedpark crew did it right. That had to be something like the feeling one would get competing at The Loretta Lynn's Amateur National. If I never get fast enough to make the trip to Tennessee, that's ok because now I feel like I have the next best thing. I know for sure that at the end of next summer I will round up my crew and head back to New Hampshire in pursuit of that elusive Podium finish.

Winter is here for us, and even though we'll be spending time on the mountain for the next three months, I will be thinking of Labor Day Weekend 2006 and the New England Regional Championships the entire time. I just hope that the Trophy Girl doesn't get married this winter!