Jacob911.com

This last week has been like a whirlwind for me. I went down really hard in El Centro trying to make a pass on Kendall. While I was sitting there, somewhat out of it, I watched Gary Sutherlin stop for me, then Destry, then Pearson and Kamo and it sort of clicked in my head that I can ride at their level. The worst part to this was that sitting in the pits after I had gotten a ride back to camp, I had to watch all of those guys go by as I waited for the finish.

That experience has not only humbled the fact that I too can crash, but also helped to open my eyes even more to my goal. My trainer made me take the day off on Monday, and then did a light workout on Tuesday, but my whole attitude about racing changed this week. I know that I can win one of these races, and now I think I am ready to do it. But before I can just go out and win a national, I need to take care of my local goals first, and that is getting a District 37 Number One plate!

Pre Race

We played it a little bit low key this week and headed out to the desert on Saturday morning. This was good and bad for me, but I made the most of it. I had to wake up about 5 o clock, and I really didn’t get onto a bike until about 10 am. Basically my dad and I just spent some time screwing around in the rocks around the Rock Pile, looking for the most difficult trails to practice on, after all Endurocross is only a couple months away.

After lunch, I went out and worked on my Bomb Run line, which was very fast and somewhat scary. I rode with my friend Justin Imhof and knew that I needed to get out front, as his bike was like a rocket ship. He can normally get a quicker jump then me with his electric start, so I worked on a line on the other side of the bomb from him.

Ed wasn’t here this weekend, and we just had the motorhome. So about 5 PM when I was done for the day, My dad and I worked on prepping the race bike for the morning. I was a little bit nervous about what would go down, but equally excited as I had really been training this week.

Race Day

My morning started off like a usual race would. I have decided for the District events to try and keep a low key feel to the race, so again like at checkers I literally showed up to the line 20 minutes before the start. Obviously I had run the bomb a couple times in the morning, but I returned to the motorhome for a good breakfast. My friends and club members Alyssa and Andrea were both racing and started form the row behind me, so I was excited to hopefully pass them on my second time around.

When the banner went up, I was ready. Burson and Imhof were on one end of me, and Paul Krause was on my other side. These guys all had electric starts so I had to be on my game. As it dropped I finally got a first kick start, it feels like all year since I’ve had that! At the end of the bomb it was Justin Imhof and then me and we hit the first trail.

Justin was riding really well, and I followed him for a mile or two. After what I did last weekend, I felt a little bit more cautious about making an early pass. He was within striking distance, and that was all I worried about. Around mile 4 we got into a big sandwash, and that is where my open bike really shinned. I passed Justin and he sort of looked at me like he couldn’t go any faster. With the quick bomb, I had left my El Centro gearing which meant that my bike was very quick. This was the perfect chance to get ahead and I used it and didn’t look back.

Somewhere around 10 miles in I passed my dad, and he signaled me that I had a good sized lead. I kept my head down , and pushed as I wanted to be in and out of the pits before anyone else came in. At mile 40 I could see camp again, and I slowed down and removed my goggles. It was good to be home in District 37 as everyone on pit row cheered for me and yelled my name- THAT REALLY FELT GOOD!

As I was gassing they said I had about 4 minutes on second, so I knew that I was sitting well. Out of the pits they took us into this tight twisty trail. The whole time I felt like my steering was off. When I got to the bottom of the trail, I looked down and realized that the pin had slipped down on my stabilizer! So I had no steering dampening.

From here on I was really worried that Justin or Nick would catch me. From this point I think I was probably going faster than I did on the first loop. All I could think about was keeping those two behind me. About 4 miles in I started catching the first bikes, and figured that they must have delayed their start. This was a fast course, but I wasn’t expecting to get riders that quickly. I just kept going and tried to get around as many riders as I could.

There is an advantage and disadvantage to coming up on lapped riders. The sooner you can get in front of them, the more riders that your competition has to pass. I kept this in mind, and just decided to forget about the stabilizer, after all… Nick had rode without one at Checkers.

When I came into the finish line, I was about 2 minutes ahead of my friend Justin Imhof. It was a good feeling to finally get an overall this year, and I was happy to be in and done while lots of other riders were coming into the pits at the end of their first loop!

After I had finished, my friend Kyle and my Dad and I went out on the loop to watch at one of the more technical spots. It was fun to see the slower people go through, and at one point I got to get off my bike and help a mini get up a hill. We watched him try it twice, and he kept getting hung up on a rock, so I went down and held the bike for him and he rode off. He seemed pretty happy, and I know that he knew who I was because first thing he said was, “Hey Jake! Did you win?”

To sum it up it was a pretty great race for me. I felt good the entire day, and my strength and conditioning have really been paying off lately. I would like to thank all of my sponsors whom without I would not be able to compete at the level which I am at:  Kawasaki of Simi Valley, Kawasaki Team Green, Monster Energy, TBT Racing, BRP, FMF, IMS, Fastway, Pro Moto Billet, Rekluse, and Off Road Support.  Special thanks also to my trainer, Jason Johnson!  He worked with me all week to create a workout that both allowed me to recover and build up my strength. He has been a big help to me, and I look forward to working with him every day!

Other Notes

Nick Burson was here today, but he DNF’d before the end of loop one with a bike issue.  My buddy Justin Imhof did really well and finished behind me for second. He has been on fire lately, and I look forward to see how he and I can do in Idaho, neither of us have ever ridden up there before. Lastly the three of us were named to named to the Dirtbike Magazine’s Up and Coming off road racer list. All three of us made the top 15 along with a couple other D37 racers, and we were all talking about it all weekend. It’s pretty exciting to get the recognition that we all work so hard for, and I am just ready to see where we can end up next year!

Thanks everyone for all of you support!

See you at the Races!

-Jacob

Jacob911.com