Jacob911.com

This past weekend started out great, but things just didn't end up as I had planned. I had two oportunities to gain some ground on the Number One plate, and although saturday went as good as possible, Sunday was just another story.

My weekend started out pretty good. Ed and I got an early start and got both the trailer and the Off Road Support truck loaded up and ready to race. We left the house about 9 AM, and my mom and I rode together in the Off Road Support truck and followed my dad in the motorhome.

When we got to the desert, my friend Kyle had been waiting for us. He had crashed earlier in the week while we were riding moto, so he wanted  to get some friday riding in to make sure that the bike didnt suffer any other damage. We quickly unloaded and started up the air conditioning as it was about 100 degrees outside. Kyle and I screwed around for a couple hours and played in the rocks around Charlies Place.

This is one of my favorite places to ride because of all the Trials riding opportunities. I rode the fuel injected KX450F this weekend, but out in the desert it feels just as good as my 250F for the endurocross type stuff. By the end of the day I had about 10 younger kids watching me and asking questions about how endurocross was. I have to admit, it really does feel good to be back out in the desert.

Saturday morning seemed to come way too early as I was up and out by about 630 ready to practice the bomb. My race this day was at 12, but the bomb run was only open untill 830 due to other races. I had a good line, and knew exactly where I was going, so it was time for breakfast and a chance to relax for a couple hours.

My dad and Ryan were pretty busy out of the Off Road Support truck, and they were getting a lot of help from my friend Jerry Jones from Nevada. Jerry and his son ( my friend!) Levi are club members from outside of Las Vegas, so this was a big weekend for them as it is a long ways from home. With Jerry's help, Off Road Support was doing all sorts of fixes from Radiators to Flat tires.

While trying to fix other people's bikes, my dad helped me give my bike a once over, and i was ready to hit the start. It was about 4 miles down the road, so Ryan and I went early to watch the start of the race before mine. It was the Vet race and Quinn Cody was on the line close to where I was hoping to start.  Once he and the vets were off, I pulled up to the line to get ready for my start. Both Bob Roberts and Justin Imhoff had chosen the same line. We walked it together and talked about what our strategies were, mainly to ensure that we didnt hit each other off the start!

When I returned to my bike, I had a surprise waiting for me. Kendall Norman had lined up right next to me and was pointing right at the trail I had planned to use. I wouldnt say that this is intimidating, but it deffinately ads an element of stress to know that someone who i might battle with is right next to me.

The banner dropped and Kendall was off. My foot slipped off of the kick starter, and I was stuck in everyones dust! I think at this point I was dead last. I charged as hard as I could, and worked my way through the dust. Knowing where I was going was key in getting through the bomb run, I just hoped that noone was on the ground in front of me, and thankfully this time nothing went wrong. At the top of the hill I was right behind Kendall and Nick Burson. I saw my dad and about 30 people watching from some rocks, and then made the pass on Nick. I heard people cheering, and that encouraged me to push harder.

Kendall is just so darn fast, if Nick or I dont get the perfect jump, he is gone. I worked my bike as hard as it would go, and was just able to keep up with him for the first loop. Through one of the worst canyons in Red Mountain, Kendall and I were wide open across whoops that had to be 3 to 4 feet deep. I know that we were going super fast because the other two time i came through here, i passed people who looked like they were stopped to watch!

On the back side of the course we went through some deep sandy hills. I was able to make up a little bit of time here, as I basically read off of all of the moves that Kendall made. After the home check is when I felt like he started to check out. At first I tried to push and keep up, but a near miss of an unmarked hole reminded me that he wasnt the priority. I needed to stay ahead of Nick, and make sure that he didnt have the chance to catch me.

By this point I wasnt sure if Nick was 10 seconds back, or 5 places, but I knew that he was there and the I needed to stay out ahead. At the end of two loops I was just worked from all of the whoops, but I didn't want to stop. I worked it through the last loop knowing that everyone else was just as tired as I was. When i crossed the finish line they said that I was about a minute down of Kendall, but that was fine because Nick finished about 20 seconds behind me.

Nick and I are good friends, and this whole season is just good fun competition, but knowing that I am competing with him or ahead of him is a good bench mark for myseld, and it shows that my hard work is paying off. Nick is one of the fastest riders to ever race in District 37, and I am just happy to be up there with him in the points chase.

After Saturday's race I was beat. I think I passed out in the motorhome for about 3 hours. All I remember is waking up and finding that my dad and Ryan had gone into town, which is somewhere I had said I would go with! They were gone, so I put my gear on and just screwed around with the trials bike. That evening the 100's had a potluck and a meeting, which I attended and gave a little race report on my day.

Sunday I woke up and just wasnt feeling it. It took me about an hour to get geared up, and then I forced myself to practice the bomb. I worked a line, and then headed back to the camp to get ready for the race. In all honestly I just wanted to crawl back into bed at this point. My body was killing me, and I just didnt feel too well. I elected to start the race, however, as the year is quickly ending and every race counts at this point.

As the banner dropped I had another difficult start. One of the expert woman actually got off faster then me with her electric start, and I was stuck in her dust for the first 25 yards or so. I literally had to do a step turn off the start and redirected myself way left to get out of the dust. This bomb run was much longer then the one from Saturday, and I was able to use that to my advantage. At the top of the hill from the day befor, I had worked my way into about 5th place, and just kept pushing past riders.

Into the pits, at the 12 mile mark, I had made my way into 3rd and was working on trying to catch Nick. I felt ok at this point, but I still felt like something was wrong. About 10 miles later is when things started to go bad. I blew a turn and gave Nick a little bit more of a lead on me. Kendall was still out front, but I was only worried about Nick at this point. About 5 miles later, on a Downhill I just lost it. I looked up at the valley floor, then back down at the trail and just got really dizzy. I could see Nick but not the trail! I must have flipped about 10 times, but I ended up at the bottom of the hill with a broken visor ( in about 20 pieces) and broken rear fender.  

I got up slowly and just figured I would keep riding. Justin Imhoff came by me about a minute later, and he turned around to see what was wrong. I gave him a thumbs up and he nodded and kept going. My race was done. I didnt feel well at this point, and I just couldn't really see strait.   I pulled into the pits, at this point about 12th overall, and decided to call it quits. I really just needed to get out of the sun, and could hardly see or hold on to the bike.

Yesterday (monday) I went to the doctors and was diagnosed with the FLU! So go figure, I just that is probably part of the reason that I was so dizzy. Being sick coupled with a very tiring 37 mile loop, was a bad combination for my sunday afternoon. Im happy that I didn't suffer any worse of an injury and now plan to just hydrate and set my self up for the WORCS race next weekend. Thank you to the Lost Coyotes and Shamrocks for working so hard in the rediculous heat this weekend. And thank you to Nick and Kendall for working me as hard as you guys did this weekend. I wont be back to a District race untill October, but I do have a big three weeks ahead of me!

Thanks again to all of my sponsors whom without, I would have no chance of finishing as well as I do. Thanks to Kawasaki of Simi Valley, Kawasaki Team Green, BRP, FMF, IMS, TBT Racing, Scotts, Dirt Digits, Rekluse, Moose, 661, Pro Moto Billet, and Fastway for helping me out with everything this year!

And as allways, thanks to Ed and My dad for keeping the bike running even when I have ridden the thing into the ground!

See you all at Glen Helen!

Jake-jacob911.com