D36 - 2008 Prairie City Grand Prix - Race Report
Round 1 of 13 - Opening Round of 2008
Round 1 of the 2008 AMA District 36 Hare scramble series was this past weekend. The event was hosted by the "Polka Dot's M/C club" at one of Northern CA's OHV parks, Prairie City - located just east of Sacramento in the low foothills and if you've never been there this time of year... its a cold region...VERY COLD...like 30 degrees cold, not including any wind chill. The A/B premier race was the first of the day at 8:30am so the cold conditions were an issue not just for us racers but for the track - slick dirt, frost covered rock sections and even icy puddles for the first lap.
The start was a "Le-Mans" style shotgun start... Line up 10 yards in-front of the bike, the gun sounds and its a mad dash to see who can get to the bike, get it started and off to the races...being so cold...its hard to get the blood pumping!
Decked with a new number for 2008 - 75v, flashy new graphics from ridepg.com and fresh 2008 gear... it did not take long to get back into the groove of things after the 2007 holiday break. I spent most of the winter off season riding with local buddies, lifting weights and cardio' conditioning. This jump to the A class has been a eye opener and the major goals I set for the start of 08 were to finish the races within the top 50 overall riders and to finish in the top 10 of my class. Once the season gets going I hope to settle in on speed and conditioning, allowing me to match pace with the top 5 of the A-VET group and be in the top 30 overall.
This Grand Prix track is always known to be FAST - but also sketchy... due to the ground/weather conditions. The cold seasonal temps make the dirt look deceivingly sticky, but most of the time it turns out to be either slick as oil or frozen solid and very hard to control under power. It didn't take long to figure out where those sections were hiding, because either a few riders were scattered about on the track trying to get restarted after a wreck or it was you that went into a flat slide trying to keep the bike straight.
The 2 falls I had were not hard, and more or less were very slow motion and predicable, but the biggest issues was the slick muddy crap that ended up on the grips and gloves. Trying to twist and hold the throttle open became a super annoying issue. Even with the tightest grip on the throttle, the muddy glove would slip with in a few seconds requiring you to "re-grip" and twist again. When trying to hold off other racers or trying to make a pass, and never knowing if your current grip is going to hold it became very frustrating and caused the pace to slow way down. After lap 2, I ended up making an unplanned pit to swap gloves and get back out on the course. What a HUGE difference!
Durban Racing is lucky to have the continued support through 2008 from DH Cycles (Modesto CA) and plans to keep the relationship strong with them. We will be racing under their black and yellow "DH" PIT tent this season again and also supporting other local DH racers who are entered and part of the network.
A 7.5 mile loops is what the word on the street was for course makeup... that equates to about a 24 min lap. The cool part about a Grand Prix vs. a Hare Scramble is the forced mix of some pavement sections... this year it was laid out so we had about 3 blacktop areas and one being a quarter mile 6th gear pinned section... Fun as heck to hammed down through it, but always a bit scary to start breaking with the leftover muddy residue left on the track from other people.
The checkered flag fell after 2.5 hours of racing and luckily because the course was getting to be in very rough shape. As for my results... I finished 49th out of 170 racers and 11 out of 19 in the A VET CLASS. With 1/2 of the goal achieved I was pretty stoked! and can say it was a totally FUN race! I felt very strong throughout and could have pounded out a few more laps if it required! I think with a better start I would have been right in there!
Always a cool way to start the season... running (and finishing) the PCGP!
Thanks to all the returning and NEW 2008 sponsors:
TONY PALANDRANI #75v
A special thanks to Kelly's photo work...she got a very high end Digital SLR camera for xmas... which should make for some awesome action shots when mixed with the right course!
Round 1 of the 2008 AMA District 36 Hare scramble series was this past weekend. The event was hosted by the "Polka Dot's M/C club" at one of Northern CA's OHV parks, Prairie City - located just east of Sacramento in the low foothills and if you've never been there this time of year... its a cold region...VERY COLD...like 30 degrees cold, not including any wind chill. The A/B premier race was the first of the day at 8:30am so the cold conditions were an issue not just for us racers but for the track - slick dirt, frost covered rock sections and even icy puddles for the first lap.
The start was a "Le-Mans" style shotgun start... Line up 10 yards in-front of the bike, the gun sounds and its a mad dash to see who can get to the bike, get it started and off to the races...being so cold...its hard to get the blood pumping!
Decked with a new number for 2008 - 75v, flashy new graphics from ridepg.com and fresh 2008 gear... it did not take long to get back into the groove of things after the 2007 holiday break. I spent most of the winter off season riding with local buddies, lifting weights and cardio' conditioning. This jump to the A class has been a eye opener and the major goals I set for the start of 08 were to finish the races within the top 50 overall riders and to finish in the top 10 of my class. Once the season gets going I hope to settle in on speed and conditioning, allowing me to match pace with the top 5 of the A-VET group and be in the top 30 overall.
This Grand Prix track is always known to be FAST - but also sketchy... due to the ground/weather conditions. The cold seasonal temps make the dirt look deceivingly sticky, but most of the time it turns out to be either slick as oil or frozen solid and very hard to control under power. It didn't take long to figure out where those sections were hiding, because either a few riders were scattered about on the track trying to get restarted after a wreck or it was you that went into a flat slide trying to keep the bike straight.
The 2 falls I had were not hard, and more or less were very slow motion and predicable, but the biggest issues was the slick muddy crap that ended up on the grips and gloves. Trying to twist and hold the throttle open became a super annoying issue. Even with the tightest grip on the throttle, the muddy glove would slip with in a few seconds requiring you to "re-grip" and twist again. When trying to hold off other racers or trying to make a pass, and never knowing if your current grip is going to hold it became very frustrating and caused the pace to slow way down. After lap 2, I ended up making an unplanned pit to swap gloves and get back out on the course. What a HUGE difference!
Durban Racing is lucky to have the continued support through 2008 from DH Cycles (Modesto CA) and plans to keep the relationship strong with them. We will be racing under their black and yellow "DH" PIT tent this season again and also supporting other local DH racers who are entered and part of the network.
A 7.5 mile loops is what the word on the street was for course makeup... that equates to about a 24 min lap. The cool part about a Grand Prix vs. a Hare Scramble is the forced mix of some pavement sections... this year it was laid out so we had about 3 blacktop areas and one being a quarter mile 6th gear pinned section... Fun as heck to hammed down through it, but always a bit scary to start breaking with the leftover muddy residue left on the track from other people.
The checkered flag fell after 2.5 hours of racing and luckily because the course was getting to be in very rough shape. As for my results... I finished 49th out of 170 racers and 11 out of 19 in the A VET CLASS. With 1/2 of the goal achieved I was pretty stoked! and can say it was a totally FUN race! I felt very strong throughout and could have pounded out a few more laps if it required! I think with a better start I would have been right in there!Always a cool way to start the season... running (and finishing) the PCGP!
Thanks to all the returning and NEW 2008 sponsors:
- DH Cycles (Modesto KTM dealer)
- Durban Racing
- IMS Racing
- FMF
- Red-Bull
- Utopia Optics
- Cycra Racing
- Power Sport Graphix
- Cruz Tools
- Sierra Utility Sales
- Garvey
- and My lovely wife, KELLY!!!
TONY PALANDRANI #75v
A special thanks to Kelly's photo work...she got a very high end Digital SLR camera for xmas... which should make for some awesome action shots when mixed with the right course!
<< Home