Personal History
I am a 43 year old who lives in Northeastern Minnesota. I work in the natural resources field as a Conservation Planner. I started riding dirt bikes 2 years ago when I realized I could no longer keep up with my 11 year old son (who was racing hare scrambles and enduros on a 65) with my utility ATV.
Riding Goals
My goals for 2015 are to get in shape and win at least one race. I plan to work on the fundamentals and minimizing mistakes. I would like to finish the year in the top 3 in my class.
Competitive Highlights
2014 started with the Cambridge Hare Scramble. I had a decent start, but was uneasy and lacked confidence on the first lap. I took a few spills and knocked some bark off of a few trees, but made my way for a second lap. I was able to make a few passes and gained some confidence but didn’t finish as well as I thought I would have.
My second race was at Millville (Spring Creek MX Park). I took a hard spill 5 minutes into the first lap and twisted my bars pretty badly. It made for an interesting race. I persevered and adapted to the bike. An 8th place finish was pretty good considering I raced another 53 minutes with severely tweaked bars and a barkbuster that came loose and was flopping up on my clutch hand. My take away message from this race was that I need to do some serious upgrades to my bike and use locktite...
Stone Lake was my next hare scramble. I had a good start and finished the first 2 laps in 2nd place. I had three bikes in front of me as we were getting close to entering the woods for the 3rd lap and I decided to try to pass them all on a big step up jump. Didn’t quite clear it and sprained both ankles. It slowed me down, but I still finished in 4th.
Stone Lake II was a tough race and my ankles were still giving me trouble, but I raced and placed 9th. I was in 2nd place for about 6 minutes of the first lap. 3 of us in my class got off course for a few minutes on the first lap because someone had blown through the ribbons. I was in 6th after the first lap and 7th after the second lap. I crashed on the 3rd lap and it cost me 2 places.
Trollhaugen was next. It was a tough race with a lot of very technical riding. I had a bad take off, but managed to be in 5th after the first lap and finished in 6th.
Staples Hare Scramble was my best finish of the year and I actually led the entire first lap. It was my first race on the 2008 KTM 200 XC-w that I had bought 2 weeks earlier. I lost the lead when I slid out on a root in a corner. The bike died and it took me a bit to get it upright and going again. Finished 3rd.
Mazeppa was the last race of the year. I had run this race last year in the X class, so I had a good feeling going into it. That good feeling quickly went away when I made a mistake at the starting line and killed the bike. I was in dead last to start the race. It was the only live engine start we did all year and I let the clutch out a little too far and rolled forward a bit just as the gate dropped. I made several passes on my first lap and felt like I was doing well. I got smashed into on the second lap and went down an embankment. I lost several places due to the crash, but recovered and raced hard to end in 8th.
I ended the season in 4th place in the senior C class for District 23.