Rider Updates
Oct 22 2009
In my racing results, you may notice I didn't log any major race events for 2009. This is because of an early season crash which required some attention to my left knee.
I spent 2009 training and trying work through the issues. But in the end, I had to have surgery. So, at the end of the season (September) I went in and had it taken care of. My knees feel great now, and I'm training harder and harder every day.
When the 2010 season hits, I am prepared to do very well.... And being away from the sport I love, has created a longing that I have never felt before. - I'm ready!
Sep 13 2008
This series is a new venue assembled by a Washington local WORCS pro ATV rider, Tim Shelman. The format is exactly the same as the WORCS series, with a motocross section, mixed with a few miles of enduro, woods and/or desert. The duration for my class was 60 minutes, or about 8-14 laps.
Race Day:
Saturday started, just like the last two rounds, with an early morning two-lap practice session giving a small amount of time on the track to review the tricky sections. The motocross track was dry and hard-packed (like always). But the woods section was allot drier than round 2, and had some new technical enduro sections lined with logs and water crossings. Tim added a few newly cut single track sections through the woods for this round. During practice these sections caused a few pack-ups. But overall, my feeling on the course was extremely positive.
At 10:00am I arrived to my gate position and relaxed for about 10-12 minutes waiting for the start. And I worked on stretching my arms out and focusing on the first turn. I secured fifth place out of the first turn, but let a few riders by when I over-jumped the third double and landed hard. The balance of the MX course felt like I had a steering dampener on high as I tried to get the bike to turn. Just before entering into the woods sections, I took the time to review my front tire and discovered that I had a flat. I hurried back to the pits to see if there was a patch kit or extra tube in the toolbox. Unfortunately, I would have to make a 30-minute run back to town, pickup the appropriate tools to swap out the front tube. The plan was to switch my class registration and have my bike together to run the 250+ Class that started at 12:45. The travel and parts gathering happened like clockwork, but once I was back, I was still hurrying too much and I pinch the tube putting the tire back on. So, I was back on the sideline.
Aug 28 2008
This series is a weekly Motocross series positioned at Portland International Raceway. Although short, it hosts a very nice track, with a variety of lines.
Race Day: As always with Motocross, there was a pre-race practice session giving a small amount of time on the track to review the layout, technical sections, and lines. The motocross track was sticky but wet in a lot of places during practice.
At 8:15pm, I arrived to the gate a little late and was forced to take a spot on the side. I tried to relax as I stretched my arms out and prepared for the race. I secured sixth place out of the first turn, and retained my position throughout the better half of the race. I rode smart and smooth. However, I started pushing a little and on the third lap I came up short on a triple and cased the landing. – A quick reminder to keep it smart! I struggled the balance of the race to hang onto the bike with my arms injury nagging me, but managed to finish in 7th Place.
Overall Summary: I’ve been training and practicing hard, especially focused on getting my arms back in shape, and although this 7th place finish is not my idea of effective competition, I am happy to still be banging bars.
I finished this race, but unfortunately I’m still feeling the side effects of this arm injury. The prognosis is that it will be a slow recovery. So it looks like I’ll have to keep it in control over the next few months.
The next race is in Olympia, WA for the TPQ Series Round 3. I am hopeful that the conditions are good and my arms are feeling better to be able to handle the typically slippery terrain.
-Tim Durham
WORCS #438 | WOR #348
Thanks to my 2008 Sponsors:
Pinion Media | Yoshimura | Pro-Action
Renthal | SixSixOne | BRAKING | DeCal Works
Twin Air | MHz | Motion Dept
Aug 2 2008
This series is a new venue assembled by a Washington local WORCS pro ATV rider, Tim Shelman. The format is exactly the same as the WORCS series, with a motocross section, mixed with a few miles of enduro, woods and/or desert. The duration for my class was 60 minutes, or about 6-8 laps.
Race Day: Saturday started with an early morning two-lap practice session giving a small amount of time on the track to review the tricky sections. The motocross track was dry and hard-packed. And the woods section was very wet, sloppy and technical with multiple enduro sections lined with logs and water crossings. Tim also added a ‘previously pro-only first round’ section to this round for everyone. During practice this section proved to be difficult for many riders, causing pile-ups and a lot of wasted energy.
At 10am, I arrived to my gate position and relaxed as I stretched my arms out the best I could. I secured fourth place out of the first turn, but had a few bobbles in the first lap ‘pro-only section’, where I let a few riders by. I had another the second lap in the same section. I struggled the entire race to hang onto the bike with any form of accuracy while trying to ride smart. My arm injuries would prove to be detrimental in clutch control and balance. But, in the end I placed 13th.
Overall Summary: I’ve been training, and I practicing hard leading up to this event, and unfortunately suffered a major arm injury to both arms (partial bicep tendon rupture at the elbow) a week before. As a result, hanging onto the bars with any amount of quick reflex response (the kind required in slippery, rocky conditions) caused a lot of pain. It also felt as though I’d lost about 30% of my strength from both arms, making clutch control very difficult in technical sections.
I finished this race with very little dignity in tacked, as I had very high expectations before my in
May 31 2008
This series is a new venue assembled by a Washington local WORCS pro ATV rider, Tim Shelman. The format is exactly the same as the WORCS series, with a motocross section, mixed with a few miles of enduro, woods and/or desert. The duration for my class was 60 minutes, or about 6-8 laps.
Race Day:
Saturday started with an early morning two-lap practice session that would give a small amount of time on the track to review the tricky sections. The motocross track was dry and hard-packed. And the woods section was very wet, sloppy and technical with multiple enduro sections lined with logs and water crossings - Nothing too difficult.
At 10am, I pushed my Honda up to secure my gate position and struggled to get it running. My bike appeared to be protesting my involvement in this main event… but with about a minute to spare, it started up and finally stayed running. I secured third place out of the first turn, but had a bobble in the first lap entering the woods section, where I let a few riders by. I had another the second lap over a log section and lost another position. I found my rhythm fairly quickly after that, and rode smart and conservative the balance of the race finishing 8th place.
Overall Summary:
This past few months, I’ve accelerated my training, and I practiced hard… As a result, I finished this race with energy to spare. It’s a frustrating feeling to know that I could have applied more, but I paced myself too conservatively. At lease now I know that what I’m doing off the track is working… so, now I need to pull it all together on the track and find the balance.
I’m still looking for a top three finish in 2008, but I know I’ll be up there before long!
We will have two more stops in Olympia for the TPQ Series Round 2 and 3 this year. But I hope that it becomes a regular stop for us on ou
Apr 27 2008
This event is a very different from the other rounds of the Whiplash Desert series. Held at Firebird Raceway during the “season opener”, it contains Monster Trucks, Drag boats, and of course the Whiplash desert “short course” race. The short course features desert trucks, dune buggies, quads, bikes, and others. With the large draw or spectators to this event, and benefit of everyone able to see the entire course, makes it an extremely important race for sponsor exposure. Spectators also spend quite a bit of time in the pit area talking to the racers. So, it’s a great way to shake some hands and boast about our bikes and equipment.
The course was a mix of desert, motocross, supermoto, and enduro terrain. So, we setup the bike similar to our WORCS race settings and preparation. And since this weekend would be the hottest day of the year, so far, in Phoenix (104 degrees) hydration was key to my prep.
Qualifying Day:
Saturday started with a short race practice session that would give a small amount of time on the track to review the tricky sections. The enduro section proved to be somewhat difficult for allot of the desert racers; demonstrated by the “yard sale” for the first few practice laps. This section featured a mud pit leading into a bolder area, and then into a set of logs spaced just far enough apart to reset between. I decided to bypass the enduro section for the first three laps of practice while the wreckage was cleared out, and spent some time learning the balance of the course. I ran the enduro section a few times at the last part of practice, which was enough to learn the lines.
The qualifying race on Saturday went extremely well. I holeshot into the first turn and hung it out on the pavement, demonstrating my excellent Supermoto skills. Qualifying was a quick 6 laps and I although I had bobble or two in the enduro section, I finished first.
Race Day:
Apr 14 2008
Having never done a WORCS race, I had very low expectations of Saturdays Auburn race. If anything, I just wanted to get a ride in. So, I set out to do this race as if I was doing a good solid Saturday ride.
In Washington the forest trails are typically closed from December 1st to April to keep the trail deterioration down. Unless the weather is too wet coming into April. Then they push the opening to May. This year has been very wet, so I have had no woods rides since November last year. Therefore, getting a good ride in, with some woods sections, was going to be great!
I wasn't able to do either practice sessions Friday, or Saturday morning, so hitting the MX portion of the course at race speed was difficult. Just after the start and a few turns, I got to the rhythm section. As I came up on it, I could see how far I needed to be flying to make the first double. So, I guessed at the speed I needed, but ended up overshooting it. I landed on the face of the second double, went off the second double out-of-shape and ditched the bike off the left side of the track. In the process of this crash, I twisted the bars in the clamps. The balance of the first lap was ridden with the bike in this condition.
The woods section of the course was just like the woods areas close to the house. It wasn't too technical, except when I came up to a pileup; which with all of the California desert riders competing the WORCS series, was often. Getting around these pileups required a more difficult line than everyone that was stuck was in. On some occasions, there was a 1-3 minute wait until a clear line was usable. This was very frustrating. The wet weather left fairly rutted, single line, sections which are always hard to balance with bent bars. But it was still allot of fun!
After passing the sensor for lap one, I ran to my pits to adjust the bars to a more rideable position. I figured that the amount of time wasted to fit the bars would be
Apr 4 2008
Last month I received my new 2008 CRF450R from Beaverton Honda. (Thanks guys for an awesome assembly!) After going through the bike and re-torquing every bolt and checking every greased bearing it was apparent that Honda had done an exceptional job on this bike.
It was almost a shame to take this beautiful machine out to into the March mud, but the break-in procedure must commence to get this bike ready for the upcoming WORCS race in Auburn Washington April 12th.
Although our first practice break-in sessions where very wet conditions, a nice break in the Washington spring weather gave us a solid day worth of practice and setup on normal conditions yesterday. We headed to the week-day practice session at the Riverdale Raceway Motocross track, which gave us many hours for testing and adjustments on all conditions that I will be encountering on the WORCS course. I was sure nice to work on the bike without pushing mud out of the way to turn wrenches.
Although I know my strengthening and endurance is where I will be focusing all of my energy this week, the time practicing on the MX track proved that the Honda was almost ready… being comfortable and confident in my bike always makes my race much more focused on what’s important. Winning!
I will report next week after we have completed preparation for the upcoming race.