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BIG 6 Grand Prix, Taft, CA, 2/5/12
By Robby Bell
I have one major rule going into
the unclassified "practice" race at Taft... Just cruise. The Taft racecourse has always been a
bit of a tricky one and I've had a history of throwing it away in practice
there. The track is mostly made up
of fast, winding jeep roads interconnected with washes, ravines and the
Honolulu Hills motocross track, but the silt holes and deep, square edged bumps
that crop up make it a little scary to pin the throttle and throw caution to
the wind. After an uneventful
unclassified it was time to head to the start line of the heavyweight expert
race.
The start procedure was to have
your right hand on the rear fender and your left hand on the throttle; a green
flag start. When the flag waved I
got it into gear and off the line quickly and was racing Mark Samuels to the
first turn. Halfway down the long
start straight was a blind rise and when Mark lifted the throttle slightly I
did the same, allowing a charging Timmy Weigand and Colton Udall to pass us
into the first corner. I quickly
got by Mark and a few corners later Colton lost the front end and went down
putting Timmy into the lead and myself in second. It's tough to memorize a 10-plus minute lap in three laps of
practice and both Timmy and I were taking the first lap to feel it out and log
the changing track conditions in a little bit. At the start of the second lap I made a big push to get right
up behind him. The intensity was
increasing and Timmy definitely knew I was right there as we headed into the
off road. I was applying the
pressure, trying to stick a wheel in, but Timmy was riding solid and wasn't
cracking. Half way around the lap
he made a slight bobble allowing me right up alongside and I pushed hard for
the pass. Unfortunately I was
outside of him going into the next left handed corner and he was surely going
to push me wide. I kept it on
trying to sweep him but I was off the main line in the slick wet dirt and when
I got on the gas I slid the back end around, almost crashing and losing a few
seconds in the process. By now we
were starting to get into lapped riders and the conditions made it slightly
dangerous for us to carry the speeds we wanted through the beginner and novice
lines. Timmy was riding well,
maintaining his gap and was just around five seconds ahead of me heading into
the final of five laps. I needed
to make one last push to close the distance. Heading up a long silty uphill I could see a couple riders
down at the top and just as I'm passing I see Timmy coming back on to the
course right beside me. He'd
clipped the downed rider's bike and fallen, but got up quickly and was right on
my rear wheel. He was attacking me
with adrenaline over the next few corners and straights and I was riding a
little defensively to keep him back. I pinched him off into a following right hand turn and he
later told me he fell on the exit of it. I knew something had happened as I didn't feel the pressure
anymore and cruised in for the victory.
Up next was the Four Stroke expert
race and as the green flag dropped I again got out quickly. I felt I had the hole shot to myself
but, and I feel like an idiot I did it again, I lifted just slightly for the
blind rise and Colton was able to get a wheel on me going into the first
corner. He was taking his line
into the first turn but I wasn't backing out; we were leaning into each other
and my front end was literally pushing his bike into the first turn. Luckily we both stayed upright, but he
got the lead and I settled into second. This is where I should have pushed hard for the pass, but I
was again feeling out the track a bit too much on the first lap and just kind
of hung behind him. At the start
of the third lap I finally made up my mind that I needed to pass him and picked
it up around the moto track. He
started riding a little defensive and I felt I had him as I was applying the
pressure with vigor now. I wanted
to get him before we went into the silty off road and came up the inside of
him. I pushed him hard into the
next corner, making contact with him, and almost forcing him off the track. Into the next left I was set up wide for
an outside-in pass and just as I had it lined up he almost came to a stop,
looked back, and brake checked me, taking my front end out and I went down. I got back up in third behind Timmy and
I was fuming. Timmy went down just
a few corners later and I got back into second with my mind set on catching
Colton. I was riding on anger and
made a mistake in the moto section, losing the front end and going down again
which allowed Timmy to get pretty close again. I never felt a challenge come from Timmy and later learned he
had crashed again. I was too far
behind Colton and came through the checkered in second place. I definitely didn't like the move Colton
put on me and I let him know after the race as we exchanged heated words. I was frustrated and didn't handle the
situation too well as I was fueled by anger in the moment and I later went over
and apologized to Colton and JCR for the scene.
Sunday's Pro race would be an hour
and forty five minutes plus a lap and would have a bit more competition than
Saturday's expert races. The start
was motocross style, but with a green light release instead of a flag. When the green lights lit I got off the
line really well and put my butt on the rear fender to get as much traction and
speed as I could into the first corner.
I was side by side with Kurt Caselli, but he had the inside of me and
took the first turn for his own as I settled into second ahead of Timmy,
Colton, Ryan Abbatoye, Gary Sutherlin and the rest of the pack. I stuck with Kurt through most of the
first lap until we got to a section that was added for the pro race; they ran
this section for the team race yesterday, but I didn’t participate in it like
the rest of the pros so I was learning this section as I went. I ended up losing about twenty seconds
to Kurt on the first lap and was just ahead of a charging Timmy and Colton. The next lap I was able to push a bit
harder and pulled a bit on the riders behind, losing just a few seconds to
Kurt. I saw I had stayed close and
put it in my mind that with a little more speed I could reel him in, but coming
into a silty right handed corner I pushed the front end through the berm and
went down, losing time and the valuable sight of the leader. From there I was in a bit of no man’s
land as I couldn’t see Kurt, who continued to pull time, and Timmy was a little
ways back as he had made a mistake and gone down as well. The next hour felt like an eternity; I
hadn’t raced this long of a grand prix in a while and I lost a bit of
aggression as the laps winded down.
Physically I felt good, but mentally I was just kind of in a pace. This was to bite me in the butt a
little as Timmy, being the solid rider that he is, just kept putting in
consistent laps and started to reel me in. With two laps to go I picked the pace up a bit and, in my
mind, had him covered until the close of the lap. On the backside of a blind rise was a small silt berm and
when I came into it my front end pushed through sending me straight to the
ground and I hit my head pretty hard as I heard the “pop” of my helmet hitting
the ground. As I was gathering
myself Timmy cruised by and into second place and I got going in third as
Colton was a ways back in fourth.
The nock to my noggin took a bit out of me as I tried to clear the
cobwebs and mount a last lap charge back up to Timmy. It just wasn’t to be and I came through the finish in third
place. As it was Timmy had entered
the Vet Pro class so, by technicality, I finished second place Pro on the day.
The Taft race track was a tough one
and it was definitely a battle all weekend long, but I had a blast racing there
and thanks to the whole Dirt Diggers crew for putting the event on. They did a great job keeping water on
the course, which is a big undertaking, and the races went off on time all
weekend long. Thank you to my
team: THR Motorsports, Monster Energy, Precision Concepts Kawasaki for once
again providing me with a great bike and unparalleled support. Thanks to Fox racing and Asterisk knee
braces for their stellar support and everyone at the race for cheering us
on. I had high hopes of sweeping
the weekend coming in, but Kurt was just a bit too quick and I made a few too
many mistakes, so I’m going to go back and work hard to close that gap, iron
out the bugs and come back at the next round stronger. Next on my racing agenda is WORCS round
two at Primm, NV. Look forward to
seeing everyone there! You stay
classy San Diego…
RB
www.robbybellracing.com
Thank you to the team sponsors: THR Motorsports, Monster Energy, Precision Concepts,
Kawasaki, FMF Racing, Hoosier Precision Machining, BRP, Renthal, Dunlop, VP
Racing Fuels, IMS Products, Kalgard, DT1 Filters, Hinson, Matrix Concepts, ZLT,
QTM, RK/Excel, Acerbis, Works Connection, Zip-Ty Racing.
Results:
Heavyweight Expert: Four
Stroke Expert: Pro
Main:
1st: Robby Bell 1st:
Colton Udall 1st:
Kurt Caselli
2nd: Timmy Weigand 2nd:
Robby Bell 2nd:
Robby Bell
3rd: Colton Udall 3rd:
Timmy Weigand 3rd:
Colton Udall
4th:
Gary Sutherlin
5th:
Ryan Abbatoye
*Timmy
Weigand was 2nd overall, first Vet
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