Well, me and some guys from work went to the Euro GP at Goldendale, November 14th. Over 150 racers, good turnout. Brian re-broke his collarbone, Tom's bike wouldn't start, Kevins bike finally started but he flipped it out on the track and had to push it back. Andre, Justin, Chris, and the guy that came out with Kev and Andre all finished, and the only guy who's name I don't remember got 3rd and trophied.

Picture by Brian, who was a spectator due to his broken collarbone! 8^(

Funny stuff always happens to me. Just before the race we all got involved trying to get Tom's bike to start. It wouldn't. We pushed, kicked, Brian even got out the starter fluid but no joy. Then we noticed that all the bikes were over at the starting line!

After getting bolted up (in record time) we all zipped over to the start. They had the riders meeting there at the starting line. All 150 of us were there, and my class (50+) was row 4 of 5. Guys were starting their bikes and riding off to get whatever they forgot, kids were buzzing around on mini's... I heard less than 10% of the riders meeting. I did catch the part where they said you track your own laps; If you do an extra lap you still just finish where you finish; too bad!

So they finally start dropping the gate. I didn't watch any starts because it was pretty crowded and I wanted a decent gate. When the first 3 gates were out racing, we move up and I get a pretty fair gate, sort of on the inside. After a couple of minutes the starter guy starts pointing with the green flag. I nod my head, the bike next to me is talking and not looking so I tap a shoulder and point. They look and nod, the guy goes on down the row. I watch him get to the end and am looking for the 3 minute board. He gives the 'start the motors' signal; weird, I think, we're already running. While I'm looking at this guy making circles, the gate DROPS!?!!

Not the best start I've ever gotten, but the quickness of the 'dale motor gets me to the first turn with 3 guys in front of me and a KTM bearing in from outside. I'm thinking 'not too bad, 5th place' when the KTM, clearly too hot, locks up the front wheel and cartwheels! I thought I'd have to stop but he didn't close on me too bad so I gassed it and got by on the inside. Could have reached out and touched his rear wheel as I went by.

The race itself went pretty well. I stopped to make sure Brian was Ok, but otherwise pushed pretty hard. The suspension was set to E specs, a little harder in the back, and the fork tubes were all the way down. The thing handled like a dream, and really sucked up the rough stuff. I passed guys the whole race, didn't get passed hardly at all. Experts lapping me, that was mosly it.

On the last lap I was getting pretty tired but was able to keep up the pace. I let myself sag a bit and took a pretty big hit up my backbone on a G-out, but was able to suck it up. Then with less than a mile to go, I hooked my left toe on an embedded rock, my heel hung on the footpeg, and my left foot turned around to backwards. Dang that hurt!! That had me yelling in my helmet and gagging just a little. Thing is, I was NOT going to get passed at that late date!! I pushed to the end, and didn't loose any places.

After my 4 laps I was feeling pretty confident. I was hauling butt for a 50 year old, and figured to place well. There were a whole lot of guys that finished behind me, and plenty of bikes still out on the track. Imagine how dissappointed I was when the scoring lady said "9th place.". WTF!? I roll back to my rig and plop down inside. Ninth. Then I had a thought. I asked Karen how many laps my race was. "Oh, it was 3 laps, they announced it on the PA while you were racing."

What a day! Good thing the track was fun, cause the organization was just hayseed. Still, 9th out of 14. That almost certainly means that the guys that finished behind me also went 4 laps. So if I was the first guy in that went an extra lap, that would mean that 8 guys went 3 and 6 guys went 4. Funny, I don't feel like an idiot; I think there is something wrong when about 1/2 the racers don't get the message!

Everybody in our group had fun. One guy (the guy that Trophied) used to race MX and is just getting back into it, and one guy (Tom) had ridden one race once before. Otherwise, It was everyones first race!  (Well, except for me...) I think all these gus are up for the next Euro GP out there, and we'll be watching the schedule to see when they start back up.

Anybody up here in Oregon who wants to start USING their race bike for what it was built for, this is a great place to start. 150 bikes on a 6+ mile track isn't crowded at all. The track is nice and wide and not too scary anywhere. If you work out the organizational issues, you will have a great time! They race Quads as well, everybody gets to party. The quads do a fine job of prepping the track for the bikes. They do water the whole thing (well, almost the whole thing) so dust isn't much of an issue. I'll be posting when the next group race is, so get 'em ready! 

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