Dirt bikes bring un-predicted circumstances all the time. The best riders prepare, react, and many times prevail. This weekend... I showed why I am not a championship winning racer beyond a few local titles that don't mean anything. BUT... maybe I'm okay at helping promote dirt bike races.
Fair warning, this recap is going to be a bit different than normal... I have only skimmed the 450 main to be honest.
I left at 7:30am Thursday with my kids to Riverside Raceway in Iowa. If you haven't heard, they have the best dirt on the planet... yes, it really is that good. The track owner is a longtime friend and I've helped him at his races for a few years and not long after, along with Jenny who is the best office girl in moto... who doubles as my mechanic, best friend, trophy girl, and person that keeps my ass in line.
Normally, we roll down and help put on an incredible show/weekend of fun and dirt bikes Thursday-Sunday. But this time, we brought all my kids. They are a huge part of my life, starting to love dirt bikes, and I wanted to let them join us with something we love.
Just going to clip all the events to keep this from being a book:
Kids riding is a ton of work
First race of the year... yep, you're a bit rusty.
Kids are a ton of work
My buddy Tony's property was leveled by a tornado a month ago...
Kids need a ton of help
I took on extra to help Tony make this happen because he won't ever quit
Kids are super cool, but need help at the track
We decided packing the place was the best way to support my friend
My kids really like pit bikes, but are new to dirt bikes
We absolutely packed the place to record numbers.
I love my kids and they love me
More riders is so bad ass, but it's way more work!
My parents are amazing. Idk how they took my brother and I racing for years.
LOL, you get the point! The gates were supposed to open at 3pm Thursday and I rolled in after some packing and planning at 2pm. The pits were already starting to fill up. The moto community in our area was ready to support one of the staples of Midwest MX at Riverside Raceway in a big way.
Support they did... but that meant busy, busy, busy for the crew to make sure we didn't fail them for trusting us for a good weekend. I sure hope we delivered.
Anyways, Saturday being a day race on the East coast even effed me worse! After a completely full day Friday (and anytime that wasn't full I spent putting an hour and a half on my bike... which is a lot of laps even at my slow pace), I woke up worked Saturday and went straight to work. Luckily my buddy Gary dropped me a text midday about the game and it came through to my phone while I was in staging with my daughter for her moto. I snapped back to reality, and these texts were exchanged...
I also didn't pick a team in Pulp fantasy and had Thursday picks that weren't good at all (where 2 weeks ago I was knocking on the door of the top 10 overall and now am outside the top 250...) or MXD team where I was headed to a must-win to continue my Head 2 Head title dominance...
Anyways, yea... Shit show when it came to anything SX related. But my priorities were to do a good job with local moto (we had over 700 entries... a 400+ day is giant) and my daughter got 8th out of 14 which was super freaking cool.
As far as the game. Picks were limited, and I honestly don't have much analysis this time. What I do know is, we are down to 3 players left which means I got my entry money back for the first time! I'm headed back down to Riverside in Iowa (just over 4 and a half hours south) tomorrow for another busy weekend at the Loretta Lynn's Area Qualifier, shit cell service, and another day race. Had I known Chiz was on a 450 last weekend, I would've taken him, but that option is gone, I've used up Friese, used up the HEP guys, so likely going with Starling, Clason, Breece or Amart. If shit hits the fan and I don't post a pick, I have Starling.
Thanks everyone for playing, and congrats to the podium. Sorry about the minimal updates at the end here, life just gets crazy busy for me in the spring and more-so this year than ever. But the game goes on!
Results below the bonus pics from my 100 laps this weekend and hanging with the family because you definitely want to see an out of shape vet guy do butt whips and air wheelies!
Photos @Reed Photography
The results and standings
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