2015 Mid-Season Recap: Dirt Bike Racing is Hard.

Dirt bike racing sure is a lot of work…

It has been a very hectic couple of weeks, I wanted to get a race report or two out sooner but some things got in the way, like work, being lazy, mmmm beer, couch…wait what was I saying? Oh yea! Race report. The bright side is we are going into an off-weekend and next week being Everett EnduroCross, a good long race report will give everyone something to read over the weekend plus since I’m busy with the track build and logistics next week I thought I’d better do it now…

After taking a few years off to “work” and focus on “life” I have decided (again) that dirt bike racing sure is a lot of work! One would think that loading up and hitting the road for a weekend of camping, socializing and epic berm blasting excitement would be refreshing. You know what? It’s complicated. Sometimes it’s good for the soul. Sometimes it’s good for the body. But sometimes I get home Sunday night and all I want to do is crack a cold one and snuggle with my couch like it’s the end of a super gnarly work week and watch Andy Griffith re-runs till 2 pm on Monday. Rarely do I get to actually do that. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not complaining. Dirt bikes, like most things in life, are a choice and I’m pretty stoked with how things are rolling along in the Beal MX V3.0 program. (V3.0 upgrades include more smiles, more beer while eliminating some of the stressful performance issues that bogged the previous versions down.)

So let’s recap all the first world problems from the last few weeks and talk about some of the awesome goings on. A few weeks back we raced at Hannagan Speedway round 11 of the NMA off-road series. I really wanted a “W” that day but, alas, my dirt scoot said “Nope.” After holeshotting the race and then tucking into the woods it was clear there was a problem. I had a constant drag on the motorcycle similar to the rear brake being held on. Initially I figured I would just ride through the problem and stay up front but the issue got worse and worse. Eric Bailey and Danny Brocker were actually having a pretty good go early on and it was fun to watch that for a while. Later in the day I found myself in the midst of a 4-way thrash fest between Eric Geise, Joel Tonsgard, Robby Seagrest and another ride which I’m sorry but the name escapes me. They were all giving it 100… I think I saw more position changes in 2 laps than most of the races ever have. Unfortunately, given the aforementioned issue with my bike, the race turned into a “competitive trail ride” for me and ultimately I spent the day stuck in 4th gear cruising around just to finish. While disappointed, I still had fun. The bigger question was what was wrong with the bike and could I find the time amongst all the other things on my plate to get it fixed before the final round of Team Tortoise in just under 2 weeks?

Amongst work and projects and baseball and beer, I got the bike torn down and found 3rd gear had seized to the main shaft of the transmission. In doing some research I discovered that it was a new part in 2013 and 2014 but prior years had the same part back to 2006. (Remember: My Husky has a KTM power plant.) I ordered parts but it seemed that the best strategy for me, given finances and time, was to check eBay for a complete engine. I found a 2008 KTM 250 SX complete engine for sale and after a few sob story emails back and forth convinced the seller to drop his price a bit and hook a brother up.

So my new (old) engine showed up on Wednesday before the Team Tortoise weekend. I had very little time to put it all together and was going on blind faith (a necessary thing in racing bikes) that it would fire and run. Thursday night I gave it a test fire and ran it through the gears then stuffed it in the back of the trailer. On top of it was a stack of other parts and ties and gas tank and, and, and…which I had planned to finish putting on the bike on Friday at the track so I could just get the heck out of town and build the bike without the distractions of work.

Friday - like most Fridays that we have a wedding at the farm - began with “Ok I’m ready to roll and I’m leaving at 10!” But, oh wait this person needs something. Oh wait that person too. “Yes I have a ladder.” “Sure, let me unclog that toilet for you.” “Wait - why do you need to borrow a Sawz-All at the wedding?” After I put out all of the fires, I hit the road out of Snohomish. At 2pm. Not 10am. However, the whole time I’m thinking “Three hours of drive and three hours of bike work still… I got this! I’ll be in bed by 10.” Enter into the picture “Life.” It had other plans for me. Just about the time I pulled onto I-5 in Seattle from I-405, I started to smell something like burning oil. Thinking it was a truck around me as I was sitting in traffic I proceeded on. “It couldn’t be my truck” I thought. “I just bought it”. Well guess what? It was. 28 days into owning a new (used) truck after driving a 260,000 mile moto van for 3 years without incident, I’m sitting on the side of the road with a blown up transmission hooked to a trailer, in traffic, on Friday, on I-5. In the middle of rush hour. Good thing I got that extended warranty. Oh wait what do you mean you won’t cover the full tow? You want me to leave the trailer on the highway? Hold on what do you mean the guy at the dealership keyed the mileage in wrong and my warranty isn’t valid for 6000 more miles. Oh you can’t fix it till Monday? That’s helpful…*%$#*%, and *^%$#*, and (*&*%!!!

(Light Bulb) Solution!

Phone call to employee: “ Hey Randy! Will you go fill up the work truck and head south on 405 until you see me headed north and then you can limp my truck home and I will take the trailer down with the work truck?”

Randy- Ummmm….

ME- Ok see you in a bit.

Randy-Ummmm….

So at 6 pm I finally hit the road in the work truck with the trailer from Kirkland all the while thinking “You know I could just bag it and go home.” But being a stubborn dirt bike racer, quitting was out of the question.

One thing I learned in my prior racing career, even if you think you’re ready, or you have a plan, rarely does it work. Being good at winging it is a must.

The next 5 hours I spent battling various levels of Seattle traffic on my way south. Just as I was approaching the exit to head up the highway to Riverdale in Toutle, WA. I-5 south came to a complete stop. Apparently all lanes were closed due to an earlier accident. After an hour of time to reflect on perhaps that I was lucky that I wasn’t here sooner and hopefully everyone in the accident was ok, and a few uplifting Daily Show episodes on my iPhone, the highway opened up. Lucky for me the gate lady at Riverdale decided she would stay 2 hours longer than they usually are open to let me in. Thank you for that by the way – and to Travis Redfield and others for letting her know we were stuck on the freeway.

I pulled in to a camping spot. No dinner. No relaxing. I just hit the pillow at 12:30, thinking about the 3 hours of bike work I still have.

Bright and early on Saturday (race day) I attacked my bike. Critical items first: install bigger gas tank, clean air filter, change oil in moto. And then moving on to other items: moose tubes and new tires, brakes, misc. Our 1st race was at 10 am. This was a big day for me because I came in tied in series points for 2nd and had a shot to win if I had epic rides and got a little help from some other players in the series points. Plus I just wanted the “W” for the day.

At 9:45 I geared up and headed to the line for the first of two 1.5 hour motos. I was last to pick my gate and took the far inside and decided I would have to just own it if I wanted a good start.

I owned it!

I holeshot and the check-out process had begun. All the issues from the prior day /week/month/life just began to melt away. Barely 2 min into the race and I had a 30 sec gap on a stacked field. The eBay motor seemed to be performing and then… Tate Matherly was there stopping the race. I begged him to let me go and had a little freak out for a second when he said they were restarting the race because of an injured rider that needed attention on the track. (Sorry about that buddy - Temper Tantrum John came out for a sec there) I regained my wits and went back to the start. I told myself to own it again.

I owned it!

I holeshot the restart. This time there was no check out process. I had riders right on my butt the first lap and was struggling to take good lines in the woods and just wasn’t clicking on my bike at all. Eventually I started to fall back and ended up with a 5th place finish.

Now to Moto 2. Eric Bailey had won Moto 1 so he essentially had the series locked down – barring a DNF - and it really was now about who was going to take 2nd between myself and Brandon Johnson. Brandon had beat me in Moto 1 so I had to do the same in Moto 2 to keep my 2nd place series spot.

I lined up in the same spot on the start as the prior moto. Again I needed to own it for a holeshot.

I got a great jump but couldn’t stick the inside and went into the 2nd corner in traffic in 3rd place. That’s when the demons got me. Someone on the inside (who shall remain nameless) hit me and took me down. As I was picking up my bike another rider hit my hand on the handlebar with something - foot, foot peg, engine case - who knows. My wrist went completely numb. Not the good kind of numb but the hot kind. The kind every racer knows well: the kind where you don’t even want to look at it. I looked at it. And my initial reaction was “I’m so screwed!” My wrist was at an odd angle and it did not look good. I gripped it to my chest and at that moment I heard a pop, most of the pain had subsided almost instantly and I was just left with the hot feeling and a whole pile of adrenaline running through my veins. I figured I would at least get on my bike and see what happens. Maybe it wasn’t that bad...

The next 3 laps I rode like a bat out of hell! I yelled at everyone trying to get by and catch the leaders, holding it completely wide open. I caught up to 3rd and just couldn’t do anymore. Call it burnout. Call it hitting the wall or just call it pain. That was all I had that day. I hollered out to my girlfriend, Ameé, as I went by the pits that I was hurt. And I went backwards the rest of the race each bump hurting my sore wrist more and more. Determined to finish I crossed the line in 10th. Brandon Johnson had an epic ride and won the moto handily. Eric Bailey had injured his shoulder and rode around wisely not to DNF. After the race, Ameé borrowed a wrist brace for me from Jay Burrell and he also helped load up my bike.

The weekend and the series ended with the podium of Eric Bailey 1st, Brandon Johnson 2nd, and me (John Beal) 3rd. After being away from the scene for 5 years and starting the year out on a whim on my old Husky and finishing the year on a new Husky and getting to the podium, I have to say I was pretty stoked.

The Team Tortoise guys did a heck of a job and I’m looking forward to next year.

Moving on from dirt bike racing to baseball, next day I had championship games back up in Seattle at 12pm. I left the track in the morning Sunday and drove straight to the game. We had to win the 1st game to move on to the championship game. I didn’t want to tell anyone I had a bad wrist because it was bad enough that I had left my entire baseball uniform at home on the counter when I left Friday. Total rookie move. Between my teammates and Ameé, who had to run to a local sporting goods store, we cobbled together a uniform so I could play. Game 1 we played great. I had an epic game, batting 4 for 4 basically swinging the bat with one good arm. I actually hit better than I had all year.

Game 2 went not so well. I started at catcher, and I had a great game. Our pitcher had a great game, but everything else was off… we lost 15-0 in a heart breaker after a great season. And yes catching did hurt my wrist.

Monday it was back to the grind, preparing for the EnduroCross track build, work, beer, couch, beer etc.

After getting my wrist checked out (and by “checked out” I mean I looked it up on WebMD), apparently I dislocated a bone called the pisiform. Good news was racing dirt bikes helped set it so now I don’t have to spend money on doctors so I can fix my truck (remember it lost the transmission, oh and my bike which also lost the transmission.) Coincidence?

So the adventure continues.

I left the trailer loaded with my factory eBay powered Husky and did nothing but work, cleanup stuff, and snuggle my couch all week.

On Friday I got home from work at 5 or so and was hemming and hawing about going to the Sprint Enduro Saturday and then to the Rimrock GP Sunday. After consulting with my couch about it until about 7:30pm, I felt empowered to go out and hook up the truck and maybe hit the road. I remembered a method I am trying to fold into my life to help me determine my direction. I will spare you the details but the basis of it is simple: “F%#*yea or NO”. The idea of a double duty weekend of a Sprint Enduro and GP seemed again like a lot of work however I felt more “F%#* Yea” than “No”, so off to the races we go.

Fast forward to a foggy mountain pass at 11 pm where I am barely able to keep my eyes open, I asked myself what in the world I was doing. After pushing through the sleepiness, we rolled into Packwood at 12:30. Saturday morning was beautiful! The mountains. The clouds in the early morning sun. It was all breathtaking. Ameé went and signed me up for the event while I ate food and prepped my bike for the day. I really enjoyed the Sprint Enduro that day. It was a relaxed scene and while I didn’t end up on the top box due to some errors in strategy and some mistakes early on, I finished 3rd. And I had a really good time. Beal MX V3.0 was in effect and smiles and beer were had.

Ameé made food in the trailer that afternoon while I prepped my bike for the GP the next day. I wanted to get to the race site early enough to go test run a couple sections just to make sure I was dialed in. The Rimrock GP is my kind of race and I wanted to win.

After a quick drive to the Silver Beach Resort and a fast camp set up on Saturday evening, I went out and tested some suspension settings in the rocks. Stupid rocks. Big-ass stupid rocks. Needless to say I gave a few spectators a show when I stepped off the bike in the big stupid rocks after successfully blitzing them 3 or 4 times. It was a solid get off. I was fine. Bike seemed fine, until I started it and it sounded like one of many bikes you see at the Desert 100 that sounds like the pipe wasn’t even connected to the head in any way. In my case it wasn’t. The entire exhaust manifold had broken off the head and it was just a big hole onto the cylinder.

What to do, what to do.

Like anytime you have a crazy mechanical failure you always seem to find your way to JR Tonsgard. After a 30 minute chat about this strategy session (the convo included JB Weld and duct tape - both viable options), I rode back to the trailer and tore the bike down.

Neither Ameé nor I had cell service to call anyone, so Ameé went on a hunt in the campground for familiar faces and a phone. She found Sara and Travis Redfield and they were able to make call after call and hit up other riders at the track until we finally found the part. Thanks to Scott Bosman for putting his Saturday evening beer down and digging through the shop at Webb Powersports to find a manifold for me, and then driving it up in the morning.

I got the bike put together just in time to do the parade lap. After a gearing change thanks to another Webb Powersports employee who gave me a 14t front sprocket to run I was lined up and ready to rip.

The cannon went off and I held it wide!

Joel Tonsgard and I had some pretty sweet first few turns! We were super close together, wide open, drifting, it was rad! I hope someone got pictures!

I put myself in a good spot off the start in like 3-4th place and went into a fast dusty corner extra hard to try and make time. I hit something and went down. Luckily it was soft and I landed in poof dirt. When I got going again I was last, but it’s a long 2.5 hour race lots can happen. I just put my head down.

By the end of the 1st lap I was in 4th and closed on 3rd. I was anxious to get around the 3rd place rider before the race leaders really started to check out. I tried to make a pass in a rocky dusty corner and went down right in front of Joel Tonsgard who I had just passed. It was a decent crash. I was fine but I tore the hydraulic clutch up and lost all clutch. Having a Rekluse in the bike, I was able to keep riding but without a clutch it was still tricky. I passed into 4th place and was stalking Joel Tonsgard in 3rd. Joel and I had a few back and forth battles through the day. A couple were sketchy and a couple where fun. I ended up passing Joel for 3rd. But then, just before my first pit stop, I hit something with my front brake rotor and lost all front brake. I laid out a plan to fix it at the next pit stop and took off in 3rd, now riding with no clutch or front brake. In front of Joel, I fell again in a fast sweeper that I couldn’t brake for properly. It was another good get off, my 3rd on the day which is rare for me to even crash once. (I don’t like falling down.) Joel went by and I did the best I could to keep pace the rest of the race. Ultimately I didn’t take the time to fix the bike and rode the rest of the day with no clutch or front brake. On the very last lap with about 4 miles to go, I caught Joel Tonsgard again. We battled for the next 2 miles both of us having our own issues. I tucked into the single track rock trail before the finish and knew all I had to do was keep it together for just a little longer and I would finish 3rd on the day. Well I did. Crossing the finish just ahead of Joel. All in all not the day I was looking for or weekend, or month but definitely the life I am enjoying.

My friend, Beer, and I met up after the race and boy was it tasty! Yep Beal MX v3.0 is turning out to be ok.

As I sit here and peck this recap out while being snuggled by my awesome couch, I can’t help but think of how things seem to go so wrong at sometimes but later they always seem just fine. Also I think there is no way you can do this sport in any form by yourself. There are always people behind you, there helping get you to the race and help you succeed. Some are sponsors. Some are employees. Some are friends or your girlfriend. Some are even just random people in motor homes at a race track that stop making spaghetti to hear out your crazy “I need parts off your bike!” story while asking themselves “Who the heck is this guy?”

In any case without even one of these components for me these past few weeks, none of this would have been possible. Thanks all sometime we shall sit down and share a beer! (I’d offer to share my couch but that might be weird to some of you)

More adventures to come thanks to the people I choose and who choose to help me whatever the adventure: (the gang) REKLUSE Motorsports, (the crew) Devol Racing, (Mike ”The Man” Tosch) Kenda Tires, (John “OG” Anderson) DUBYA USA, (ROX) Moose Racing, (Easy Eric) Bell Helmets, (Super Scott Bosman) Cascade Screen Printing, (Mike “Woody” Lingle) Vision Graphics, (Super Shop) Webb Powersports. And all the other random people who do whatever it takes at a moment’s notice without a written contract saying they have too. Thank you! J

#dirtbikes #enduro #stumpjumpers #motorcross