blog

2012 Season Re-cap

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:09:19 +0100

I wanted to send out a big thank you to all of the sponsors of 2011, it turned out to be a very successful season just as anticipated and thanks to all of the support and hard work there are some very exciting things coming for 2012!

To re-cap the season, I’ll start with British Columbia’s premier race series, the PNWMA (Pacific Northwest Motorcycle Association). As you know I competed in the intermediate class against some of Canada’s fastest guys outside of the Pro classes and finished in a very respectable 3^rd place over-all! This marks the first time in Canadian history a female racer has ever had a podium finish in the intermediate class and it’s largely thanks to all of the amazing support I’ve received! I also competed in the OHSS (Okanagan Hare Scrambles Series) when it did not conflict with other races and in this series I finished in podium spots many times and was awarded with several 1^st place finishes in the Intermediate class as well, marking the first time a female has won their intermediate class as well.

Outside of British Columbia, I competed in two mainstream Endurocross events one being the AMA Geico Endurocross in Washington. The goal behind competing in these events was to draw attention to my skill in these areas in order to obtain an invitation to the 2012 X-Games in L.A. and promote my sponsors on a more international stage. With very respectable finishes in the the Men’s “A” class qualifiers and top finishes and podium finishes in the women’s divisions I am very excited to announce that after the AMA Endurocross in Washington it's looking like there is a good chance I will be able to compete in the 2012 X Games Women’s Endurocross! This will be the first time a Canadian woman has competed at this event and I expect it to be a very important opportunity to showcase my loyal sponsors.

In the world of Enduro, I competed in the well known CEC (Canadian Enduro Championship) series. This presented some tough decisions for me, as I could have chosen to enter the women’s division where my times this year I think would have earned me the championship again, or I could choose to compete in the “B” (Intermediate) or “A” (Expert) division. At the risk of having slightly less podium time, I chose to challenge myself and race in the “A” expert division against many of Canada’s best male competitors. This earned me a great deal of respect amongst the media and fellow racers, and allowed me to noticeably improve my skill and ability on the motorcycle. Racing in the “A” division allowed me to work on my endurance and skill by racing 6 hour + days against Canada’s deepest talent pool. I also feel that it served to better prepare me for my ultimate goal in 2012.

In 2012 my goal is to continue making 1^st records by being the first Canadian woman to bring home a Gold medal for Canada on the world stage at the ISDE which is being held in Saxony Germany in September! In 2010 I became the first Canadian woman to compete in, finish, and earn a medal at the ISDE which allowed me to promote my sponsors more than ever on a world stage, and with continued support, I plan on improving this coverage even more in Germany in 2012.

I’d like to extend my most genuine thanks to all of my friends and family and the sponsors of 2011, it is because of your belief in me and support that I can continue to be successful on the local and world stages of motorcycle racing. I appreciate every word of encouragement, merchandise sponsorship and financial donation. As the competition increases year to year, I am truly thankful for your continued support and I look forward to many great adventures in 2012!

Thank You!!!

Everett Endurocross Excitement!

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 06:09:12 +0100

Last night I raced my first ever AMA Endurocross at the Comcast Stadium in Everett Washington. After a long drive after work Friday night, we found the hotel around 1:30 a.m. and hit the hay for a short sleep. At 7 a.m. we ate quickly and jumped into Bugsie to drive to the event just a few minutes down the road. One turn of the truck key revealed that the truck was dead! Thankfully a friendly fellow who oddly resembled jesus drove up in his prius with a pair of jumper cables! After hooking Malcolms Van up to Bugsie, it started up right away, and we returned the jumper cables to our intersting saviour!!! With that out of the way, we drove to the pit area and set up our Gas Gas tent and got everything unloaded. A track walk would turn up the butterflies in my stomach, but after my first few practice laps in the men's amateur class, and womens class, I started to feel a bit better. The course featured a water pit, large log crossings, a very nasty firewood pit, giant tractor tires, an evil rock corner, and a very large boulder field. As the day went on, the spaces between the boulders got dug out by spinning bike tires, holes developed before and after each log, and the course became very challenging. I tired myself out quite a bit battling all the way to third at one point in the men's amateur qualifier, and skipped the last chance qualifier to gain some rest. I was slotted to race in the big night show at 9:40 pm against America's top rider Maria Forsberg, and some of the other American girls that came out. Also entered in the womens category were some of Canada's top female riders like Chantelle Bykerk, and trials pro Christy Williams.

Before the night show got started, I laid down on the pavement by my bike and took a nap in the shade. Turns out my gear bag makes a half decent pillow! I guess I must have been really tired because when I woke up, Steve was checking my bike over, and said that a few people had come by to visit but I was out cold! Some very good friends of mine even made the drive down to support me and enjoy the show! Mike and Arriane and Marcus and Lana were a welcome distraction and having the support of friends at such a big event, meant the world to me. Thank you so much! There was also a big PNWMA gang that came down to cheer for the Canadian contingent which was amazing, and Jim Engle from the now famous "Orofino Loggercross" was there and paid us a visit!

The main event for us girls started at 9:40 pm. I felt really good and had high hopes of taking the win. The second log crossing into the main, misfortune struck as it so often does in endurocross. A racer rolled off a log into my front tire and my tire became lodged in between her rear fender and tire! Over 30 seconds went by before I got loose and by that time, I was in last place! Maria was in 1st and Chantelle wasn't far behind in 2nd place. I had a field of girls to battle through who were scattered throughout the rock corner and firewood pit to get up front again! After pushing way too hard and making some stupid mistakes that I normally would NEVER make, I began making up time. My brother Malcolm could tell I was riding panicky, and leaned out over the track and motioned for me to calm down. After seeing him I knew he was right. I took a deep breath to calm myself and re-focused. I worked my way back up that next lap into second place after making it clean through the firewood pit. I saw Maria stuck in the boulder feild 5 feet from the finish line ahead of me. I was gaining on her and the crowd was going wild!!!! An estimated 10,000+ fans screamed and the echo's blasted through the indoor stadium! As I inched closer and closer Maria got her bike out of the rocks and crossed the finish line all but four feet ahead of me! Ahhh...so close!!!! I was very happy to get 2nd place to Maria who is America's X-Games Gold Medalist and has earned the nickname of "Miss America". She's a very sportsman like racer and a very friendly and helpful person in general. It was an honor to race with her and all of the other girls who are so talented and professional. I'm still shy of my goal of getting a win in woman's endurocross, but I'm more sure than ever I can do it. I have my sights set on the 2012 X Games next summer, and rumors of a possible AMA Pro Women's Endurocross series are floating around. I plan to work hard to make my dream a reality! Thanks to everyone who supported me last weekend, it was a great learning experience, and it only gets better from here!

Xtiction in the Record Books!

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 05:26:01 +0100

My journey to Xtinction included sleeping in the back of my truck on the side of the road, getting to know a large group of Chinese tourist at McDonalds very late at night, and getting lost on endless straight gravel roads trying to find the race site, but eventually I arrived and got L.R.F.C. unloaded and took in my surroundings. In the afternoon I headed out to walk the qualifier course with Stephen. This I am convinced was a mistake, because I left even more nervous and wondering what the hell I was getting myself into for Sunday morning! After a long stormy Albertan night, I woke up to be treated to an excellent Shannon family breakfast and started getting geared up and ready to face my fears! A lot of encouraging words from racing friends helped to calm my nerves a bit, and at 10:15 a.m. I started my first qualifying lap of Xtinction. I finished 2 laps and with self preservation in mind, I opted out of going for a 3^rd lap and waited for the cut-off time. I wanted to save my bike and body for what was possibly to come that afternoon, if I ended up making it into the main event. 58 riders started the qualifier for Xtinction, the top 40 would move on to the main event. Part of me wanted to make the main event, but after seeing how difficult the main event course would be in the afternoon, I can’t say that I would have been devastated if I fell short and got to be a spectator instead! Finally the time came to see what my fate would be as they posted the results and displayed who would be moving on to the Xtinction main event. There sat my name “Victoria Hett” in 39^th place!!!! Ahhh…half of me was ecstatic that I made it, but the other half of me was down-right horrified! At 2:00 pm I lined up to start the main event, full of excitement and concern, near the back of the pack I started my attack on Xtinction! The first 20 minutes where full of obstacles that I found somewhat challenging, but nothing that left me horror-struck, at about 21 minutes in that all changed. I now know what it feels like to have your body hurdled down a near vertical giant hill climb not knowing whether your bike that is chasing you down the hill was going to come crashing down on top of you or not! I remember thinking to myself as I ducked my head down, curled up in a ball and protected myself with my arms “this is the position school kids are taught to go into under their school desks during an earthquake!” Once my body stopped moving, I figured I must have reached the bottom of the hill, so I looked up to see where my bike was. “Baaahhhhh” I screamed as I noticed it was still coming down the hill and right at me! I jumped out of the way and as my bike landed in a heap, I picked it up and inspected the damage. Severely bent handlebars were the most concerning outcome of the tumble, and as I rode my bike around to get ready for another run up the hill, it became apparent that it was going to be very difficult to continue riding it with the awkward downward bend my handlebars were now sporting on one side! A quick look at Jarett May’s handlebars later in the day left me feeling much better; I guess mine weren’t that bad J Another shot at the hill, and I made it up to the top and continued on my way. As the race went on, I would be faced with many hills and obstacles that would make my first hill-climb incident seem like a walk in the park! Faced with massive sink holes of doom (at least that’s how I saw them) littered along near impossible hill climbs I attempted one obstacle at a time, and slowly made my way through the course. Near the end of the loop, I only made it through thanks to teaming up with fellow racers Matt Coonfer and Chris Sorokovsky, we all helped each other to make it up several sections, and eventually spread out on our own again. A highlight of my day was seeing friend Jarett May on the course and riding with him for a bit. If it weren’t for Jarett helping to pull my bike out of a sink hole that it landed in after cart wheeling down a hill, I do believe I’d still be out there! After making it up that specific hill, I rode behind Jarett and it was such a great feeling after making it up an obstacle, to see him check behind him to make sure I was still alive! Thanks Jarett, you rock!!! I rode alone to the end of the course and was nervous thinking about the finish line hill. A big Red Bull blow up arch waited to greet me at the top of the finish hill and with a 50 foot run up the hill, I pinned it hoping for the best! To my surprise, I made it up fine and gave a good old fist pump of celebration up to the sky as I rolled under those blue arches!!!!! I quick hop down the other side of the hill to the finishing tent, and I had become the first woman to ever make it to the main event of Xtinction, and finish!!!! The cuts, bruises and bike maintenance needed are well worth it.

X-tinction awaits!

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 04:46:55 +0100

By 5:00 pm tomorrow, August 5th I'll be getting off work and starting my 10 hour drive to the site of the X-tinction Extreme Enduro! Bugsie (my truck) Roost (my dog) and L.R.F.C (my bike) will be hitting the road country music blaring and windows down to try and get as far as we can before I fall asleep. A quick search of where all the Tim Horton's are located along the way helps me determine where my over-night resting spot will be, it will be the second time in a week I've slept in the back seat of my truck, but this time it is by choice! I'm not sure how far I will get in the X-tinction qualifying event that starts at 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning, but I plan on trying my best to make it through at least one lap, and with a lot of luck, maybe even the main event! Wish me luck as I try my hand at Canada's only extreme event! With sponsors like Red Bull on board this year, and a video crew filming the event, it will be an experience of a lifetime I'm sure! Getting home Sunday night around 3-4 a.m. will put me short on sleep, especially when my alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m for work, but as soon as I'm caught up on sleep I'll get some photo's and hopefully video up of my X-tinction experience!

Tory :)

Rounds 3 & 4 Canadian Enduro Championships Blairmore Alberta

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 04:38:42 +0100

I got off work at 2:00 pm Friday afternoon and was picked up by my brother Malcolm in the parking lot. A quick stop off at my house and our 10 hour road trip would begin, taking us from Vernon BC to Blairmore Alberta for the third and fourth rounds of the Canadian Enduro Championships (CEC’s). Probably one of the best parts of the road trip came while we were cruising along to Frank Sinatra, and I woke up yawing. Thinking I’d better check and see how Malcolm was fairing with the long drive, I asked how he was making out and if he needed to switch drivers yet. What followed was a classic Malcolm answer: “Naaaa….I just had a nap on that last straight stretch, I’m good”. Thanks Malcolm! And the trip went on…stopping only for gas and a Walmart fruit bowl, we made it to Blairmore around midnight.

Alberta is unique in that you can find yourself pushing through a trail in a valley bottom swamp, and an hour later, you’re precariously balancing along an alpine ridge trail at over 7,000 feet getting blown around by the strong high altitude winds. My alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. and after a delicious Shannon family breakfast, I got ready and rolled through the starting gates on time at 8:16 a.m. The other two riders on my minute and I followed the designated route through the adjacent residential neighbourhood and within minutes, we were flying up a dirt road and turning off up an embankment onto the first trail of the day. Within 10 minutes we arrived at the motocross test. The test featured very long, and very steep up hills, which inevitably lead to some equally fun down hills! L.R.F.C worked amazing on the wide open course and we made excellent time every lap. The motocross test lead into a very long trail section that tired out even the best of riders. The trail skirted up some very rocky trails to an alpine ridge where I couldn’t help but slow down to take in the scenery. I remember thinking to myself how lucky I was to be able to be riding in the Rocky Mountains at 7,000 feet looking around at all the snow capped peaks right across from me. After the incredible view, the trail drops down a very loose sandy downhill right into a rocky creek. Relaxation get’s thrown out the window and after crossing the creek the trail gets tight again and deliver’s everything from boulders to mud holes before reaching the next special test section.

The starting gates of the enduro test eventually come into view, and after passing through, it’s every man or woman for themselves. The test starts by taking you across a fairly deep and wide creek crossing, and then straight into some of the most slippery, root infested trails you can imagine! It’s hard to go fast when just keeping both wheels on course is challenging in itself! The end of the test finds competitors racing as fast as they can up a stream in a rocky gulch that has been formed by the rushing water, and then down a steep sandy hill onto the finishing gates. I know that I’m my own worst critic, but by the standards I set for myself, I would have to say that my enduro times were not up to par. My tactic for the rest of the weekend on the enduro test would be to slow down, in order to go faster. If I tried to relax and not push so hard, perhaps I could keep the bike on two wheels and in an upright position, thus improving my times! After the enduro test ended, the extreme test followed not far down the trail.

The extreme test took riders into a series of sandy turns, and then down a drop-off into a creek, and up the other side. After climbing out of the creek, several loose rock hills challenged riders to keep their speed up without getting stuck. The pro racers had an alternate line they were made to take up a rock face. The rock face got the better of most of the pro riders, but made for some amazing entertainment for spectators! The test ended with competitors riding through an old crumbling foundation from an abandoned building and down some tight switch back down hills to the finish gate. Once this was over, riders would immediately race back through the trails to try to get to the main staging area with time to prepare for the next lap. We would do this three times Saturday and Sunday making for a very long race weekend. I slept like a log in between each race day only to be awoken by the regular thunder and lightning explosions in the sky.

When the weekend was all said and done, I fell slightly short of my goal of being in the top 10 in the men’s “A” class. I finished 11^th on Saturday, and 12^th on Sunday. Regardless I was happy with my results and we ended the long weekend visiting around a campfire bench racing with riding buddies, and long time friend A.J. who made the drive down to share in a few drinks as well! The CEC’s resume September 10^th and 11^th in Labelle Quebec which I will be flying down for and writing about when the time comes!

Thanks for reading,

Tory

Rounds 1 & 2 Canadian Enduro Championships - Kamloops BC

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:59:21 +0100

July 9^th and 10^th brought on the British Columbia round of the Canadian Enduro Championships. Held at Sun Peaks Resort in Kamloops BC, the race slowly came together as Saturday came along. Unfortunately for me, I was working out of town but thanks to an understanding boss, was able to get flown to Kamloops instead of home for Friday night. Much to my surprise a bouquet of beautiful flowers awaited me at the airport and I settled into the front seat of my truck Bugsie for a much needed nap on the way up to the race site! Using my unicorn stuffy as a pillow and my face buried into my flowers I napped off and on until arriving at Sun Peaks. After saying some quick hello’s to both my brothers and my folks, it was time to hit the hay for me because morning was going to come much to early! At 6:00 a.m. I put my gear on and headed for the pit area. Thanks to my mom for feeding all of us, I had time to do a quick tire change that morning and make sure L.R.F.C. was ready to go. My brother Jordon and I were lucky enough to be able to start on the same minute as each other for the event, so at 9:40 we lined up next to each other on the starting ramp and rolled across the gate starting our 2 day adventure. Jordon just recovered from a year of shoulder trouble and surgery, so it was really awesome to be able to ride with him and as we made our way up to the first section of endless mud holes the course had to offer, we blasted through them one after another not missing a beat! Despite having to wait for some racers to dig their bikes out of the various swamps and bogs that formed on the course, we both made it through with little difficulties. The motocross test, enduro test, and extreme test were all very challenging. The motocross test was more of a slimy 1^st or 2^nd gear tight grass/mud track! The enduro test on the first day ended up being throw out because too many people simply couldn’t get through it without teaming up to dig out their bikes from the handle bar deep mud ruts! The Extreme test had a cut off for the “A” class and the Pro classes so both Jordon and I were treated to that. A steep rooted hill complete with switch backs and huge ruts started the fun. After the first uphill we made our way down a creek bed filled with small boulders, and then onto a log section where we coaxed our bikes over numerous mud soaked logs. A rooted uphill corner was my nemesis on the extreme test, and I hit the ground almost every lap there! Afterwards a hop over a metal culvert and tire lead the way into a tight technical trail section. The trail section finally spat us out into the same creek as earlier, but further downstream. We had to turn and ride up the creek bed this time working our way over the rocks as the water streamed down towards us, and then ride up a mud bank to the finish. Judging by the large crowds of people watching it was a very entertaining end to the extreme test! Between laps of the course, we rested waiting for our minute to come around again, and did our best to fight off the hoards of mosquitoes! At the end of the day, I wasn’t happy with my results, but I suspected this after having one hell of a time making it through the extreme test on my second lap of the day. If I could have held it together during that test, I would have placed slightly worse off than Jordon did, so probably around 15^th place out of 40 of the fastest riders in the country. Not too bad when I make myself think of it that way. Despite my best efforts to tell myself that 26^th place out of 40 wasn’t that bad considering I would have done better if it weren’t for my one test, I was still disappointed and hoping for better things on Sunday.

L.R.F.C. did well in the cross test section!

When Sunday came around Jordon and I were ready to go again, but wondering how we were going to make it through some of the mud pits that had formed out on the course. A new enduro test cut out one particularly bad section which helped, but the transfer trails between tests were still extremely challenging even for some of the best riders out there. The day got going on a rather sour note as we made our way to the start gate only to realize we were already one minute late for our start!!!! This may not seem like a huge deal to most, but a 60 second time penalty meant that even if we did amazingly good on each of our tests through out the day and made no mistakes, we were bound to place about 10 or more places worse than what we would have earned. Disappointed but with nothing we could do to fix our situation, we started our long day. We made our way through much as we had the previous day. We both had some tip over’s and mistakes but nothing too serious. For the most part we stayed on pace with each other and managed to laugh and yell in surprise when one of us would pull some extraordinary move to make it through some of the ridiculously crazy sections! We both stayed consistent through our test sections and didn’t get too stuck in any of the disaster zones out there. At the end of the day we both finished our last extreme test in front of crowds of spectators and the welcome relief of knowing it was over was quite nice! Examining the results later that day, Jordon placed 23^rd and I placed 25^th. We subtracted our 60 second penalty to see how we would have faired if we knew how to tell time! Jordon would have placed around 15^th and I would have placed around 17^th: somewhat comforting but not quite enough to dull the upset of the penalty. Regardless of the results we both had a great time, and being able to race 2 days in a row along side my brother was so much fun that this probably will go down as one of my best weekends of the year. Thanks Jord!

Jordon and I waiting to roll down the starting ramp

The Monkey Wrench

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:20:23 +0100

July 2^nd the racing community packed up and headed for the hills above Lytton BC. One of Canada’s longest running races “The Monkey Wrench” Cross Country in Lytton never disappoints, and it was great to be back there after having to miss out the past couple years due to conflicting dates with the Canadian Enduro Championship rounds. The race was extremely dusty as usual, not surprising seems how Lytton is Canada’s official hot spot. Getting the holeshot off the start line was going to be very important. The intermediate class start line stretched far and wide and we all sat on our bike in a ditch below the dusty hill that acts as their starting area. Organizers decided that racers would have to start with their heads on their handle bars looking down, engine’s running, and then pin it up the hill once we heard the canon go off! The anticipation of hearing that canon as you’re revving your bike up and staring at the grounds is pretty intense!!! A loud “BANG” and we were all wide open desperately trying to get the advantage of first place up the hill and into the start trail! I never let off L.R.F.C. once and with about 50% clutch and 50% throttle, we made it into the tree’s first! With 2^nd place pressuring me from behind, I held first until missing a corner about 20 minutes in. He missed the corner too, but got turned around quicker than me and I dropped into 2^nd once we made it back onto the trail. Missing corners and getting lost would become the norm once we made it onto the more challenging “A” course. New trails and a lack of arrows on the course made for some frustrating times for everyone out there, but despite that downfall, the race was very well laid out and the trails were a blast to race on! I made it back into 1^st place later on in the race, and then while speeding down a steep sandy hill, I all of a sudden noticed that without warning the trail did a 90 degree left hand turn! It was evident by the people and bikes littering the bush down below the corner’s embankment that I wasn’t the only person taken off-guard! I managed to slow down enough to only slip about 3 feet down the bank, but still I was left scratching my head as to how I would get L.R.F.C. back up without slipping even further down. To my surprise and pleasure, racing friend Glenn saw me down the bank and slowed enough to stop on the trail above me. “You need a hand?” was an easy question to answer as I yelled back “Uhhh…yeah maybe” Glenn dropped his bike against a tree and walked back to lend a hand. Fortunately I was able to pull my bike up just before he got there, so we were both on our ways in a flash. Back to the usual game of cat and mouse! Glenn was ahead of me…a common sight for me by this point, he blew a corner, and I managed to catch his mistake and head down the trail ahead of him! Pass number one in the books! I didn’t hold my lead however as Glenn blew by me at warp speed on an old fire road section of the course. I don’t know what he had in his camel back that day, but I don’t think I’ve ever been passed and left in the dust quite so fast by anyone before! The fire road was littered with 61 water bars in total, and didn’t allow for any rest. Once making it back into the trails, I did my best to catch Glenn, but wouldn’t even be treated to eating his dust before the end of the race. In the end Glenn finished a couple minutes ahead of me. Happy with my hard fought 2^nd place, everyone settled in for a relaxing night of bench racing and bonfires mixed with the usual burn outs and blender indulgences (if you’ve been to the Monkey Wrench you know what this means!). It was good to be back!

We decided to stop in the Kamloops Lordco parking lot to do a quick u-joint replacement.
Thanks Glenn for helping us out of that bind!

Piston Run

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:16:26 +0100

June 19^th the historic Piston Run Cross Country in Chilliwack BC was back again. My Dad has been racing the Piston Run since me and my brother’s were born, so I’ve been attending the Piston Run for a very long time. When I started racing at the age of 12 I competed in the Piston Run, and almost every year since I've been back. In 2005 I missed the Piston run for the very first time because I was stuck in Regina for schooling. I vowed to never miss it again after that, and thanks to my best girlfriend Trina Devine for rescheduling her wedding a couple years back, I’ve still been able to stay true to that promise! This year’s Piston Run was great as usual. Long time race community regulars Wally Klammer, Chris Carey, Ted Blow, Slow Jim and the gang were back at it again. These guys helped to build off-road racing to what it is today, and are all living legends in my books. Needless to say they know how to put on a race because they’ve done it maybe once or twice before! The intermediate class was so big that we were lined up at the start two rows deep!!!! I unfortunately was on the second row, and begging friends Carlos and Chantelle in front of me to get good starts so we could all get going!!! Chantelle came through and I think she got the holeshot! I fell a couple riders in behind her and we worked out way up the start trail. Within a couple minutes it was two girls leading the intermediate class, Chantelle and then me! That has to be a first ever! I snuck past Chantelle on a fire road and we rode together for the first section of trail. Carlos came up behind me for a while and then I was alone again. I knew I had the lead, so my goal was to ride smart and try not to tire myself out too much. Racing friend Glenn Labby caught up to me on the second lap, and although I knew it was inevitable that he’d find me, seeing him getting closer and closer still gave me butterflies in my stomach! Glenn and I fell into a regular racing habit or swapping back and forth enjoying the competition together when on the last lap a fluke accident sent his bike and body off one of the classic Piston Run’s sketchy embankments! Luckily the front tire of his bike balanced on a stump that was sticking up from the drop off while his back tire still clung to the edge of the trail. Making a pass would have upset that front tires precarious placement I’m sure, so a quick helping hand to get Glenn back up onto the trail had us both going again as usual. I made a mistake crashing down a steep downhill near the end of the lap that I simply couldn’t recover from, and despite my best efforts to catch up to Glenn after that, he came out on top in 1^st place, and I followed in a close 2^nd. I was thrilled with my finish at the Piston Run, it’s definitely not an easy race. Racing friends are pretty cool, you can compete head to head, but then when someone’s in trouble, forgetting about the race and dropping your bike to run and help is typical of the strong character of off-road racers. I knew Glenn would do the same for me, as I later found out when I found myself in a similar situation a couple weeks later.

Standard Piston Run Trail!

1st Place Intermediate!

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:48:38 +0100

June 12^th saw yet another epic OHSS series race come along. The Full Throttle Hare Scrambles was hosted in Vernon and the Vernon Off-Road Motorcycle Club did an awesome job of setting up an amazing course. The race went well and with a good start me and L.R.F.C. headed out for 3+ hours. The course had some challenging up hills and down hills that seemed to go on forever!!!! It was probably one of the best race courses I’ve ever ridden and it was obvious that the race organizers had put a ton of time and effort into it! There were 14 entries in the intermediate class and after the first couple laps of battling back and forth for positions with some fellow racers, I had no idea what place I was in! I had settled on being probably in the top 5 and was hopeful that I had a podium spot, but when I came through the finish line, to my surprise I was in 1^st place! Since leaving the women’s class for intermediate, I had enjoyed a few top 5 finishes, but this was my first ever win outside of the women’s class! I was really happy to be able to have my entire family there and some of my main sponsors, Dave at Gas Gas Pacific, Scorpion Racing’s Steve, and Dave from Gnarly Parts & Accessories! It was great to bring home a win for all of them against the boys!

Thanks to Advanced Pavement Technologies for being at the race!

Bye Bye Top End!

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:46:20 +0100

The Okanagan Hare Scrambles (OHSS) series hosted a race in Kamloops June 5^thwhich I decided to enter. The Kamloops course was a mixture of faster easier trails combined with some very challenging rock faces on the “A” course. If you could vaporize the mud, water, moss, and dozens of panicking desperate riders that littered the faces of the rock ledge trails, they probably would have been fairly ride-able. This however wasn’t the case. As racers got desperate bikes started appearing in all sorts of places you wouldn’t expect them! L.R.F.C. started acting up on the first rock face. Despite having a rekluse clutch in at the time, I stalled the bike and it took 20+ kicks to get L.R.F.C start! Normally one kick is all it takes to fire L.R.F.C. up so I was a little concerned. After stalling 3 more times over the next 2 kilometres and kicking the bike over 20 times to get it started each time, I was exhausted. I made it back after one lap in a decent position, but L.R.F.C didn’t sound like herself. A high pitched pinging sound came from the engine as it struggled just to idle. Being no stranger to top-end dilemma’s I recognized the sound and called it quits. My judgement ended up being correct as I took the top end apart the next day and found that the piston and rings needed replacement, and my cylinder had been scored out as well. A jetting miscalculation somewhere was most likely to blame. Although the race ended earlier than I would have liked, I made sure to praise the organizers for a great course layout. The rocky ledges were so much fun and it was great to see a real challenging “A” course section!