OMA round 8
Waukon, IA
White Lightin’ finds the meaning of life.
Waukon- a place of peace, serenity, nice temperatures, and loamy black dirt patches engulfing occasional rock gardens. I didn’t care for Waukon last year…Mother Nature had withheld her weekly allowance of rainfall; but this year the mid west was blessed with an abundant supply. My homeland has been a dusty wasteland for nearly 3 months now, making the 13-hour trip more bearable with the promise of powder-less conditions.
My retirement has left me a little rusty so I knew I was going to last about as long as a Ben Franklin lying on a Louisville sidewalk. The starting grid had a fair turnout- and to be honest, I wasn’t sure I could or even deserved to beat any of them. While these guys have been practicing and tuning bikes and skills; I have been paddling my canoe, hiking, riding a dual sport motorcycle around the back-roads, catching up with old friends, and visiting family members who have fallen on my priority list due to racing schedules. My boyish behavior has done nothing to ensure good race results, but I decided to just do my best anyway.
White lightnin’ fired up quickly off the line, but a premature twist of throttle left her with no choice but to retaliate with a bog, cough and a dead engine. Two kicks later I was off and only ahead of “holeshot” Jimmy Jarrett. We were treated to some wide-open grass track right off the bat. Riding a bone stock 250F was like showing up to a gun- fight with a butter knife. It was very apparent that my bike was the slowest of the group…or maybe it was the rider?
Finally, we approached the first woods section where I began to pick off fallen riders. I knew JJ would be coming so I checked my rear views often and let him by when he approached. He railed the tight stuff on the 450 and I kept up for the first few miles. I saw JJ jump a 4 foot hump on a straight stretched off-camber….so I pinned the ears back on white lightin and did the same. OUCH I screamed as the G-out compressed my spine like an accordion. That one nearly broke both wrist and legs- JJ must have good suspension. To make me feel better, he did remember the spot after the race and explained how he had no intention of jumping it either because he didn’t see it coming. I could put a decent gap on the others in the woods, but the next grass track section would allow the throttle jockeys to creep back up on me. Usually, I would allow myself some time in the open sections and just pin it in the tight gnarly stuff…but my body started getting wasted by lap two. Energy Conservation mode does not yield impressive speed in the technical sections. I was doing decent, but not well enough to make me happy. I consumed riders who made mistakes or had bike issues, or who just plain quit- I wasn’t going to suffer that fate.
After 4 nine mile laps I was ready for the flag. This was getting a lot like work for me, but I soldiered on and picked up another spot when Chris Bach’s bike sounded like it was running on toilet water. I really had no idea what place I was in but I just kept going and going for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, the checkered flag came out and I learned I had came out in six place. I wasn’t terrible disappointed given that I haven’t raced a truly tough event in 7 months. Thanks to Bill Gusse for keeping his reputation of putting on a real woods track that isn’t watered down. I even heard that I won a plaque and some money…. sounds pretty good for an old washed up retired KY boy. I’ll take it. Jimmy called this morning to remind me that he wasn’t sore. I quickly let him know that my only sore parts were my legs, back, arms and stomach. Looks like next year I will be racing for the Storm Lake Honda Team. I had an opportunity the meet those guys and I am very much looking forward to finding my potential with them.
Until next time…
Alan Westerfield #4
