03/16/2024
Another year of racing Flat Out Friday myself, and as stressful and exhausting as the day is, it still leaves me wanting more after it’s over. I’ve said it many times, I wish I had tried this a long time ago, because I feel like I could have done decent if I started at a younger age and really learned how to do this. All that aside, I’m proud of myself and my accomplishments at this race, and as frustrating as some of my finishes may be, I always walk away excited and happy. With no real training in this sport, and no experience to speak of, I am happy to just make it through the races safely. I line up next to guys and girls who spend hours and hours practicing racing these machines - putting in laps on dirt, snow, ice and concrete. But sadly for me, this is the ONLY race I enter every year, and my only practice is in an empty high school parking lot with some cones setup to run laps around.
With all of that said, I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve overcome my own fears of lining up on the track with these other crazy people. The first couple years that was a real fear for me, being squeezed next to a dozen other riders and not knowing if I would make it out of the first turn without being hit by someone or going down on my own. I’m proud of the fact that I have pushed myself every year a little bit harder, and every year I’ve pushed myself to the point of going past my limits a little (I have crashed every year at some point), but that’s what pushes you to learn how to get better. We teach our kids daily that you can’t learn or get better without making mistakes, and in this sport I am living that 100%.
The results of this year’s race… For Boonie bike class, they had a JV section which is nice, because I don’t have a fancy mini bike and don’t have much experience racing it. Good thing, following the timed practice and early heats I was placed in the JV group. In my heat race I placed 2nd! So I had an automatic ride in the Main event, which let me relax and skip one race… which I needed with all of the running back and forth pushing bikes across the place for both of our races. The main event did not go as planned though. I felt confident going into it with how I raced earlier in the day, but I feel like this race was much different, and my not-fancy mini bike did not stand a chance with the others in this race. I started on the 2nd row out of 3 rows, and didn’t move up at all from the start. Long story short on this race, it followed my Hooligan main event, literally, I had to hand my Hooligan bike to the track crew for them to park it while I hopped on my mini bike and started it to get back around the track for the start of this race. So I was tired before it even started. A few laps in I could feel it. I could feel myself not being able to control the bike as well as I could the rest of the day, and I could feel myself riding sloppy. And that caught up with me half way through. I slid out in a turn and had to get back up and restart my bike. Which of that happens, you get passed by a ton of people quickly. So I finished the race out, but in 15th place, which was very near last place. I wasn’t happy with how I placed, but I still had fun. I was just exhausted. That’s the second year I’ve had to race one bike then the other and it stinks doing that because you don’t have time to re-focus or rest. But I can’t control the race schedule… so you just have to go with it! And this class is really just for fun, so I just try to enjoy it and have fun with it.
The Hooligan class is a little more serious. Mainly because my safety is a big focus and it’s a tougher race to ride. The bike is big and heavy, and fast. And the racers ride a little more crazy. So it takes a bit more focus to stay safe and ride hard than the mini bikes. The racing is all the same, it’s just that these big bikes can hurt you a bit easier, and you see a lot of people who can’t control these bikes too well around you so you have to watch out so you don’t get hurt just by someone else’s mistakes. But all that aside, man is it fun!
Following the time practice runs, I was placed in the JV Hooligan class again, which I am thankful for. As confident as I feel at times, I know I’m not fast enough or skilled enough to ride in the faster class. I had to do it once and it was scary for me! One day maybe I’ll be ready to race with those guys, but im happy not quite there yet. There were less racers this year I think, so being placed in the JV class it seemed like we would all make the Main event. But we still had heat runs. I placed 3rd in my heat run, which felt like a really good race for me, I was actually in 2nd just trying to catch the leader for most of it, but got caught near the end by someone and bumped me to 3rd. But I had a really great start, and was inches in the lead for turn 1! My little bit of drag racing I guess has helped my starts… I always one of or the first off the line in the starts!
On to the Hooligan main event. It was loud and fast, and everybody rides a little harder in the last race, including myself. I had a good start and went into the first turn 3 bikes wide, with the 2 guys that finished ahead of me in my heat run earlier (one of which won this race). I was riding strong, pushing a little harder than I had all day, and I could feel it. I was leaning further, sliding faster and taking bigger risks to hold my position. Which I held onto 2nd place a short time, then dropped to 3rd and held that for most of the race! Really I was pretty secure in my position and just needed to finish out the laps. The problem is, there were some guys that were really struggling to not crash out there. I watched people go down left and right, I had to dodge crashes, and I got bumped and hit a few times throughout the race. This track is so short it’s hard to tell your overall position. I knew I was in 3rd but start to have no idea what’s happening behind me. So if someone came up fast I had to treat it like I was about to get passed. So I kept riding aggressive to make sure someone wasn’t passing me. And that caught up with me eventually. A couple laps to go and I was leaning too far around the corner and my footpeg mount touched and made the bike shift, which I thought was someone else hitting me. And I went down and the bike spun around. No big deal, I hopped up grabbed the bike and started it back up fast. The problem was I was facing the wrong way on the inside of the track, so I literally had to wait for traffic to pass to pull out and go. By that time I had been passed up by almost everyone. I rode hard to the finish but just couldn’t make up any ground in a couple laps. And all because I kept riding a little too hard to protect my position, which I later learned watching videos, that I was at least a lap ahead of the people I was worried about… so I could have just rode slower and smoother and finished in 3rd. But with my crash I ended up I think in 9th place overall. A little bit of an upset after holding 3rd for almost all of the race, but that’s how it works, if you make a mistake it will knock you back to the back of the pack quickly!
It was a ton of fun. I felt better than I have before, I felt faster and more in control, even pushing myself harder. So the racing itself I absolutely loved. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of riding these machines as hard as you want or can and getting to push your skills and limits. I’ve ridden motorcycles for years, and there’s no way I go out on the street on any of my bikes and ride this hard, or slide through turns, or pop the front wheel up off the ground. So it’s a fun environment to get to ride harder than normal, in a somewhat safe and controlled environment. And of course wearing full protective gear helps too, even though I may not look like it to the average eye, I’m in full armor from head to toe, so when I go down, and I do, I don’t really feel a thing. I’m able to hop back up and keep going.
I learned a lot this year, and my skills have gotten better, but my head needs some work to help me get through a race without crashing and learn when to push hard and when to take it easy. And hopefully if I can figure that out, next year maybe I’ll get a higher finish! Even if I don’t, it’s a ton of fun and I’ll keep trying. Hopefully we can branch out and do more than one race this year too…
