The evening started out bad as somebody helped themselves to D.P.s laptop & unfortunatly their Moto Maker program was in it. No big deal though as Heather Edwards, Kim Allen & a few others stepped up, did sign ups & the moto sheets the old fashioned way....by hand. Yes, BMX did it that way for at least 20 years before computers came long so it took alittle longer to get moto sheets posted but it was really no big thing.
After the sun went down it was perfect weather & the racing was great to watch from my view at the starters chair. Gotta give props to Lee Geddings for winning a big 28+ inter class. Barton looked to have a win but decided to hit up the Pro section halfway down the 3rd straight & came up short.
There were a couple of other races that came right down to the wire including the older ladies cruiser class. Quite alot of talk about the relay race & it was funny hearing about different plans of attack each team had in the works. We got set up on the starting hill & as soon as the gate slammed down there was a huge amount of yelling & screaming from staging & the crowd. My wife said the crowd was REALLY into it & it was very exciting to watch for sure. Our team, Utah BMX.com drafted Chris Clift to be our 5th & lead rider. He came running up the staging area in about 4th & handed our arm band off to me. It went very fast & with me on flats & found myself all alone in 2nd(!) I was feeling pretty good until I ditched my bike & "tried" to run up the starting hill only to feel my legs give out & I did a nice face plant on the concrete. I recovered & made a good transfer to Vince who then gave it to Geddo & then to Collings. We got 3rd overall & we were stoked!
Dirt Militia won it & when I took their pic on the table top most everybody on the starting hill was booing them, haha! All in good fun. Congrats to them & hope they don't spend that $25 in one place. Prestige got 2nd & Utah BMX.com got 3rd.
We will do this again next race but I would like some more ideas & I did hear some interesting suggestions. Please post up your ideas & I'll go from there.
Talking to Darrin after the race he wanted some feedback as usual & I said the first 2 jumps going into the 3rd straight needed some backside & I also told him I only saw maybe 4-5 riders go thru the last straight dubs. I asked him to shorten up the last one by 3 ft'. & the first one by 1'-2'ft. I would imagine that would get at least 50% of the riders to attempt them. If you have anything to add feel free to say something.
Good times as always & it was nice seeing the BMX crowd again after 4 or so months away.
See you at the next race.
Bruce Ritter
Utah BMX.com
