Angies Page for State Line Riders

Hello everyone,

The weekend was awesome! We all had a great time, and the racing was great.

Most of us Stateline people stayed across the street from the race in the Pepper Tree Campground. It was a great place to hang out for the weekend with the lazy river and great friends. The weather started out a little rough on Friday night with the tremendous rain but it all turned out okay with the sunshine by Sunday.

We arrived at the campground to find most of you already there Saturday afternoon. We had to stay behind for a house inspection and didnt pull out of town until after 11 am. The good news there is the fact that all tires stayed intact all the way to Eastford. We pulled in about 2:30 and set up camp. Paul and I headed to the gas station for gas and the package store for beer. The stop at the package store produced a lot more than we anticipated. I did get my Mic Ultra but Paul found an orange shot cooler that held six bottles of Yeager. After a few minutes of bargaining I found myself out in the parking lot helping Pual set up his cooler. He was like a kid a Christmas that just got a new bike. We spent the better part of the next few hours driving around the camp ground giving out shots of Yeager like the Ding Dong cart hands out ice cream. Paul of course filling each shot cup to the brim. By the way he only had two….right! ”I have to help Red celebrate his birthday and Sue and Carol were going to love it”, that was Pauls matra for the night. About 10pm all four bottles of Yeager were gone (Paul gave two back to reduce the price of the cooler, thank god), although it wasnt the only thing gone. Paul had lost my Tahoe in a bet playing horseshoes. Now Paul already knew he was terrible at horseshoes, add to that a few shots of Yeager and Red as your teammate. Where does betting my car make sense? I didn’t think so either. Anyway, I parked my car over by Buzzy’s camper for the night and all was well the next day…except for Paul. He was not feeling so well. He did manage to roll off the couch of the camper about 6:30 am and ask who locked the camper door. Jordan and I both replied, “you did Paul”. He didn’t remember doing that or a few other things. Got to love Yeager!

The mini race saw a beautiful morning. The kids were in the sand pit ready to go. They flew around the corner, up the hill and into the pine grove all looking very good. The course was bit rocky in sections and bit slick in others but they all made it through. Some liking it more than others. Cole Hall had a fantastic race running third overall for the majority of the race. He took a header in the woods on the last lap and ended up big wheel in 5th place and 9th overall. Cole took home his first trophy of the season. To bad he and Jordan weren’t around to pick up the trophy’s themselves. What are moms and dads for anyway? Jordan was having a rough first lap and came around the track in 8th place…he was able to recover a bit and finished in 4th place, 8th overall. Tanner was not liking the track at all and finished in 9th place. Savannah on the other hand loved it and finished 1st in class with Aubrey taking 2nd.

I have to admit, during the C race we all headed back to the camp site. Paul needed to lay down for a bit and I had decided at that point that maybe I wasn’t feeling as well as I had first thought. Although I didnt witness any of the race the results are as follows; Sawyer Gosselin took a break from Enduro’s and did this hare scramble finishing 2nd in class and 6th overall! Great job Sawyer, are you sure you want to continue with Enduros? Zach Rose took 6th in class with Brad Darling right behind him in 7th with Brandon finishing up in 13th. Good job boys. Frank Griffis took 5th in class along with a dislocated thumb. It is easier to hang on to the throttle when your thumb is working properly.

By the afternoon race everyone thought they had recovered from the night of the orange cooler. The guys were all at the starting line ready to go. Todd was already a bit sore but it wasn’t from the orange cooler. He had encountered a wild rock out in the woods when he went to do what Bear’s do. Other then that everyone looked to be in pretty good shape. The all took off with a bang. Paul had a great start heading into the woods in second place…..The fan crew moved into the pines to watch the events unfold. As expected Jake Korn was the first one by with Jim right on his heals. It was proving to be another good race. Dillan wasn’t long after..but a bit further back than usual. Marty was right up there along with Todd, Nate, Mike, Zach, and Ty. Everyone was on fire…then came Paul again a bit further back than usual. Down the hill he went along with the others headed to the transponder. We watched and watched, everyone came by accept for Paul…I headed down the hill to see what happened. My guess was right, he was sitting on a log in the pits puking. Apparently it wasn’t the first time either. Mile marker 5 saw a nice show of him puking there too. I think Nate might have seen it as well. It all worked out, I guess, for the best. While he was purging on the log, Ty came in with a flat tire. Paul quickly volunteered his tire to Ty. Eric had it changed within seconds and Ty was back out on the track. I on the other hand was not impressed. Paul did pull it together with the help of Eric patching Ty’s flat and got back out there to complete 3 laps. Way to pull it back together for the team Paul! Moral of the story…Paul and Yeager the night before the race do not mix. Digger and Yeager the night before the race does mix. He visited the Ding Dong cart a few times and still had a great race.  The finishes of the expert race go like this; Jim Senecal pulled it off on the last lap and passed Jake Korn finishing #1 overall! Dillan climbed his way back to the top, like always, finishing 4th overall. Great work guys. Jon Gosselin had trouble bouncing off from everything and finished 18th in class. Todd found another rock out there to bounce his good knee off from, came in for front flat tire change too and rode with the back flat and still finished 6th in class and 32nd overall. Nate had a fantastic debut in the B class and finished 3rd in class and 40th overall, way to go Nadine. Mike was right behind him still going fast fast on his Gas Gas. He finished 4th in class and 41st overall. Zach took 5th and 57th overall with Luke was right behind him with 6th in class and 58th overall. Great ride boys! Ty Kipp finished 6th in class and 66th overall even though he came in for a tire change. Dylan finished 13th in class and 80th overall. Buzzy zoomed around the track again finishing 1st in class and 47th overall. Still a super hero Buzz, but where was your side kick Rob? He was having trouble keeping the bike running and finished 7th in class. Marty was 2nd in class, 24th overall and Doug took 4th in A senior while Paul limped in with 5th and 115th overall. Cheers!

Great job everyone and we will see you all soon in New Hampshire. Stay healthy and be race ready.

PS: if anyone wants to contribute to the orange cooler for Stateline race let me know.

Yet another great weekend for Stateline Riders!

First, I would like to apologize for missing the last race entry. I had difficulty with my password. Jeff figured everything out and has me up and running again. Thanks Jeff.

Martin….Martin…Martin….The passing of his wife early Saturday morning did not keep him away from the race nor did it mellow him any. That is all I have to say about that.

Saturday’s Enduro started off with dry weather and somewhere in the middle got a little damp. I was hoping to see all of the races, especially since my friend Simon Johnson jumped up from the Pee Wee class to mini B in his first enduro, but we did not make it. Our day started out great at 5:30am. Woke up, shower, wait for Cole Hall, the camper was all packed, bikes were loaded we were ready to go.Leave the house at 7am excited to watch the Enduro. Until, we hit the bridge construction in Hoosick Falls where we broke a leaf spring on the camper. We turned around and limped back to Bennington and to Tractor Supply where we got new leaf springs. Paul call’s his buddy Buzy and he meets us to change the leaf springs in the pouring rain. Paul and Buzy did a bang up job and we were back on the road by 9:15am. This meant that we were not going see the enduro though. We were all really sorry to miss it because our little buddy Simon finished 4th! Did I say this was first MiniB and first enduro? Great job Simon i am sooo happy for you. Dad said you fell asleep hugging your trophy on the way home, I would too. Tanner also jumped up this enduro and raced his 200. He had an incredible ride and everyone said how amazing he did and great he looked. All of our babies are growing up….Sorry, i do not have any results for Saturdays race due to the fact I was not there and when we did arrive there was a small monsoon and that kept most of us inside the campers. Well, the smart ones anyway.

Saturday night was beautiful. The rain had subsided and the sun came out long enough before it set to warm things back up.It was great. The Griffin/Cummings trailer hit the hay early so we would be race ready on Sunday morning. I am a bit sorry I went to bed early though. I heard a few of the ladies (from other clubs) thought they saw Jesus. Turns out that it was just Matt Simon who had gone swimming in the lake and did not have his clothes to put on when he came out. The alcohol involved allowed Matt to not even realize he was stark naked when talking to everyone. He had found new clothes, or at least shorts, by Sunday morning thank god. Or Jesus…

Sunday morning at Martin’s place.. all was quiet and everyone was trying to be on their best behavior. I know a few people were upset with sound test, but all in all everyone kept it together. The minis were all on the line at 9am sharp. They were lectured and scolded and then the parents were lectured and scolded and sent out of the starting area and flags dropped. Row by row the bikes headed into the woods. Jordan Griffin got the whole shot in MiniA, shouldnt he get money for that? Anyway, they all started out great. Rumor had it the track was bone dry. It was just that, a rumor. There was definitely some water and mud. Just enough to make it fun, right?  The kids looked great out there. Jordan was able to hold first place for a bit, until in his words he pushed so hard to keep that spot, got cocky and dumped it. Worked his way back up and then had nothing left. He couldn’t hold them off. He finished 5th, Tanner finished 8th and Anthony Maxon was DNF. Two flat tires will do that to you. In big wheel Cole Hall finished 9th. In the girls class, Savannah took 2nd and Aubrey finished 3rd. Great job kids, once again you make us proud.

The late morning saw the mercury climb. Our members were on the line, sweating for a couple of reason. It was hot, and how am I going to do? We had Nate Prouty, Brad Darling, Brandon Jacobson and Zack Rose out there to represent. And they did just that. They all did very well. Nathan Prouty lead the race for the majority or possibly all of it. He finished 3rd due to the time difference in rows. He got third and a girlfriend Sunday. It was a good day for him! Conner was riding very well and finished 9th. The Pownal boys (as we fondly refer to them) also had a great race. Zack finished 6th in class and 12th overall while Brad took 11th and Brandon got 16th. Congrats to all of you.

By the afternoon race it was just plain hot, hot, hot. The boys were all headed to the starting line for the 1:30 start time only to be turned around with the message “it’s now a 2pm start” right Billy? Oh, another rumor. Back to the start they all went at 1:45pm which was a good thing because the 2pm start was actually more like a 1:50pm start. Really, does 10 minutes matter that much in a race? What were these people thinking? Once again, row by row they headed into the woods. Digger had the roughest start of all I think, due to his head being smashed off Pauls bike. What are friends for right Digger? Apparently it was a fast track and a hot one too. A few riders were yelling for water or screaming for water, right Paul? You too Todd? I saw Crystal running like Forest Gump to get you water and find you on the other side of the track. Jordan and I were a relay team to get Pauls water to him on the other side of the track. Both Crystal and I were successful. The guys went round and rouND the track whizzing by us and throwing up stones and dirt when ever they could. Digger gets the award for most roosting. The first lap there was an incredible race. Jake Korn way out in front like always but, for second it was Jim Senecal, Dillan Garmley and John Gosselin only seconds apart. The second lap around it was Jake out in front, of course, and Jim and Dillan. Where was John? The race between Jim and Dillan continues…..Todd was having a great race looking very comfortable out there, a little thirsty, but comfortable. Digger did have a few issues. The first one with Pauls front end the second one with his elbow pad, boy was he mad at it, and a third with a tree. He must have been mad at it too because he hit it really hard. Buzy just sailed around the track like batman and Rob Maxon is like his side kick Robin. They are both hero’s in their class. Mike was going fast fast on his new Gas Gas. Zack Mosey was showing us all just how he got moved up to Expert, because he rides just like one! Paul was just hot, hot, hot and dumping 3 bottles of water down his face and back didnt seem to help cool him down. I think maybe he was hot because Doug Hansen was soo far out in front of him. Dylan had yet another great ride and  Ty was riding and smiling. I don’t think I have ever seen him ride without a smile. Luke was driving Miss Daisey. Marc needs to give that boy some time off from digging ditches before a race so he can regain his strength. Billy was out there and didnt want to make waves I guess, because he stayed way back.

Todd Gates took 13th overall !!! Great ride Todd. First in class awards go to: Rob Maxon, Buzy Daniels. Digger took 2nd and Doug got 2nd while Paul took 3rd in their respectful classes. Zack finished 2nd in his first expert race and 12th overall, great job Zack! Ty ended the day in 6th place, Dylan in 7th and Luke in 14th. Great ride everyone.

Oh, are you wondering about the incredible race for second place? well, John was never to be seen again out on the track (something about a chain getting caught in a sprocket). I did catch a glimpse of him later in the afternoon eating a hamburger. As for the Jim and Dillan, well I was in the pit’s for a couple of minutes during this race and I dont want to name names but…..One young boy named Dillan came into the pits a few seconds in front of this guy named Jim and they both had pit crews working very hard over them and their bikes….Unfortunately this guy named Jim got out a few seconds in front of this young rider named Dillan…..That is how they finished 2nd and 3rd. I would like to get the names of the pit crew members because i think someone needs to be fired!!! Only Kidding.

Side note; Thank you Will and Jen for turning around to help us with our tire that blew on the way home Sunday night in the camper. We wouldnt have made it home without your help.

Great day, great friends and great riders! See you all on Sunday and be race ready.

Catra’s casualties…..I do not have much to report on this race except for Jordan is in one piece, inside and out! If you go sts-motorsports and look under sts insider there is a nice picture of him with his feet above his head upside down in the air. He is better and ready to get back on the bike, thank heavens.

Jordan was not the only casualty of Catra, he just got the ball rolling. Following him there was Justin F. who sustained a head injury and Eric D. who suffered a dislocated shoulder. Outside of our club there was Kevin Knot and Sterling Yankee. I hope everyone is doing well. Oh, and there was a bike that went up in flames out on the track.

 The only thing I saw on Sunday was Spongebob and Animal Planet from the ER in Saratoga. Well that is not completely true. We did return in time to see a couple of laps in the expert race. I will say that every rider I observed going through the transponder did not look happy, they were all looking for that white flag and when they did not see it a look of desperation took over, they would shake their heads and continue. I can only think they were hoping they had enough left to make it.

The results for the morning mini class are as follows: Cole took 9th in bigwheel while Tanner took 6th in mini. Anthony finished 4th in miniB with Will Wolfrum in 11th. For the girls Savanah finished 1st, Aubrey in 2nd and Aja took 3rd.

For the Novice class in the late morning Zack Mossey came in and finished 1st in his class with Sawyer taking 2nd. Nadine grabbed 2nd and Conner took 5th while Brad D. finished 6th and Zach L. in 7th with Chris B in 8th and Brandon J. grabbing 9th.

It seemed like, if you made it through Catra you did very well. Jim Senecal finished 3rd after leaving the track to replace his gas line. John Gosselin finished 4th, it almost killed him but he did it! Dillan Garmley finished 8th, Todd finished 6th, Ty kicked butt finishing 2nd and 18th overall!! while Dylan C. took 6th. Marty grabbed 1st putting Paul in 3rd and Doug rounding out the class with 5th. Rob finished 1st in his class and Buzy finished 1st in his class along with Adam finishing 1st in his class. Then we have Digger who got 6th, Luke who finished 8th and Jamie Sorel also took 8th.

Good job everyone! I am very happy to have everyone in one piece. There is a bit of a break until our next race…save money, rest up (get healthy Jon) and practice hard, But most of all be race ready!

SEE YOU IN 5 WEEKS!

Hello everyone, It has been a long time, and I am glad to be back in the mist of another race season.

Holy wind and rain. I thought this was going to be a nice warm spring race…well I was very wrong. The wind couldn’t have blown any harder and the rain fell straight down like being dumped out of a bucket. Not the spring race I had envisioned!

This race weekend started for me on Saturday morning when i arrived at the track to watch the Jr. Enduro,I  jumped out of my car, put on an extra layer of clothing and topped it off with a rain coat….sneakers do not work well in the rain and tall grass, just in case you wanted to know. I approached the pits just in time to see Jordan sitting and talking to the Maxon’s, Paul was lurking a few feet away trying not to push. It seems that Jordan was wet, tired, cold and ready to quit. Taking the advise of Missy Maxon, Jordan decided to finish the race for me, Mother’s Day and all…he is sooo sweet. Tanner and Anthony were also on the track trudging through the wet mud trying to find his way around all the slick roots that covered the off camber hills. It was a difficult track that left not one rider liking it. Jordan finished 4th and Tanner finished 6th, and Anthony got 4th in mini B. Good job boys, way to preserver. Nathan raced and was back on the bike for the first time in a long time due to the damaged hands. Way to get back out there Nadine. Ty and Sawyer were out there too. I just do not know how they finished. Anyone with that info. let me know. Well..then we have Dylan Corcoran who spanked everyone out there. Once again he overall’d the race!!! I think he slept with the trophy that night, awesome work Dylan, keep it up.

Saturday’s weather did not get any better. Three words come to mind. Cold, wet, rainy. After the racing was done on Saturday we all gathered around the campers and watched Jen Hall cut Anthony and Jordan’s hair. We finally convinced them that bangs covering the eyes was not all that good for winning races. When it was Jordan’s turn we changed up the chair so Jen could work better. Our choice of chairs however, wasn’t a good one. Big Daddy’s cooler wasn’t left alone long enough to get a boys hair cut done. Jordan did have to stand up and Jen paused the cut to allow Big Daddy and Mike C. into the cooler. They sure are thirsty. After that the socializing wasn’t what it usually is, my guess is because everyone wanted to huddle in their warm campers. Or, maybe it was just me who was lazy and cold. The night did come very early for us, and the morning even earlier. My oldest daughter called me at 6am to wish me Happy Mother’s Day. It was so nice of her, but I think she lost sight of, the day is mine…sleep in, breakfast in bed…etc. God love her!

Sunday, the morning was sunny but cold. Layers…word of the day. Everyone was up and at em, ready to ride, waiting at the starting line for the green flag to fly. Cole Hall on the big wheel line took off first flying into the woods. Next it is Jordan and Tan the Man who shot off when the flag dropped. Then it is Anthony, Aubrey and Savannah the head in. The rain had held off but the wind wasn’t giving in. We watched the race from any valley we could find or any tree we could hide behind. The only good thing I can say about the wind is it did help dry up the track and carry the stench from the poop pond away. Stateline was looking good out there. Jordan went into the woods in second for the mini A riders and stayed that way through out most of the race. There was that moment that he got by Adam Lewis and moved into first (for a moment) and there was a time when Cole and another rider fell on top of Jordan’s bike and left him scrambling (no pun intended) for his second place position. He did get it back right at the last minute finishing 2nd with third 2 seconds behind and 6th overall. Good job Jord. Tanner finished 6th and Cole finished 9th for big wheel. Aubrey finished 2nd and Savannah took 1st in the girls class…WOW good job you guys.

It was time for the late morning race and still no rain…what a day. Conner and Justin where there to represent and bolted into the woods. Still no word from any rider that they liked the track. Conner finished 12th and Justin got 19th.

The afternoon race was delayed and then not and back again blabla…..It did finally start and they all pushed and shoved their way into the woods. John G. Dillion G., Ty, Todd, Dylan, Digger, Rob, Paul, Doug, Marty, Luke, Mike, Eric, Ron and Chad..got off the line respectfully. Being out in the woods taking pictures and watching for every rider that comes along so I do not miss anyone makes me pay close attention. The first thing that came to my attention was Dillion G. he was running right up in the front in 3rd place…very impressive. Next it is Todd that pop’s out, again running right up front. John was doing great in spite of having bronchitis only a few short days before and not leaving the couch for weeks. Marty, Eric, Buzzy, they all were flying. The race ended uneventful…but it does not diminish the fantastic finishes a few of our members had.  Dillion finished 5th overall!!! John got 10th, Ty finished 2nd in A200 and 30th overall, TODD took 1st in A250 and 11th overall way to kick ass Todd. Marty grabbed 1st in Asenior and 20th overall while Paul took 3rd with Doug getting 6th. In Avet Rob finished 3rd and Digger got 4th. Dylan took 13th in B250 and Mike finished with 19th. Buzzy flew around the track finishing in 1st place in Bvet while Chad got 11th. Hope the back is feeling better, or you have really good medication. Luke grabbed 5th in B200 and then we have Eric finishing up with the OVERALL in B250!! As always Stateline riders you did us proud!

Black Fly is right around the corner…Hope to see you all there. Be race ready!

Hello everyone and welcome to the 2010 race season. Let the racing begin….

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday and I wish you all a very happy, healthy and successful new year.

As I am sure you are all well aware of the season is off and to a very good start for Stateline Riders!

Sunday, January 10th started out very early and very cold for us. It was still dark when we left our house (for the first time) at 6:25 and the temp. was -10 degrees. It was breath takingly cold out. The sun was starting to rise when we left the house the second time (after retrieving all the forgotten things) but the temp. was still a mere ten below zero. The clock now read 7:07am and heat was on to make it to the race on time. Was it three or four hours to get there? A questions we seemed to get many answers  but they were all different, not very reassuring. It would have helped if we brought the brand new TomTom Paul got for Christmas, but he knew exactly where we were going (funny as to why he called several people on the way and asked directions). Anyway, we made it 10:10am. Plenty of time for Jordan to get ready and for me sign everyone up and believe it or not it had warmed up to a toasty 23 degrees. Sun shining and no wind, a perfect winter race day.

The morning race went well for everyone. I am sure everyone had a blast. There were no complaints around the trucks about the track or equipment or anything, that was saved for later about the scoring. Nick did very well winning his class AGAIN. Nathan Prouty did awesome for his first C race. I would love to tell you were he finished, but remember “the scoring”. I think he finished 3rd or 4th.

The mini class took off without a hitch and Jordan. He had a slight problem on the starting line, but made up time quickly. They all had a blast, andwanted to keep going. With a little encouragement from Paul and Todd, Tanner even took the jump before he finished the race. They both finished well for the first race of the year. Jordan finished 2nd in mini A and 6th overall and Tan the man finished 4th in mini A and ??? overall. Oh, that’s right, there was an issue about the trophy’s too. They only went back two spots for the mini’s and the rule book states you must trophy back to 5th in the mini class. Sorry Tanner, what a bummer, but they are going to bring your trophy to the banquet.

The afternoon race was another good ride for everyone. Maybe not Digger, he wasn’t to happy with his finish, but everyone else did well. John Gosselin lead the race for 5 out of the 8 laps (even though his gas was missing for a lap or two) and Jake Korn only took him at the end leaving him with 2nd place. .  It was an awesome race to watch and John did a great job. Let’s see 1st next time John. Garmleys debut as a AA rider found him finishing 5th and Ty was right up there too. Todd finished 14th overall, AA points there, good job Todd. Marty finished 1st in A senior withPaul 8 minutes behind him in second place and Doug out of retirement to finish 3rd. Buzzy and Chad were right up there in their classes. Again, I would love to tell you were they finished, but oh yeah the scoring issue!!!

All in all it was a great start to the season! Once again Stateline Riders takes control. Great job boys!

See you all at the banquet, have your dancing shoes on and, be race ready!

PS: Mike O’Brien also had a good race finishing 8th in B250 and about Buzzy and Chad, Chad seemed to be a little further up there in their class then Buzzy! Chad finished 1st in BVet and Buzzy took 8th. Sorry Buz, but I have to give the credit where it is due and Chad kicked your butt this race!

  OUR LAST HARESCRAMBLE OF THE SEASON

It was a cold, blustery, rainy weekend. Thank heavens this if over..for a few months. Well, Woods-O-Cross was just as we expected it to be. It was muddy, gross and like last year the sweeping was horrible (That is my own opinion and in no way the opinion of State Line Riders).

Saturday evening was cold and damp. A crew of us went to an awesome Italian restaurant and had a great meal. Back to the race though before 9pm so we weren’t looked out. I must admit the ride did get a little crazy with Beeobee behind the wheel and big daddy snuggled in the middle next to Mike C.( who was having his head rubbed like a jeanie bottle). We did make it, just in time. Thanks for the ride and entertainment!

Sunday morning was slow going. The cold air was keeping everyone tucked in. Everyone finally started moving and headed to sign ups and soundcheck. 9am found us at the starting line waiting for the start. The gun went off and so did the boys. Conner had a great start along with Sawyer and Nate. Next Jordan and Tanner flew into the woods followed by Aubrey. I headed to a few of the mud holes to watch how they came through. First rider into the mud was Anthony Jackson of course (yes, he is that miniA rider). He had no problem whipping through the mud hole. Next stateline riders through were Conner, Nate and Sawyer. All had no trouble. Jordan showed up, ran a downed rider over and muddled through the pit followed by Tanner and then Aubrey. Paul showed up to watch and almost had a fist fight with a worker who wanted the spectators to tell the riders where and how to go through the mud. He did not want to get dirty. Believe it or not Paul walked away. All riders very muddy indeed! The laps ticked by and the mud flew up. Conner was having a spectacular race and was leading the State Line Riders. Sawyer was only able to do 3 laps due to a front and back flat tire. The morning race finished like this: Conner 3rd, Nate 4th, Sawyer 7, miniA Jordan 8th (seems to be his number), Tanner 12th and Aubrey 2nd in girls. Good Job everyone and great season. You should all be very proud of yourselves.

Nate did not get enough in the morning race so he went back at it in the C race. He rode in the sportsman class and finished 3rd. WOW

The afternoon had turned sunny and breeze was nice. It was quite a wonderful fall day. The race was held up a bit due to the C race running late. The riders were ready and waiting. It was great to see Ty racing due to the fact his bikes were stolen out of his locked garage Friday night or early Saturday morning (Nice detective work Eric and Ty). 2pm and it was time to move to the start. Again the gun goes off and the riders fly into the woods. Jon, Dillan, and Todd all started great. Todd decided to race A250 instead of Avet. Beeobee and Ty were next off the line and into the woods. Paul, Marty and digger blasted off with the gun followed by Mike, Ben, Buzy and Chad. Mike’s bike had its perpetual problems. The crank failed him this time. Otherwise, they were off and into the woods 0 cross the mud and water and fields. Jon was doing very good along with Dillan who had a loose rear wheel that needed to be adjusted and tightened in the pits. I stood where there was a nice mud hole anda long rocky, muddy stretch. In both places I seemed to scream “stay to the left” to everyone. I hope my advise was good and I thank everyone who listened. I knew my sore throat was not in vaine. Mud was everywhere, bikes were going down and most riders seemed a little tired. My public apologies to Todd who wanted to quit but I encouraged him not to. About 5 min. into the lap he just about vomited, (never do those energy shots right before a race, right Todd?) I am sorry but I am proud of you for finishing. Digger’s chain broke and he was pulled out in the 3rd lap. Bad luck. Dillan and Jon remained on their fast track. Paul was even ahead of his usual pace. The stand out racer was without hesitation, Dillan Garmley. Through out the entire season he has done an outstanding job which shows in his end of the year place. Congratulations to Double A Dillan. We are very proud of you! The final race of the season was over and the finishes go like this: Jon took 6th in class and overall, Dillan won A250, overall’d A and finished 9th overall, Todd finished 5th and 21st overall, Ty finished7th in A200, Beeobee got 2nd in Aopen and25th overall, Marty won Asenior and Paul took 2nd, Digger finished 4th in Avet. Dylan finished 9th B250, Ben got 2nd in Bsenior and Chad took 3rd while Buzy got 5th in Bvet.

Well, It has been a very eventful race year and I have enjoyed letting you on the inside of what really goes on before, after and during a race. I try to leave out some of the truly embarrassing stuff like when Paul has a temper tantrum because he cant find his gloves, or when Jamies has to poop through the hole race, or when Paul had to pee really bad during a race…so he did when he hit a mud puddle thinking no one would notice. There have been a lot of stories around the camp fires, a lot of beer drank and a lot of fun had. I will miss this, until next season.

See you at the meetings, at the pit party November 7th, at the Netra banquet, or just hanging around. Stay warm…..

This race was NOT Dam Good. It was more like Dam Hell!!

THIS PAGE IS DEDICATED TO MY FRIEND RYAN BOTTESSI

WHO HAS UNOFFICIALLY GIVEN UP HARESRAMBLES

Well Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day. We finally found our way to an acceptable hotel and snuggled in with the bed bugs.

The rain came with the morning light and got heavier as the day grew longer. We arrived at the dam early and prepared for the kids race in the morning. The kids were disappointed to hear they would only do two 7 mile laps. That meant coming out strong and staying strong. Sometimes hard to do in the wet grass and heavy mud. Well, 9am came and the kids were on the line ready. Now they hear it’s 3, 7 mile laps. Still same stradegy. Bigwheel took off and everything seemed to go well…..seemed to. Sawyer made it around the corner and fell, then he was run over a few times. He did get up and go after the pack. Next was mini A, the flag  was raised and “10 seconds” was shouted giving Jordan just enough time to get his foot on the kick starter and go….or so he thought. The flag was dropped within .05 seconds after 10 seconds was shouted leaving  Jordan flustered and last off the line. Tann made it through the first corner only to drop it in the second corner. All was well  and everyone got into the woods ok, with a bit of a struggle, but ok.  Zack was looking very good out on the trail, moving his way up with rocks without missing a beat. Sawyer and Conner moving right along as well. Up in front for our club was our man Nate. He took out the competition one by one. Saying that the track was a muddy, slippery mess would be an understatement. It is amazing that they all finished. Nate took 3rd in bigwheel, Conner took 5th andSawyer came in 6 seconds behind Conner to claim 6th place. Mini A rider Zack finished 2nd. He was definitely riding well. Jordan took 8th place and Tan the Man finished 10th. Great job boys. Now…driving Miss Daisey or otherwise known as Aubrey finished 2nd. It was a tough track and after one lap she had had enough.

Mike O’Brian and Danny were our only riders in the 11 o’clock race and after just 2 laps Mike  had a clutch cable problem and pulled off the track. Better luck next time Mike. Danny finished the race, with daughter Olivia watching patiently, and loved it.

1pm came and the rain let up alittle, a very little. Riders on the start. Ready, set, go… staying up through the first few corners seemed to be the trouble again. John and Jim had a nice start. Ryan did a very pretty twirl for the crowd and then continued on his way. Dillan got right out there only to dump it and have a few bikes go right over top of him. BeeOBee, Rob, Todd, Digger and Paul all had a good start. Ty and Dylan flew into the first corner, Dylan just thought it was a little wider and took some ribbon with him, but it was still good. Jamie and Chad hammered in too. Billy Burns was there and did very well. I think he is starting to like our harescrambles. The race was on and the rain had started again. Crystal, Zack and I headed into the woods to get a few good photos. The first guy to grab our attention was Jim…looking really good out there. Next we see Billy, John, Ryan, BeeOBee, etc, etc. The one that really jumped out at us was…Todd. He was infront of Erdman by a number of seconds. Yes.. we knew he could beat Erdman. Next lap he is still in front. Erdman did not look happy but we sure were. Everyone seemed to be moving right along. Dig was loving the race and even Jamie was going right up the rocky, slippery mess. Then Paul stops coming by, Ryan stops coming by, and worse still, Erdman comes by…no Todd. Hearing that the checkered flag was out, we headed out of the woods. We found Paul at the trailer and he quit and is never racing again…Found Ryan at his trailer and he quit and is never racing another harescramble…and found poor Todd at his truck, his chain come off and he had to push out of the woods, #@$#X. I think Crystal and I want him to beat Erdman more than he does. He definitely takes it better.. The finishes go something like this ( I am really slacking off in this department I know). Jim takes 4th, Billy takes  ?   and John finishes 7th. Dillan took 4th in class and BeeOBee finished 2nd. Ty took ? and Dylan got ?.  Digger got 2nd in class and Todd finished 6th. Marty finished 1st in class. Rob took ? and Jamie got 2nd in class. Butch had a good race and finished ? and Chad got ?.

I look forward to seeing all you hard working riders next weekend at the race. I am sure the weather will be better and the track awesome. I am sorry to hear our fellow club member has given up, quit, dropped out, couldn’t hack it, lost the drive, what ever you want to call it, Ryan doesn’t want to play with us anymore. See you around, clown.

I will update this page tomorrow with everyone’s proper finish…sorry again

Be race ready and see you in RI

WOW, another great weekend!!

How could you not enjoy last weekend? Well, I sure did and I think most of the riders at Hard Knox harescramble did too.

Do to a last minute decision we loaded up the camper and headed to Westfield, MA Saturday afternoon. We settled down in the middle field along side Jamie Johnson. It was fortunate that we were the only campers beside one other rider in the middle field. The night quickly became brisk so we piled on extra clothes, stoked up the gas fire pit and cuddled up. I made pasta and Italian bread for a pile of people. Thanks everyone for coming to dinner. Our dinner entertainment was provided by the smoke detector in Jamies camper. It beeped out a lovely tune andthen the dogs barked to that. Oh how we enjoyed the silent country evening,  HAHA. Paul tried to help Jamie fix the detector by tossing it into the fire. That did not help! We did then learn that the gravel in the fire pit stays lite when it is tossed at someone. Paul deserved that one from Jamie. Anyway, I went to bed when the big boys headed out to see if they could find Tan the Man. You might want to think about letting your kids go with Jamie. Hey wait forget that, because Jordan goes with him all the time. Oh well,  he found his way back and all was well.

Sunday morning was very chilly. We were like bears slowly coming out of their dens. No time to waste though, the bigwheel and mini riders needed to be at the start by 9am. They were all there checking out the start and slippery grass. They all took off just great. Nate, Sawyer, Conner and Cole for bigwheel and Zack, Jordan and Tanner for the mini’s and Aubrey for the Girls. Well, now that we are talking about Aubrey, she did it again. Number one, yeah Aub. you go girl. For bigwheel; Nate took 3rd, Sawyer got 4th and Conner finished 6th and Cole got 10th . Mini A riders; Zack got 6th, Jordan got 8th and Tanner finished 13th. Good job boys. I think this was the first time that they went through the rock garden and that was no easy task with those smaller bikes.

Who overall’d the late morning race you are wondering, well that would be MIKE O’BRIAN. Yeah, Yeah. Good job Mike, way to go!! Nick Masterson also raced, but he would not discuss how he did, so I have nothing there. Good job anyway Nick.

By 1:30 the sun was unexpectedly hot. The riders were lined up on the start ready to go. The grass had long dried and the dust was heavy. The flag dropped and they took off. Billy Burns got a great start, so did John Gosselin until he hit the bale of hay and went down and someone tried to go right over him, that left him last. BeeOBee, Dillan and Ty also got off well. Todd, Digger, Paul and Rob flew into the dust as well. Dylan, Luke, Jamie and Buzy all had fine starts. Now, to the nitty gritty; John was looking great and Dillanwas not far behind. Todd was leading Erdman on the first lap which was great. Paul was in front of Duane Call another good one. I watched them come through the motocross section twice, until I couldn’t stand the dust any longer. We moved down to the rock garden and watched the trials there. First we see John fly through with no problem. Next it was Dillan right on his tale, again no problem. Most of the Stateline riders came through without difficulty. Then there was Jamie, he fell 4 times in one attempt through the garden. Sorry but that was an awful sight. I wanted him to stop and have his GU for energy but he didn’t think it was time yet. Wow, what was he waiting for? The best show of the day was John at the very end of the race coming through the barrels barely hanging on to the bike passing someone. The biggest problem of the day; John trying to wheelie off from some rider. He did not know who, but he pushed and jammed his way off only to realize it was Dylan. Poor thing had to go to the hospital and get checked out. I hope all is well. I know John would have done anything to avoid the rider if he was wearing his yellow  shirt. The finishes I will do my best again to remember. My friend Brigette is slacking with my results. John got 6th overall, Billy Burns took     . Dillan got 8th overall and once again Dillan overall’d the A’s. WOW. BeeOBee finished 1st in class and Ty got 6th in class. Todd got 2nd in AVet and  21 overall. Digger took 3rd in AVet and 23rd overall, Rob got        , with no breakdowns. Paul finished 4th in Asenior and 67th overall. Jamie took 4th in Bsenior. Luke finished  7th  in class and Buzy got 2nd.

I hope I did not leave anyone out. I will update this with the correct finishes as soon as I figure them out. Again, I hope Dylan is well and I hope to see him at next weekend’s race. I want to applaud all of our riders. That race was dusty and rocky and they all did well.

See you all at Dam Good, we are staying in a local hotel but I will see you at the track. Be race ready!!

Another great race weekend!!

We made it to the race Friday evening to find a few of our State Line members all ready there. It was a beautiful farm and a beautiful night.  We settled in for the weekend and enjoyed the night which ended  around 10:30 for most of us. There was and Enduro Saturday morning so we had to get our race sleep..Kinda like beauty sleep.

Saturday morning we all got up to an awesome morning.. hard not to love the morning when the surroundings are so spectacular. Anyway, all of our Enduro racers started getting dressed and ready for the 8:30am start. Even Jordan who decided he would race ( he usually doesn’t do Enduros). Up to the start we go..and the green flag fly’s and off they go.  It was a new experience for us, having only raced a few Enduro’s we weren’t sure how they worked. I will say that scoring at our own race helped me understand better. I even figured out Jordan’s score by myself, OK with the help of Eric Kipp and I was only one point off. The kids had a great time and did very well. Nate finished first in class and Cole finished 3rd. Jordan took 3rd in MiniA and Tanner got 11th. In the MiniB class Anthony got 4th. TY raced the Jr. Enduro and burned checks putting him out of trophy contention. On to the evening..

A  great day turned into a great evening. The land owners roasted and gave away fresh corn and boy was it yummy, then acoustic Jack started playing while we all danced and some of us sang. The hay wagon was taking anyone who wanted to go on a ride and several couches in the field  held the onlookers (and the dogs). The dance award usually goes to Dave Prouty, otherwise known as swivel hips, but this year it has to go to Matt Simon. Sorry Dave. Matt danced and danced, sweated, fell, then danced some more. To every one’s disappointment Acoustic Jack stopped playing at 10pm leaving the dancin queen wanting more, right Crystal.  Well, back to the campers to continue with their own little parties. Sunday was the race day, but I think a few people forgot about that. Parties over by midnight.

Sunday morning comes and once again all is well. Mini riders up and getting ready to race. The starting line is busy as the bikes move in. Ready, set, go. Into the woods they go..or should I say into the dust. Stateline all in all  had  great starts. Jordan got into the woods awesome flew by me about 1/2 mile in, looked great and struck a tree. Down he went, but back up and off before I got to him. The race went off without a hitch, the track was fast and the kids loved it. Unfortunately, the results that my friend Bridgette prints out for me were taken by someone else and I haven’t received the email she is sending with all the results yet. So here goes my memory: Bigwheel, Nate got 4th, Sawyer took 5th, Conner got 8th. MiniA, Zack Mossey got 5th, Jordan got 8th, Tanner took 12th.  Girls, Aubrey got second and was right on the heels of the first place rider.

Onto the late morning race…. Well like a crazy man, Zack  jumps back on his bike, or Reds bike I mean and heads back out to the start for the C200 race. No rest, just back on the bike. His start wasn’t perfect, but he entered the dust OK. Well,the start wasn’t perfect, but his race was. He finished 3rd in his class and 6th overall which made a few racers angry enough to complain. Come on, the kid beat you fair and square. Great job Zack. I have a feeling I know what class you will race next year. Mike O’brien also raced the late morning race, class C250 and finished very well taking 5th. Great job boys.

After the morning races were over we all had time to rest, eat and enjoy the sun. 1:00 came and everyone started to get ready for the 1:30 race. Up to the start we all go, on the line waiting for the flag….but there was a 30 minute layover…sorry boys. At least there was some shade for you all to enjoy. Now back on the bikes and off they go. Jon had a great start, then BeeOBee, Dylan and all the rest of them. The dust was so thick you couldn’t see the bike in front of you. Crystal, Sue and I went into the woods to take some photos. Everyone on the track was flying. I have never heard such racing. The sound of the bikes flying through the woods was like being at an airport. WOW!  After watching in the dust for awhile, I decided I would go to the pits and watch. I was completely impressed. Our team (Pete, Mike, Erik, John and Dave) worked so incredibly well together and not only for our club, for anyone who came in and stopped near them. I couldn’t count how many times I heard “what do you need” from Erik. Completely impressed you guys, well done! Back to the battle on the track. Jon and Jim Senecal had a good race going. Jim leads, next through the barrels Jon is leading. Back and forth they go. Todd is leading his class the first lap, hoping to hold off Erdman. Ty was close behind Todd through a few laps. Check out the photos, he is right behind him. Marty is out of the race after his first lap. It is important to check the fluids in your bike Marty, how long have you been racing? Dig is going good, Paul is on track, Dylan and Dillon were flying. Luke wasn’t happy with the speed of the track and called it quits after the second lap. Rob was having a good race, lost his head pipe but finished the race. Rob, your due to have a race without a breakdown aren’t you?  Jamie was steady as you go…trail…trail….trail…thanks for letting little Ben Kelly by Jamie. The finished look something like this. Remember I haven’t received the results yet. Jon was not able to hold the lead and finished third overall. He is getting much closer and is even able to stand and talk after the race is over. Next Todd came in 3rd in Avet, Digger got 5th, and Rob ???  There were a few serious injuries (no one from our club) during the afternoon which stopped the race momentarily. This caused great confusion for scoring  right BeeOBee?  He got third…or so they say. He was in the lead for a long time and then they stopped the race..he ends up third..mass confusion. Paul came in 3rd in class  and Jamie came in 4th. Dylan and Ty had great finishes but I don’t know their places, Sorry. If you notice I haven’t mentioned Dillon G. Well he was thinking that his race was close and he better not pit and waste time. Great strategy if you are sure that you have enough gas to finish the race, not such a good strategy if you don’t have enough gas to finish the race. I think Dillon learned a few things this race. The first is; just because they are in the same club as you doesn’t mean they are willing to give up gas out on the track during the race. The second is; picking race strategy is very important, consult your pit crew.

Scoring was a nightmare. Most people headed out before they finished manually scoring everyone and adding and subtracting time for stopping. The Nutmeg club was great though and provided pizza and ice pops for anyone willing to wait.

All and all it was another fantastic weekend..Red Robins on the way home with everyone. I hope to see everyone at Unadilla and if not we will see you at the next NETRA race in two weeks. Have a great week and be race ready.

What a great race everyone! First and foremost I would like to extend my appreciation and thanks to the Bugbee family for allowing us to use their land. They were more than gracious.

Friday night it rained..Saturday morning it rained….Saturday afternoon it rained, Saturday night it rained… This rain thing is becoming a bad habit for us. But luckily, we deal with it well.

The Enduro went off on time Saturday morning with the riders soaking up the rain. A few of our State Line riders raced and did very well.  Sawyer won first in class and first overall.  Nate, Cole and Tanner also did well.. Sorry guys I don’t remember what your places were.

Next came the Pee Wee race. Jamie was the trail boss and did a great job. The kids had a great race and the sky actually turned blue and rain went away for awhile. Simon finished first in his class. He flew around that track. It was a good turn out and all the kids seem to have a great time. Thanks to Crystal, Sue and the Anthony’s for their help with the scoring at the barrels.

After a great dinner most of us settled in to listen to BeeOBee’s Band rock the house. Which they did…great sound, love the new lights, could have done without the rain..but hell, we are used to it. It was a blast, Thanks guys you were fantastic.

Sunday morning came way to early, way to early. Sign-ups started, bikes rolled in, and people were everywhere. The saving grace here was the smell of bacon and eggs cooking thanks to Mike and Justin. They did a bang up job all weekend. No problem with the peppers and onions Saturday night right Justin?  Once again, the sun was back out just in time for the races for start. The track was extremely slick because of all the rain which made it hard going for the bigwheel and mini riders. Our only mini rider was Cole Hall and he did well. The late morning race found Nick and Mike racing. Nick finished first in class and Mike took  ???  . By afternoon the temperature was warm and the track had dried out a bit, a little bit. Todd, Marty and Buzy raced. Todd did awesome, taking first in Avet and 16th overall. Marty got first in Asenior and Buzy took 3rd in B200. They did a great job, like always.

The racing was over, the trophy’s were given out and the riders had left. What did that leave…..a huge mess. But, many hands make lite work. Everyone pitched in and the clean up went smoothly. The garbage was picked up, the grill was packed away, the tent came down and State Line trailer was dragged away. Until next year…

I want to personally say that everyone did a fabulous job this weekend. There might be one person who didn’t step up…he actually fell down a couple of time’s right Paul? I think everything went great.  A couple of riders even told me this was the best event of the year.  They had a blast, and that is what it is all about. The concession personal, the sweepers, sound and tech inspection, parking and sign in…everywhere I went yellow shirts where there working hard. There is one thing I learned this past weekend, It is much easier to drive 5 hrs to go to a race and camp, race and drive 5 hrs home than put a race on. Kudos to you John for organizing this whole event. A standing ovation for you!

See all you racers this weekend in Somers, CT…..be race ready.