Ok. Back from a long meeting. Sorry about that. On to moto 2.
Moto 2:
I again got off to a bad start out of the gate. I'm not sure if it is the gearing that is just a bit harder to take off in or if I was not giving it enough throttle. Will work on that in the future. If you have seen the video or some of the pics, I was lined up most of the way on the left side. We took off down the hill and I saw half of the guys bumping together on the inside corner. I saw the guy just in front of me sliding around them on the outside and sneaking right up into the mix. I got right up on his grab bar and followed him right up there till I was right at the middle of the pack. We headed around the track, everything going pretty well. Everyone finally began to break away a little bit. The guys in the very front started to pull away quite a bit as they were hitting almost all of the jumps and most of us were not. More about that later. I followed the guy in front for most of the race. I would reel him in and get tired; and he would start to pull away. I would reel him in again and get tired; again he would pull away. We finally got to the last lap, and I just didn't have the energy left to catch, so I looked behind me to make sure I had a far enough gap from the guys behind me; said screw it, I'll finish where I am. Well, we got through 3 more turns, I come up over a jump, and there he is sitting right in the middle of the track, not moving, shaking his head, I passed him and continued on. I caught up to the guy in front of him with 3 more turns left. I gave it all I had left trying to catch up to that guy. I pushed and pushed and it burned and burned, lol. Got all the way up to about 20 from him, before he crossed over the finish line. I finished 6th.
Conclusion: I finished 5th overall, which by alot of people's standards is not great but I was very happy with it. I gave it all I had and this is what resulted. Considering I had a very rough season last year, and started rough this year, I'm pretty happy with this weekend's results. I have been dealing with an issue with my rear shock that has really left me at a big disadvantage. I just have no confidence in it right now. It has an incredibly stiff ride all the time, but yet has been fresh serviced. I was finally able to connect with my shock builder this weekend as he was at the track. I asked him to come feel my rear suspension. He pushed down on the grab bar and suddenly had this look on his face. I recognized the look cause it's the same one I have. He looked at my and said, "My God, that is stiff!" I said," I know! that is what I have been trying to tell you! lol" He said you never told me it was that bad. I said I have used every word I know to describe it. He said it acted like the linkage was binding like it had the wrong linkage components or something was bad wrong with the shock. He said it was like there was no progression at all. I thought to myself, "finally, now someone else understands besides me that something is not right!". lol. Yesterday, after cleaning the quad, I measured all the linkage components to make sure they WERE for sure for the 86 frame and shock. With the help of [MENTION=125]JoePA[/MENTION], I was able to verify all components were in fact the correct ones. So, I am going to his riding and testing facility on Wednesday to figure out the issue and get is resolved once and for all. I told him I couldn't spend the rest of the season taking the beatings I've been getting from the track and suspension. lol. I am hoping that things will really start to change once we get this rear suspension issue figured out. It is affecting a great deal of the race for me. I wear out extremely fast from the harsh ride and I don't feel that I get very good traction due to the rear not squatting like it should.
As far as everything else, I have nothing but good things to say. Engine ran great, smart carb performed flawlessly. I was ringing the snot out of it both races. And spark plug color and mixture ring looks better than it ever has in my motor.
