Strouble
PR Addict
Battle For Ohio Finale - BriarCliff MX - Race Report
(First Blog Post - Ask Day181 for more details)
Since the announcement of the OMA and the Battle For Ohio Series; the hype, anticipation and expectation has been building. This season has been full of ups and downs, but motocross racing has been the consistent. This weekend showed many things to the Ohio MX Family; invidiually and/or corporately. This weekend revealed the youth of OMA and revealed the mercy and hatred of the MX Family in a broader light, all in the time-frame of 3 long, exhausting days. There is good and bad, right and wrong, idle speed and rippin er' wide open in this tale of twists and turns on Labor Day weekend 2013.Where to start is an odd one for this article, but I suppose it is just best to walk through it one day at a time as we had to do this past weekend with the beginning being the promoted event itself. The first two battle rounds were 2-moto formats with practice on Saturday and racing on Sunday. The final round was changed to a 3-moto format with an event slated across the duration of 3-days. Practice Friday, 2 motos Saturday and finish up Sunday with whatever else came in between. I rolled in about 10:20am on Friday to the sound and view of bikes rippin around the perfect track conditions and I mean perfect! It was a pleasent sight to see a canvas of campers and folks spread across the BC turf. Folks were pleasent, the sun was out, riders were riding, the food was good, operation was smooth, and the excitement was building for the next day of racing.
The decision that haunted the weekend was fully prepping the track Friday night. The track looked SWEET Friday night and had us all fired up for racing on Saturday. On this weekend the phrase "hindsight is 20/20" couldn't have been more true. Weather is always or should be on the mind of any promoter. The forecast for any real chance of rain was to come in the Saturday afternoon/evening time and a possible thunderstorm or scattered showers on Sunday...this was the forecast as best as most of us could tell. Everyone left their things out in the open overnight, windows open in the campers, all with peace of mind for dry conditions overnight and waking to a pleasent sunrise in the morning upon the landscape of loamy dirt just waiting to be shredded! It was looking like roost flingin perfection. Goodnight and see you in the morning.
I wake up in the hotel about 5:30 and see rain drops on window...no rain just water on the window still. I start to wonder and proceed to get ready for action. At 6:11 my phone rings...it's JO..."Hey man, don't be in a rush to get to the track...we got dumped on!" The news hit like a rogue wave and my heart sank. I could only imagine what was going on the track. I pull in just after 7 and get stuck. Not a good start! Current update is a rain delay! So I get towed out of the mud and go find JO on the dozer. The preliminary plan is riding at noon. Start walking around the pits and talking to folks..."Dude...we got hit so hard last night for several hours...really hard for an hour, couldn't even see my bikes from the window of my camper"..."Dude...it was so stupid to prep the track last night, why did you do that?"..."Dude...where did this rain come from?"..."Dude...being a weatherman is the only job you can have where you can conitnually screw up/lie and not get fired!"..."Dude...How is the track? What are you guys gonna do?"..."Dude...can we have our money back?"..."Dude...let's race the C track!"..."Dude...run all of the quad motos today!"..."Dude...this sucks!"..."Dude...what if rains tonight again or tomorrow, their is weather coming again ya know?"..."Dude...will the pee wees be on the big track for racing?"... "Dude...we shoulda went to Area 51 or Baja or why didn't you have the race at Rt. 62!"..."Dude...you guys prepped last night because you didn't want to work hard in the morning!" "Dude...you guys screwed us over!"..."Dude...whyyy???"..."Dude, Dude, Dude???!!!" The questions and comments kept coming and the delay carried on.
As the delay carried on, as the dozer burned fuel, as the folks watched on wondering and waiting for what would happen, as vehicles rolled in, as people got signed-up, as the track crew scurried to make adjustments, as folks prepared machines and gear for mud, as the sun came out and the temperature rose, as patience was wearing thin, as tempers were rising, as folks understood, as conversation went on, as folks made new friends, as folks spent quality time with family and friends, as folks had breakfast...as all this was happening I held a "Truth MX Bible Service" in front of staging at about 10:15am. With plenty of time on hand...I strecthed out the message to the 60 people in attendance. After all that had already gone on in the day to this point...one thing was looming over my heart and mind; Motocross Racing effects us! We are so deeply passionate about riding/racing motocross. Here we are, so unsettled by the unfolding muddy view before us in complete despair about racing. I was convicted and convinced of the fact that we are easily unthankful people. We are so concerned about racing that we don't remember just how big a blessing it is to even be here waiting to rip the throttle. With famine, murder, war, corruption, theft, kidnappings, unstable government and economy, people killing people over nothing or over something like religion, fatherless children, divorce, drug and alcohol abuse, nuclear threats, chemical warfare, disease, cancer, suicides, and on and on and on...we have the gull to stand here today and utterly be discontent and dismayed at motocross track conditions and operation??? Are you serious???...motocross doesn't mount to a hill of beans in real life except for the fact that we are fortunate enough to come amongst family and friends in a free and peacful land to ride/race motocross. A place where we know what the kids are doing and who they are hanging out with. A place we work all week to come and enjoy...a place away from all the corruption in the world to get some joy in our lives. Are you serious??...grow up folks! Myself included!!!
The big news of the weekend...we are cancelling racing today due to unsafe racing conditions, we will be holding practice, we will give a 1/3 refund to those who want to leave for the weekend because we haven't cancelled the event as a whole (I misunderstood and announced this wrong at first, I am sorry to the folks this affected; riders and workers), we will race 2 motos on Sunday, we will not allow any new sign-ups for Sunday, thank you all very much for being patient and sticking with us. We have done the best we can do! Yes JO did the best he could do! Just as the country was split down the middle in voting Obama in for President to a 2nd term...so were we in where we stood to the decisions that were made in how the Final Round of The Battle For Ohio would unfold. This is where the statement earlier in the report/blog comes into play "This weekend revealed the youth of OMA and revealed the mercy and hatred of the MX Family all in the time-frame of 3 long, exhausting days."
The youth of OMA is true an unfolding. We are working hard to get things right. We want them to be right for all of us. For people to say that "You are holding us prisoner by not giving us our money back or that I will never come to an OMA event again or that you guys don't want to put in the work!" is just plain immature. I so wish I had the time to spend with every single person and talk in detail about what happened...but it's just not possible. The other side of this coin is us, the MX family in our mercy and hatred. Many folks understood and thanked us for keeping a plan and working hard. Many folks would not speak up at all and many folks expressed their hatred for what was happening. First off...I have been to every OMA race this year except for 1 Faircross race...to say that we don't want to work hard is an absolute absurd statement. Some say we are not willing to work but some are not willing to stick it out...then who is the one not really willing to do what's necesarry for motocross to happen right in Ohio? As a man at the track, no matter my position...if you want to fault the Promoters and Crew for not wanting to work hard and not being honest and upfront about what is going on...then you are a fool and can't see nothing if anything past yourself. Personally to you publicy, I am not going to say what I agree or don't agree with on what happened for this particular event, although speaking one on one with someone is a different story, my mind and heart remain steadfast in seeking out the truth and what is right for Motocross whether in personal conversation or public communication. Even though I have been given permission to write freely about anything and everything by PitRacer...it is wise to use disrcetion on my behalf for all people concerned! What I will speak freely to and unashamed to is us the motocross family as a family. As a member of this family...I have mistakenly said or done things I shouldn't have, I have agreed or disagreed to things I shouldn't have, I do not think myself above anyone.. We as a family should not quit on each other now. We are on the cusp of getting things right as a motocross family...if we quit on each other now, we are just quiiting on ourselves and more importantly each other, and don't really care about Ohio Motocross and all who are involved. The importance of maturing through faith, thankfulness, work, love, truth, honesty, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, mercy and time is so very, very important. You could basically picture me on knees right now pleeding to you folks within all my heart, to everyone from bottom to top and top to bottom to stay the course, keep moving forward!!! This is real life! This is real motocross and we are all apart of it. If we can't work through the conflicts...then we are not a family at all. We are for sure concerned about your safety folks!
Moving forward...the dust settled from the calamity and the day became brighter as sounds of bikes and quads ripped around the tracks. Some folks left...many stayed. To all that stayed the course in hopes of tomorrow being a better day...THANK YOU! The tracks got better and better as the laps wore in. The one exception that I will agree with, whether the right call or not is to have practice and not racing. The decision to not race was based on safety alone. The track was gnarly rough and to force people into racing conditions that would raise the risk of crashes is a caring one. Then to say...hey, if you wanna ride, go ahead, it's your choice, we still wanna see folks have fun and feel like you are getting the value from your investment with us. I deeply appreciate the safety awareness of BriarCliff MX. Then comments followed..."Dude...the track is actually shaping up, we should have raced!"..."Dude...if you can practice on it then you can race on it!" Well folks, hindsight is 20/20. A couple hours ago, not many wanted to ride the track because it was looking pretty bad and then they see the track is turning around and say we should have raced is a perfect example of hindsight. What I hope we can grasp here is that the mindset of a promoter and the mindset of a rider are geared differently in many ways and geared the same in many ways. It is this very gap in wisdom and knowledge that needs to be bridged in order for us to reach full potential as a motocross community and family...that is where I feel my niche is, that is my personal mission in this entire endeavor, that is what my heart leaps towards on raceday and through-out the week, whether accepted or not.
Saturday night had some entertainment activities like the band, bmx, pit-bike racing, and other special pit-bike racing and contests. I went up to the top of the hill by the entrance and sat with by boss's family from my day job and chilled. I needed to sit. I seen JO going at it all 3-days...I hope he got the rest he earned by exhausting himself for us, regardless of what you or I think of him. Then it was a good night's rest for all of us to a hopeful awakening of the Battle For Ohio Finale!
I loved the hotel bed...wanted to load it up in my pick-up. Arose early and ready for action. Pull-in to the track being worked, and people still silent with a fog lifting over the land, waiting for the sun to break it's rays across the battleground of roost, excited for the victor to get the checkers! Practice at 8am folks! Time to Brap! Quads were first, which on this day was welcomed by the bike riders, and as of right now is about the only time the bike riders like the quad riders is when we need them to blow some of the slop off the track. Thank you Quad Guys!!! Practice was smooth and folks were ready. It was refreshing to have no rain and the races about to unfold. Folks were full-steam ahead in motocross mode. 23 motos with about 460 entries were ready to go racing! Young Miss Zaremba sang our national anthem. All track officials were in place, moto 1 was on the line and ready to go racing. That sound we all wanted to hear...engines revved to the moon waiting for the gate drop! Whammm...the gate does down and down the start stretch goes moto 1...racing has officially begun.
I don't get to watch all the racing so I am not the best choice for a race report...but I do get glimpses. There were lots of riders, and lots of racing. The track had some changes from the last time I was there at the first race this year. I am choosing this rider based purely on his efforts and the glimpses of racing I got to see. He is a popular rider because of who his dad is and more importantly the boy just hauls. Zach Rogers #65 was very impressive this weekend. He came from behind in all his moto's to win...especially after going down pretty hard in the first turn of one his motos and having to pull out. Zach just flat-out raced hard, clean, and competitively. I think he raced schoolboy, B and 2-stroke...correct me if I am wrong in any of this...no matter...he is just fast and works!
It was good to see the weekend finish out strong with a good event and good times with folks. Malvern is Sunday...See ya there! Brap!
P.S. I originally wanted this to be more of a race report, but I just couldn't skip past everything else that happened. I will be posting weekly or bi-weekly blog entries! Thank you very much Pit Racer for selecting me in this honor. It is a honor to serve the MX Family and be apart of it. Just gotta get me a bike! Brap!
