2016 International Old timers MX event in Boise

 

We we’re off to the land of the big potato for round # 9 in impressive fashion we caravanned. Carmen Ogino, Derek Currie, Kevin Stewart and me followed each other nose to tail. Carmen in his big ass motor home with his 2016.5 KTM 250SXF FE hanging at an odd angle from the back of his motor home, Kevin rode with Carmen having rented himself out for the weekend as Carmen’s pit bitch. Derek in his Chevy diesel pickup with two 450 Honda’s in the back, his logic for bringing two bikes was in case he needed to use one for parts, he didn’t. And me in my Ford diesel pickup with my 1987 Lance camper setting in the bed slightly at an angle because my wife had hit one of those speed at speed when she used it, lifting it just enough, even with tie downs so when it landed back in the bed it was slightly askew. And towing behind hiding the slightly angled camper was my enclosed motorcycle trailer. 

I hope there aren’t any cops reading this because we flew across the Sierra’s and desert at speeds well above the posted limits, especially me towing a trailer. We spent the night along the side of the road in Jordan Valley some seven hours into our journey.

Arriving at the gate entrance to the track around 11:15AM the next morning our caravan joined a long line of others stretching out to the highway waiting for the gates to open at 12:00. The parking at the track is flat along with rows of terraced parking. We set up on the top terrace and had a great view below us and of the freshly mown hay fields across the way and with our Sierra Old Timers pop-ups proudly on display. Practice started at 1:00 and for many of us the first disappointment of the weekend. The track had been plowed deep and lots of water put down, so it was sloppy, wet and ended up very rutted.

However Friday evening is the clubs traditional Idaho baked potato fest with a wide variety of toppings, which sort of made you forget about the track conditions and remember one of the many reasons you show up for this event, good food and the comrade.  I forgot to mention the weather was just about perfect as well.

Since I’m retired I don’t roll out of the sack until well after the sun has risen.  With practice at 8:00 and my group the second practice and the one hour time change I was up way too early for me. It was going to be another beautiful day and when we got out on to the track we discovered a well groomed track that offered the prospect of a fun days racing. At the riders meeting there were many smiles all around from those of us who had experienced Friday’s track. Riders who had showed up for Saturday’s practice and race were puzzled by our dire report on Friday’s practice track. 

Kevin (Carmen’s pit bitch) took a boat load of pictures which we will have up on our Facebook and the club web site soon. Kevin concentrated mostly on club members of which there were quite a few; it’s interesting because we now have a number of members who live in other states. He followed Carmen in the 50+ Intermediate class, Paul Park and Brad Peters 40+ intermediates, Mark Kastner and Craig Christian in the 50+ master class, Duane Quick and Bart Kellogg in the 70+ expert class, Derek a 60+ intermediate, and me all alone in my class. 

First and foremost everyone had a great day; we were all safe and had good races. Someone at the parts counter at Carmen’s local bike shop gave him mineral oil for his clutch instead of brake fluid (oops) so needless to say he struggled a little with some clutch problems and on a sandy loamy track you need a good clutch when ridding a 250. Carmen’s wife called to tell him a rattle snake was in their backyard. They called a snake guy who found a total of three rattlers. Paul and Brad had by far the best racing of the day. They swapped the lead back and forth for most of both moto’s, Paul admitted to being a little whipped at the end of the moto’s Brad won both. Mark and Craig both started on the same gate in the 50+ masters. Mark who just gets faster as the weekend goes along won the 50+ class easily but was a fair distanced behind the forty year olds, the second and third moto’s saw Mark closing the distance. 

I didn’t get to see much of Duane and Bart’s races because I was on the line with my race next. It looked like they pretty much held the same distance between them each moto with Bart having the edge. Derek suffered from poor starts and a crash in the first corner of the first moto, but kept the smile on his face and had good scraps with a fellow 60+ intermediate. I had a mixed bag a poor start in race one and a hole shot in race two. I reversed the order on Sunday, but it didn’t make any difference I had no competition in my class and was probably half to three quarters a lap ahead of the second place rider each race. (I still took the trophy home)

Saturday evening is the clubs dinner and as usual was excellent. I was disappointed because there wasn’t any desert this year something happened to the dessert maker, but I was saved, Carmen’s wife had sent him along with some carrot cake that Carmen shared.  Saturday evening’s weather was awesome and it doesn’t get any better when renewing friendships and hashing over the day’s racing. Everybody I talked with enjoyed the track, wait that’s not true Don Tocker from BC liked the old course layout. But he never unloaded his bike all weekend, as he was driving into Boise he remembered he hadn’t purchase medical insurance. (Remember he’s from Canada) Last time he was here he knocked himself out and ended up in the hospital. The evening ended with a hint of rain during the night.

It sprinkled a little Saturday the night but only enough to turn the dust on the vehicles into a mess. The morning was cloudy but the temperature was perfect. Sunday’s track and racing was as good as it was on Saturday. Carmen struggled a little more on Sunday with the clutch and stamina. Brad and Paul picked up right where they left off on Saturday swapping the lead. As I said before Mark just gets faster as the weekend rolls on and actually beat one of the 40+ masters and was much, much closer to the others. Again it looked like Bart and Duane were the same distance apart as Saturday. Gary Chase who rode Saturday on a borrowed bike figured it out Sunday and was the class of the 70+ expert field. Interesting side note, Bart, Ed Perrington, Gary and one other rider who all rode in the master’s class for years decided they wanted to ride in the 70+ expert class because they only wanted to race two moto’s on Saturday instead of three. Gary is the one who lobbied for a 70+ masters class so they could still ride three moto’s on Saturday, interesting how a little age can change your perspective.  Derek faired a little better on Sunday amazing what better starts can do. We all ended the day safe again, some of us took home awards and some didn’t but we all had a very enjoyable weekend.

Coming back we caravanned again, Carmen and Kevin, Derek, me and Paul in his brothers borrowed 4x4 ford towing an enclosed trailer. We stopped in Winnemucca for dinner and stayed the night in Fernley. Sitting around the table at dinner that night we all recounted our races and commented on others and talked about how sometimes it just doesn’t get any better than this.

 

Doug 21J  

PS We were all jealous of Carmen and Kevin his pit bitch for the weekend.