Sierra Old Timer event is a Home Run!
The Sierra Chapter of the IOTMX series had a great event in Marysville, Calif at the MMX facility the weekend of May 5 & 6. The weather was the only thing that was not perfect, the wind blew terribly over the two days of racing and gave the track crew a difficult time. However the track promoter Jerrad Fisher and his crew did an outstanding job of laying out a new track for this event and maintaining it through the difficult weather conditions. The track stayed in good shape with occasional touch ups and watering that made for a fun course despite the wind. A big Thank You to the MMX facility and its people, you guys went all out to provide an excellent race course.
The turnout was up from the events held so far this year at other venues with a few extra classes added on Sunday’s program to further bolster the attendance. Everyone had a great time with only a couple of mishaps on the track. The racing was close with only a couple of dominant riders for the weekend while most classes had some intense racing both days.
The 60 Master class was the one to watch if you went to the Tulare race. This time Terry Sage seemed to have things in control with the exception of one Bob Hershey that made Mr. Sage uncomfortable by riding his wheel all day on Saturday.
The 50 Master class seemed to be the class for entertainment if you wanted your money’s worth. There were several guys on that gate that thought they deserved the winner’s trophy and were willing to bump and bang along the way to get it! The cast of characters included Ed Marchini, Mark Kaestner, Doug Goodman, Mike Harper, Alex Jorgensen and John Volk. Ed Marchini was the fastest, smartest or luckiest depending on whom you talk to! He came away with the win when the dust settled.
Ed had to work for it though because Mark took a couple of motos away to make sure Ed didn’t have the perfect weekend. He (Mark) also stalled and crashed a couple of times just to keep things interesting. I heard his wife, June, was on the side of the track calling him bad names when he had a couple of those mishaps. Mike Harper was primed to put a whoopin’ on the boyz but his YZ 250 with the big bore kit wasn’t! He made about two turns and pushed the bike back to the pits with a broken motor. His weekend was over. Doug was in the hunt but didn’t seem to come to terms with the sand track since he is from Arizona, most of his riding is on much harder ground where he is extremely fast. Alex was making his return to racing after a few years away from OTMX racing and had a new RMZ 450. He always rides well but without any racing under his belt tired quicker than normal and had a nagging shoulder problem surface. Did I mention Alex has won National events in years gone by and has been inducted to the Motorcycle Hall of fame? Kind of gives you an idea of the caliber of riders that some of these Geezers have to ride against if they want to win!
Overall the event was superb with a raffle that Works Connection alone would have made worth the trip. The items they supported the OTMX with were nothing short of amazing. Along with Vice’s Collision repair, Halls Furniture, MX1, Titan Container, Roseville Yamaha, Autowest Honda of Roseville, Gold Country Copier along with Jorgy’s Suzuki of Stockton. Thank You to all of the OTMX supporters.
Our 50 Master hero Ed Marchini brought his mobile ghetto that is actually a 40’ top of the line motor home. He allowed the club to hook up a large television screen outside that showed the Las Vegas supercross via his motor home satellite. Anyone that was interested was invited to come watch the supercross live! Good times!
A huge Thank You to Carmen and his wife, Renee for all the effort they put out. Carmen was relegated to running things like sign up, raffle and serving the evening meal since he was on the side lines with an injury and unable to compete.
If you missed this one you missed a top notch event. Don’t let the next one pass you by, I won’t!
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