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RedNeck Report Branson 2006

Branson USA is where Team Wilder headed this past week. It was the first time for Jess and myself to hit this race. Logan Manley rode with us and showed us his new hobby KNITTING. I dont know where that ranks on the cool meter with young people these days, but next time you see Logan get him to knit you a sweater or something.

I decided to go thru Little Rock and head North on 65 thru Conway. Let me tell you some of the way I thought I was on a goat trail. When you start seeing brake check signs and steep grade warnings look out. Its no fun muscling a big motor home around. We left Memphis around 9 am and got to the track around 4:30. There was a short line, once we got in there were hundreds of trailers and rv's tucked into this little valley and the track kind of sits on a hill side.

Once we got a spot Jess wanted to check out the track. I dont know what draws so many people to this race it definitely cant be the track. Its a small track , the dirt on top has a black texture to it with a lot of rocks. There is nothing technical about the track. 50s were jumping all the obstacles. Of course everyone I talked to said just wait and see what happens after a 1000 bikes run over it. There were 1400 entries and most classes ran 6 laps. The fast lap times were in the 1:20 range so the races go fast. They ran 49 motos a day, starting at 7 am and finishing around 5 every day. Jess and I each got 2 practices thruout the day on thursday. They ran 10 races after practice on thursday and guess what I got to race the last race of the day. Running at the end of the day like that gave me a new appreciation for how nice and smooth our tracks are around home. This simple little track had turned into a beast, deep rutted corners, square holes everywhere, ruts, stumps, rocks you name it you got it. The track isnt that fast but it really puts your suspension to the test. I was sure glad I had my FCR suspension working good and Jason Kraus if you read this, after that moto I put the sub tanks back on. In my later motos they made a real difference in the braking/acceleration ruts that were in every corner rut. Those FrameBreakerRacing FVO SubTanks make those bumps dissapear. The scary part of this track was the starting straight, its part of a long sweeper after the finish line and uphill and it got so rutted that if you hit the wrong line your bike would start swapping. In the 250 Beginner moto half the pack went down and they had to restart the race. They stuck 4 of those new 150 Hondas in this class and they ran off and hid. On the track the 150 looks like a CRF 250. There were a lot of wrecks off the start cause you hit all the ruts at an angle, and it wasnt just Beginners, a couple of the faster B riders got taken out when a bike next to them swapped. You want to be at the front on these starts cause the track funnels thru a left right chicane that really spreads the pack out quick.

There were a lot of local riders there Josh Cartwright, Logan Manley, Channing Hunt, Hayes McMullen, Clayton Bradshaw, Luke Emerine, Chris Tracy, Matthew McKinney(or McKinley as the announcer kept saying), TJ Smith, Seth Smith, Ryan Griffith, Heath Roach, Charlie Smith, Vince Friese, Johnny Moore, Mike Blizzard, Joe Looney and I am sure I forgot someone. Sorry please fill inthe post for me. I spent sunday night in the WalMart Parking lot in Trumann Ark and didnt get home til 7:30 this morning so Im a little lost on the whole deal. All of our area riders put in huge efforts, I guess the hard luck story was Myles Taylor who made a few pracitce laps and fell and hurt his shoulder. He seemed to be doing OK with his new friends later but Mike was out 3 entry fees and they dont give refunds. I was told sunday that Channing Hunt left late sat with an arm or wrist injury. Hayes McMullen was involved in a scary crash on the start of his runoff moto. He got up, but I didnt see them again to find out if he was OK.

There were some big name riders there Blake Wharton and Terren O'Dell, who waged their own personal was against each other all weekend long. Chase Owens and Eli Tomac were fast in their classes. Johnny Moore brought home 2 championships which he told me were his first at an event such as this. KTM rider Derek Rogers was tearing up the track. Aaron Gulley was fast in the A class's. Lorettas Vet Alumni riders Jack Lambert and Tony Lawrence battled in the 40+.

I felt the races were well run, they posted a schedule and stuck to it. The same crew that worked Ponca was here so they know how to handle a crowd. The starter guy ("Dont crank your engine til I tell ya", the lady who gives you your start position (Did I tell you to line up yet? Well did I?) the announcer(Hes your daytime stalker!!!!!). If you were there you know where the quotes come from, if not you need to go next year and find out what I am talking about. Kevin Cozadd was there and gave a great worship service sat evening, there was a huge turnout which was cool. Kevin also won the 30+ title. The food venders had some great food, greasy fries, brautwurst, fried fish, Java the only one I felt sorry for was the ice cream vender, with some of the morning temps in the 30s I dont imagine their business was too good until later in the afternoon. Of course a lot of people went and hung around Branson. I bet some of those go-cart track workers got a workout when all the mxers got there and were racing each other. I would recomend this event to anyone that loves mx.

One of the biggest hang out areas was the pitbike track. We almost parked back there , man am I glad we didnt. Those pitbikes ran nonstop from day light to dark. There was a constant cloud of dust that hung over that area of the pits. They also had a bmx area in the middle of the pits, there were always kids there also and it was almost as dusty as the pitbike area. There were plenty of mx venders, so if you needed something it was available.

Jess and I were in so many classes that we never left, just hung around the camp. Its so funny cause you know each camp site has some kind of drama going on. The Wilder camp learned to check the choke lever before the starting gate falls and I learned to never loan my bike to my son to race. I wound up swapping the number plates for 3 days. I got lucky cause Jess's 450 classes didnt have a run off on sunday. The scenery over there is great this time of the year. The leaves are changing and geographically its a whole different world than what we have here in west TN.

The races got done around 2:30. I was a couple of races from the end and I took my time loading. We were one of the last to leave, its funny the place looks real small when all the campers are gone. Joey Cartwright was parked less than 100 ft from us and I didnt even know it. We as mxers are basically a bunch of gypsy's, running around invading people towns whereever we go.

Liz posted a link to the results, so you can check out how everyone did. There was so much going on that I couldnt keep up with who was racing when. Some of you guys who rode can post a little about how your racing went.

This weekend locally the KOTH series hits DryHill, Pine Bluff MX is having their annual ARK State Championship race sat. Bremen is having a Pro-Am event this weekend.

Til next time keep it pinned. 

See You At The Races

John Wilder #123