Edited Date/Time:
Since there's basically no coverage of the race last weekend, I figured I might as well throw my helmet cam videos up and give a little race report.
For anyone who isn't familiar with how the qualifiers work here is a quick breakdown.
- 2 timed session for heat race gate pick
- 1 I heat race for each amateur group (there were 4 in Reno), with the top 2 going on to the A main in the evening program
- 1 lcq practice, where the top two fastest times move on to the A main, 3-8 move on to the B main, and the rest end their day.
It's been a bad stretch of a few years now since I made the amateur A main that included some nasty crashes, a broken wheel, and a general lack of talent. However, this year I was finally able to make it happen by having the fastest time in the lcq practice session, and I was stoked! Seriously, you just beat the hell out of yourself in this type of racing and it's so disappointing to work so hard and not make it into the night program, so to make it happen this time was huge for me. My goal was to at least make it into the amateur B main, so making it into the A main was a huge bonus.
As far as the races go, I pretty much rode like crap.
It was frustrating for me to struggle in the matrix so badly, I had it down pretty well all day, but as the temperature dropped and sap/moisture started to come out of the logs they became insanely slippery. I even made it through once in the qualifiers without dabbing a foot, which was a major accomplishment for me!
As you'll see I took a pretty good shot right into one when my back wheel spun on the log prior rather than lifting my front end up, that one felt great. . . I pretty much felt like I got hit by a truck the next day from that crash and all the other guys slamming into me. It's intense out there even in the amateur class and nobody will give an inch, it's not like it used to be with just a bunch of local guys running it, a lot of the class is made up of some serious racers trying to make their way into the pro main. After all was said and done I ended up 11th in the amateur A main, and took 1st in trials. It was kind of disappointing to not really have a good turnout for the trials class, but they ended up combining us with the Womens main so the track was still pretty busy. Not sure why but I got the white flag twice, hence my confusion and the confusion of the course worker as I almost ran him over. . .
I've got to give major props to Eric Pernard (I know I butchered that spelling) the promotor, the guy is involved in the show from start to finish, and is right there on the side of the track congratulating everyone as they come off. He and the whole crew run a tight event, everything is on time, organized, and any hickups are delt with efficiently. Also, say what you want about our buddy John from the AMA, but he was out there late helping tear the track down after the event was over. I doubt that's part of his job responsibility and he was there bright and early with the rest of us amateurs for the morning qualifiers, so I think that says a lot. Overall it was a great event, I'm still hurting and sore but pretty happy with how things went. If you're located near any of these races you really need to check them out in person, I can guarantee you'll see racing that's even more exciting than your local supercross, plus you have regular spodes like myself part of the night program to provide a reference point for how good the top pros really are.
Here's a few pictures from practice and qualifying.
Make Hillclimb Great Again
Ratbeach Racing
Instagram / YouTube: @485Josh
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