My First Hare Scramble
My First Hare Scramble at R&D Raceway By Joe Luisi, Class C (40+) Super Senior Well, it’s in the book; my first hare scramble. I started preparing back in August getting all my gear for my Z400 and for myself and practicing once, maybe twice a week at R&D. THE NIGHT BEFORE – I had some last minute things to check and recheck and make sure that everything is packed. I thought “all set” and thinking confident, I went to bed feeling good. RACEDAY – The quads didn’t go off until 2:00 but I couldn’t help the desire to get to the track early, so my son/pit-crew and I rolled in about 10:00 Sunday morning. We were in time to watch the adult bikes take off. Not knowing anything about this, I watched their line-up and start, where they went and listened to everything I could; now I had a good idea of what to do. STARTING LINE – at about 20 minutes before 2:00 some quads began lining up. I suited up and went over, finding my place in line and settled in. Soon after the drivers meeting, I notice my row had an awful lot of quads in it. I thought I would be starting out with riders in my own class and age – not! I was smack in the middle of at least 20 big quads from college boy to super senior, which by the way is my class. 10 SECONDS! – Oh man, I wasn’t feeling so confident anymore but rather like “what the hell am I doing here”. I steady focused a pathway to the first turn. Focused on that and then the flag went up. There was a roar of thunder and I wasn’t even sure my engine had started until I let loose the clutch, and off I went. The first 3 seconds went great, but somehow I got pushed to the far left, and I stalled the engine. A second to restart, pop the clutch and I send the front end straight up. I heard someone say ‘let it go’, and I did. Another 2 seconds I’m on, I fire it up and off I go. As I make the first turn in last place I think to myself “well, this is a great way to start". HOLD ON – I was back in the thick of it. I could see people in single file. Soon however, my eyes turned towards the terrain and man was it wicked. With tight woods, mud, ruts, roots and rocks, there were hairpin turns on a dime; it was sweet! My first lap went slow so I could get a feel of the course. I stalled out a few more times and took some turns a little wide but it was on my second lap that things get sour. I took to an open grass way and lit it up, but when I turned the bend too fast, I hit a tree with my front left tire; sending me sailing over the handlebars. After shaking that off I noticed I had bent my frame with that impact and steering took all that I could muster. I couldn’t finish my last lap with my bike in this condition so I limped back to the point’s keeper, packed it up as a DNF and called it a race. I have to give props to the Powell’s for making a fantastic course. The weather was beautiful and they hosted not only a great day, but gave me an experience of a lifetime. They say you’ll never forget your first race and it was exactly like I thought it would be; and even though I feel like I got the snot beat out of me, busted up my quad pretty good and was scared to death…I just can’t wait to do it again!
My First Hare Scramble at R&D Raceway By Joe Luisi, Class C (40+) Super Senior Well, it’s in the book; my first hare scramble. I started preparing back in August getting all my gear for my Z400 and for myself and practicing once, maybe twice a week at R&D. THE NIGHT BEFORE – I had some last minute things to check and recheck and make sure that everything is packed. I thought “all set” and thinking confident, I went to bed feeling good. RACEDAY – The quads didn’t go off until 2:00 but I couldn’t help the desire to get to the track early, so my son/pit-crew and I rolled in about 10:00 Sunday morning. We were in time to watch the adult bikes take off. Not knowing anything about this, I watched their line-up and start, where they went and listened to everything I could; now I had a good idea of what to do. STARTING LINE – at about 20 minutes before 2:00 some quads began lining up. I suited up and went over, finding my place in line and settled in. Soon after the drivers meeting, I notice my row had an awful lot of quads in it. I thought I would be starting out with riders in my own class and age – not! I was smack in the middle of at least 20 big quads from college boy to super senior, which by the way is my class. 10 SECONDS! – Oh man, I wasn’t feeling so confident anymore but rather like “what the hell am I doing here”. I steady focused a pathway to the first turn. Focused on that and then the flag went up. There was a roar of thunder and I wasn’t even sure my engine had started until I let loose the clutch, and off I went. The first 3 seconds went great, but somehow I got pushed to the far left, and I stalled the engine. A second to restart, pop the clutch and I send the front end straight up. I heard someone say ‘let it go’, and I did. Another 2 seconds I’m on, I fire it up and off I go. As I make the first turn in last place I think to myself “well, this is a great way to start". HOLD ON – I was back in the thick of it. I could see people in single file. Soon however, my eyes turned towards the terrain and man was it wicked. With tight woods, mud, ruts, roots and rocks, there were hairpin turns on a dime; it was sweet! My first lap went slow so I could get a feel of the course. I stalled out a few more times and took some turns a little wide but it was on my second lap that things get sour. I took to an open grass way and lit it up, but when I turned the bend too fast, I hit a tree with my front left tire; sending me sailing over the handlebars. After shaking that off I noticed I had bent my frame with that impact and steering took all that I could muster. I couldn’t finish my last lap with my bike in this condition so I limped back to the point’s keeper, packed it up as a DNF and called it a race. I have to give props to the Powell’s for making a fantastic course. The weather was beautiful and they hosted not only a great day, but gave me an experience of a lifetime. They say you’ll never forget your first race and it was exactly like I thought it would be; and even though I feel like I got the snot beat out of me, busted up my quad pretty good and was scared to death…I just can’t wait to do it again!