Perfect weather, BBQ, Crap Shoots...Must be Fernley!

Fernley International OTMX

The International Oldtimer MX at Fernley, Nevada could almost not have asked for better conditions. The weather cooperated by being cool in the mornings with afternoon temps only in the high 80’s. But the most appreciated weather condition was that the normal afternoon desert winds did not materialize. The weather was incredibly perfect for a desert summer day.

The Fernley OTMX chapter put on an event that I think could be classified as their best event ever.  I can’t remember attending one that was run so well. So the unfortunate small turn out meant that the riders that missed the event only hurt themselves. We were treated to a great sand track that was run on the first day and then the club had gone to the effort to run the second day on another completely separate track to give the riders something new and spice the weekend up a bit. It worked because both tracks were very well prepared and run opposite directions from each other. The club also hosted a raffle, provided an awesome dinner consisting of Tri-Tip, Pulled BBQ pork, assorted veggies, soda, beer and sports drinks to keep everyone happy. There was also a slow race that went from the starting line to a designated finish line. The idea being the LAST person to cross the finish line was declared the winner. The rules were simple, you must ride the bike you raced and you couldn’t put a foot down and you could not go any direction but forward. The entry fee became the purse and the winner takes all. It is very difficult to go slow in the sand without putting a foot down as several people discovered. 

Then there was the CRAP SHOOT. Now the game gets interesting. A piece of plywood is laid on the ground and it has been sectioned into small squares numbering from 1 to 200. Each square costs $2 to buy that numbered square. There is a fence placed around it and then a chicken is tossed in and wanders around until it CRAPS on one of the numbers! That is how the CRAP SHOOT works. The chicken cooperated and didn’t take long to make a deposit on #116. Now I don’t know if this is coincidence but the guy that owns the chicken bought one square, the square with the #116.  Wait a minute it gets better.  The chicken owners name is……………Gilbert CHICK.   I couldn’t make this stuff up, it really did happen like that.

The weekend was a huge success and there was some fantastic racing to go with all the festivities. Terry Sage dominated the really old guy class (+60 Master) and the +50 Masters had a good dice between Doug Goodman, John Volk and Ed (sneaky) Marchini.  With Ed coming out on top with the overall win on his Dungey replica KTM just ahead of Doug Goodman of Arizona riding his DAYSTAR sponsored Honda.

A great weekend was had by all and we are already looking forward to next year. Although I am wondering how in the heck the Fernley Oldtimer club will top this year’s effort.

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