2020 OTMX Kicks Off IN AZ
Monday, March 2, 2020 at 8:31PM 2020 OTMX is Underway!
The Oldtimer MX series kicked off at Canyon Raceway in Arizona and had a decent turn out with a lot of old faces (pun intended) and a few new ones. The weather was great, not too hot, not too cold, kinda like we were racing at Goldilocks place.
It was fun seeing people I had missed for quite some time and riding the track with others I had ridden with recently on trail rides. Great fun.
The track was a good layout but the drawback is the fact that when they have to water to control dust it becomes an ice skating rink. Nevertheless, the racing was good and I watched a few good battles.
Sierra OTMX rider Tay Gragg was the smartest and most consistent in his class (50 Exp) and took home the win. It may have had something to do with his new $1500 dollar front brake. Well, maybe it was the $400 motor mounts. But then again it could have been the $850 foot pegs. Naw, probably just his 50 cent earplugs he wears while he rides. Keeps him focused razor sharp! Lol! He rode smart and let the others crash, break their bikes, get poor starts and took advantage of their mistakes.
Meanwhile Keven Stewart #359 of SOTMX fame did his best to inflict pain on the 60 Exp class. He was doing a pretty decent job most of the weekend. The operative word being “most”. Seems #359 sometimes is a bit inattentive when they tell everyone on the gate they are now in the ‘2nd’ gate for safety purposes. The decision was made to split the gate because the 60 Masters and the 60 Experts were a bit too much to wedge through the first turn all at one time after trying it once. It seems none of those guys want to give an inch! So #359 is on the line getting ready for his moto and forgets to wait for the second gate drop! Away he goes with the 60 Masters. Gets a decent start and rides his butt off thinking the whole time, ‘man these guys are rolling, I can’t get by anyone’. After the moto he realizes his mistake and finds out he did in fact go on the wrong gate. I can only imagine the despair he must have felt that he may have thrown away the whole weekend. His club rep rallied for him and got the Arizona Chapter to do an average score somewhat like when they bump a rider up in class. It worked out that he didn’t ruin the whole weekend and ended up with 2nd overall. Kudos to the Arizona Chapter for not ruining someone’s weekend for a simple non malicious bonehead move. I think it just may have taught #359 a valuable lesson, attention to detail.
The second lesson is how you go about earning the Not So Coveted Fish Award! The Fish trophy, or Grand Geezer award as it has been labeled/named is an award that was started many years ago by a SOTMX member to be earned by the person that pulls the biggest bonehead move of the race weekend. Going off on the wrong gate certainly qualifies you for the Fish. In the event of more than one person doing less than stellar things in his or her racing endeavor then the Fish Council is convened and a vote decides who will be the recipient. It has on occasion gone to the Fish Council and been decided by popular opinion/votes. It then remains with the recipient until the next person commits an act at the races that qualifies as the new owner of the Fish! Congratulations Keven #359 Stewart you are the proud new bearer to start the 2020 season. I would be watching everyone else very closely at all the OTMX races if I were you in order to hand that sucker off as soon as possible! You know how bad Fish start to smell the longer you keep it. Just sayin’………………………….
The other race I was able to actually watch up close and personal was the 60 Master class. I (#33) was able to watch #64 wax that class from my front row seat, chasing him both days. Mark Kaestner #64 was head and shoulders the king of that class. Mark rode fast, smooth and never slowed down.
If you missed the opener you have about 5 weeks to get ready for the next one at Glen Helen. So quit messing around, you are getting older by the minute!!!
#33
“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.”
Reader Comments (1)
Great time #349. Thanks Eric smiles to Cheryl , June & that Mark