ABA BMX Quaker State Nationals #1
I am not sure who conducted the Rain Dance Saturday morning, but whomever danced the dance got just what they were hoping for. The National #1 race started out with a 2+ hour rain delay that did so much more than just dampen the spirits of the riders and fans in attendance. The track was an absolute mess!!! The track operators and ABA track officials, along with hundreds of other little hands did their best to dry (repair) the track prior to the race, but it was like trying to put a fire out by dousing it with kerosene...the rain continued even in the midst of clean-up.
When the rains finished (read: no longer a down-pour but still raining) the races began. However, the racers would obviously have to deal with a much tougher track than they did the day before. In the first moto of the national #1 Hunter did an outstanding job of navigating the muck and mire and taking the win in Moto #1 (see video on website). It was certainly going to be a long wait between heat #1 and the mains....a very wet one at that, but he was pretty confident that he would score his first national win.
When the mains finally came around it was a complete disaster zone! Despite the intentions of those in charge, the track was as unsafe as any as I had ever seen. Now you might be thinking, "what does he mean by unsafe?". In my opinion, unsafe can be used to describe any track where you could guarantee a crash occurring in nearly EVERY moto that was on the track whether they were novice or pro. The corners were particularly unsafe due to the fact that the red clay was being pulled in to every berm by the riders as their mud-filled tires emptied on the more abrasive asphalt. To give you an idea of what I am talking about you only have to think back to your days in school when you were asked to make a pottery vase in art class. You know the one that ended up looking like a soup bowl instead of a vase. The berms had that same slimy consistency of wet clay...it was nearly impossible to try and broom down the corners because it was also next to impossible to even walk up them without sliding back to the bottom. Likewise, when the riders were coming through you had to leave the track which meant you would end up right back in the same mud you had just swept off. Again this was happening to pros, experts, and the novices alike. Furthermore, the mud was so thick and rutted on the dirt portion of the track that many of the riders, particularly the younger riders, could not even make it to the tops of the hills.
The above scenario sets the stage for the 5 Intermediate mains. Likewise, when you look at the video you will see that the once black asphalt is now coated in an orange clay slime. The boys in Hunter's moto had a rough go right from the drop of the gate. One rider went down in the first turn, Hunter flopped over at the top of the very next step-up, and the third rider made it through unscathed. The bad news for Hunter wasn't that he couldn't have caught the leader, but instead he was unable to get clipped in and was forced to "coast out" the remainder of the race. When all was said and done he ended up with a 2nd place finish on a bike so full of mud that it must have felt like he was riding a pro cruiser! I know Hunter was happy to have earned a 2nd, but clearly he was disappointed by not taking the first. Some things you can control....others are just in the Lord's hands.