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| Thanks to Art Pepin for the photo! |
Race Report: ECEA Enduro Series Round 1: 75th Annual Sandy Lane Enduro
Rider: Zack Huberty
Bike: MotoFIT KTM 200 XC
Result: A-200 6th
Point Standings: 6th
Report:
I have never worked as hard for a race season as I have this year. The daily cardio workouts have brought me into the race season stronger than I was last year and I have a little more confidence as well. With school being busy, it has been hard to keep up with training and racing. It is becoming a regular routine to leave Friday after school and come back to school early on Monday. These past few weekends have not been relaxing as I’ve been getting bikes ready, racing, cleaning bikes, doing homework, etc.
This past weekend was the 75th annual Sandy Lane Enduro near Chatsworth, New Jersey.
My dad and I woke up early on Sunday and drove down to the race. My dad helped me get everything ready for my race and then I was off on minute 46E. I felt ready and strong for this race and confident that I could ride well. This weekend, I was the most experienced time-keeper on my row so everyone depended on me to keep us on pace and make smart decisions. Two years ago, I burnt a check by 4 minutes here, so I have learned my fair share of mistakes since then.
After meeting the other riders on my row, we were soon off down a few fire cuts. For the first 15 miles, we just kept on time while we rode fire cuts and roads. Soon, we came out of the forest into some soft sugar sand where the speed average went up to 24mph. I knew that we were going to be approaching a check. As we went down a row of pine trees, the scoring crew was ahead and I slowly approached until the card flipped. I sped into the check crew and then was off into some trail. The trail was fast flowing with a lot of saplings and got tighter in some sections. I felt great in here but made a few mistakes here and there. Coming out of the section, I dropped 3 which was comparable to what others dropped in my class.
We caught back up on time and rode some faster flowing trail. Before the first gas stop, we rode another piece of trail which was a little tighter and had a cool motocross/endurocross section in the middle of the woods. Three corners into this little area, there was a deep berm which I may have drug my bars on the ground (I’m hoping my dad got video of that). I felt good in this section and minimized my mistakes, but I think my gearing could have been a lot better. I couldn’t carry 3rd and 4th gear the way I wanted to and had to use the clutch a lot. I ended up coming out of the section with the 7th fastest time in my class, so I will need to work on the tighter trails this summer.
At the first gas stop, I fueled up on some cheese, crackers, and water. My dad looked over my bike which was great because it gave me more time to relax. I felt strong and was riding well so far. The only thing I was worried about was my clutch which I was afraid it was fading at that point. Between the 2nd and 3rd gas stop, we rode three sections. The first section started out in a burned area of the forest which was fast-paced and had a lot of lines all over the place. It was hard following the trail because the lines crisscrossed all over the place. I felt good in here as the faster pace suited my style. After this, we went onto the last section of the day which was a start control at the c-split. I was expecting ten miles of trail but I believe it turned out to be a little more. The section started off great with a lot of fast flowing trails that were a lot of fun. Towards the middle, it started to get tighter and didn’t flow as well. After a while, we rode into a pit area with some logs and hills. While going down a hill, I tried to hit the rear brakes but they had faded for some reason and I hit a tree really hard. I got back up but had to take it easy as I had no rear brakes. I thought the section had ended, but the check crew said to keep racing. It was a hard back-to-back section which tired me out a little more. I rode fairly well but I could definitely improve without my rear brakes fading and better gearing. I’ll be putting on a Mika Metals 48T for the next sand run. I didn’t know this quite yet, but this would be the last points taker of the day.
At the second gas stop, I was ready for a fun, fast section. My dad bled the rear brake since it had gotten soft and the fluid was black. I had just changed the fluid recently but the abuse and using of it must have boiled it. From the 2nd gas until the end, it was all time-keeping on fire cuts. It was a nice ride, but I wanted to race down some fire cuts. I will have to wait until next weekend because I know Curly Fern will have some fast fire cuts. At the end of the day, I placed 6th but was not far off of the leaders and around 65th overall out of 500 riders. I know I need to work on riding better in the tight, sandy trails. I think a 48T will be more helpful than the 46T I am currently running and will help me in the tighter trails.
I would like to thank the support of my family and friends, especially my dad for his race support (especially this weekend for driving and pitting for me), as well as my sponsors which are Johnny Limp at Torc1Racing, Drew Smith at WER Suspension, Mike at MotoFIT, PowerSeal USA, FMF, Jerod Stoner at JSdesigns for the jersey lettering, EKS Brand Goggles, P3, All Balls Racing, Sixsixone, Mika Metals, N-Style, Vertex Pistons, Fly Racing, DT-1 Filters, Motorex, Hinson Clutch Components, Acerbis, and Clockwork KTM. I would like to thank Mike at MotoFIT for all of the KTM support and help with parts. Lastly, thank you to Art Pepin for supplying me with this great photo!
For more information:
Check WER Suspension out on Facebook “Works Enduro Rider (WER)”
Check MotoFIT Motosports out on Facebook “MotoFIT”
Check Zack Huberty out on Facebook “Zack Huberty”
Check Zack Huberty’s Blog http://zackhuberty323racing.blogspot.com/
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