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WER Rider: Zack Huberty
Bike: MotoFIT KTM 200 XC
Result: A-200 11th
Point Standings: 11th
Report:
After a couple months without a race, I was chomping at the bit to race again. With stronger support from sponsors and a stronger drive to do well, I was looking forward to the first round of the ECEA Hare Scramble series at the Tri-County site. Unfortunately, I woke up with a fever two nights before the race and was getting a sore throat, so I wasn’t feeling the best coming into the first race. Come Sunday morning, I was feeling alright, but not 100%. With my bike ready to go, we headed to Port Elizabeth. One of the things I wanted to find out early on is if my training in the off-season was helping. During the winter, I worked hard at riding the stationary bike and played a lot of basketball. My biggest struggle last year was my cardio fitness, so I am determined to be stronger this year. One of the downsides to college and a cold winter is that I was unable to ride very much. I rode once before the Tri-County Hare Scramble so I wasn’t exactly comfortable on the bike.
My dad, sister, and I arrived early at the Tri-County hare scramble. The course looked like it would be a little wet but fairly nice. I waited in line with my Fly Racing F2 Carbon helmet for a while before we got new trick transponders. After getting signed up, I watched the starts of the C-race to see how bikes reacted to the track. The torn up areas were very soft, so I had to be careful in those spots.
At 1:30, I rolled up to the A-200 line on my MotoFIT KTM in my fresh Fly Racing gear. I warmed up the bike and focused on a good start. Soon the flag dropped, and I got a horrible start as my foot slipped off of the kick starter. In the first couple turns, I got by 3 or 4 riders before we got into the woods. I got by a few more riders in the woods, but then my day started to go downhill. Soon, more and more 250 riders were flying by me and the trail was getting rough. I learned early on that my suspension was set-up all wrong. I had rode with the suspension in some sand before this race and it worked great, but the whoops here needed a much stiffer set-up. With my bike not working the way I wanted, I wasn’t comfortable to run a faster pace.
As the laps went by, I slipped further and further back. My confidence got lower as I knew that I wasn’t riding anywhere near where I felt I could. I wasn’t comfortable and I hadn’t ridden enough before the first race. I continued to ride and not give-up. During my last lap, I found some more motivation and comfort on the bike, and was able to put in a stronger ride for the last half of a lap.
At the finish, I was definitely disappointed. At the end of the day, my result was disappointing, but I need to look at the positives and negatives. A positive is that I had more energy and feel that I will be able to push on the bike once I get more comfortable. A negative was my suspension, but I will get that better set-up for next race. Thankfully, Drew Smith at WER has been extremely helpful with suspension set-up. I just need to make the proper adjustments and get more comfortable for next race. The next round is the NEOC on March 11th.
Once again, I could not have done all of this without the support of my family, especially my dad for his race support, as well as my sponsors which are Johnny Limp at Torc1Racing, Drew Smith at WER Suspension, Mike at MotoFIT, PowerSeal USA, FMF, 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.
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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