ECEA Round 5: Delaware Enduro

Race Report: ECEA Round 5: Delaware Enduro

WER Rider: Zack Huberty

Bike: KTM 200 XC

Result: A-200 5^th

Point Standings: 5^th

Report:

            Between the 3^rd and 5^th round, I was faced with a busy month.  Because of my final exams at Penn State, I was unable to go to the 4^th round of the enduro series.  This was a tough decision on my part, but at the end of the day, school is very important to me.  This choice was tough because missing out on a round of the enduro series skips out on the opportunity of gaining points on your competitors.  However, the decision proved to be a good one as I was able to end my second semester in a row with a 4.0 GPA.  The weekend after college was finished, I had the Delaware Enduro.  Round 5 of the ECEA Enduro series was located on the Delaware canal in Delaware.  The week coming up to the enduro was filled with rain and it evened rained some on race day.

            I am going to keep this week pretty short because it was filled with more lessons rather than good racing.  The first test of the day was the same as last year.  It featured some tighter woods trails along with some field sections.  Coming out of the check, I scored a 1 which was what most riders were dropping, however; some of the fastest A riders were zeroing the section.  The next section of the day mixed in woods trail, a sand pit, and grass track.  I felt pretty good in this section.  I faced a couple problems though.  Going into the section, my tool pack was pulled off by a limb so I had to stop and run back down the trail to get it.  My other problem throughout the section was that my bike kept on stalling.  The idle seemed to be turned too low so it kept stalling on downhills or in the corners.  Because of this, my score in this section was slower than my competitors.

            The day only seemed to get worse.  After two sections, I was already feeling tired and sore.  My forearms were tight and burned.  I was frustrated with myself because I knew that I should have been in better shape.  After not riding for a month and a half, my muscles were not used to the torture.  After the first gas stop, the day slowly went downhill.  In the 3^rd section of the day, I was feeling good until I hit a bottleneck with a few riders stuck on a ridge.  I was impatient and tried to get around them, but I ended up falling down the side of the ridge onto a log.  I struggled to get my bike untangled from the log.  Another competitor actually helped me get untangled which I appreciate.  This was my first mental mistake for the day.  Instead of waiting like I should have, I got stuck and lost a lot of energy.

            With all of the mud and slick trails, I was pretty wiped out by the middle of the race.  For the rest of the day, I played damage control as I tried to make it in one piece back to the finish.  I continued to make fundamental mistakes throughout the day.  There was one section where I tried to be ahead of time.  I ended up burning the check-in which was frustrating.  I rode well through the section.  As I was looking down to make sure I slowed down for the check-out, I noticed I was running hot.  I burned the out-check as well.  This is a mistake I can’t make again because it cost me 4 points.

            Throughout the rest of the day, I tried to work on the fundamentals of riding.  I was not focused on the racing aspect.  I wanted to ride smooth and just get to the end.  The heat also didn’t help which left me dehydrated by the end of the race.  This was one of my worst races, yet I know I can re-group from it and learn from these mistakes.  The next round goes back to the sand which I am looking forward to.  I will take the next week to figure out how I can be better prepared for the next race and the ones to come.  Stay tuned for the next race report!

            Once again, I could not have done all of this without the support 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, PowerSeal USA, FMF, BRP, EKS Brand Goggles, P3, All Balls Racing, Galfer USA, Sixsixone, Kenda, N-Style, Vertex Pistons, AXO, DT-1 Filters, AP Brakes, Motorex, Acerbis, Matto Cycle, MotoConcepts, Renthal, Clockwork KTM, and Topar Racing.  I would also like to thank Paul J Freeman http://www.pjfreemanphotography.com for help with pictures.

For more information:

Check WER Suspension out at Facebook “Works Enduro Rider (WER)”

Check Zack Huberty out at Facebook “Zack’s Racing”