Daron's Blog

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It all started out Thursday with an early morning of skiing at Mammoth Mountain. I just got 4 pairs of new Atomics from Austria and wanted to get them on the snow. Dadak my professional tester and I went up the lift at 6:45am with the Mammoth Mtn Ski Team to take some runs. These skis are part of my new quiver for 2009 skicross comps. 48Straight/Jeep Tour, Winter XGames, World Champs in Japan and a few World Cups in North America is what these new baords are getting ready for. Each one is a little different with base grinds, but all the same model. I'll have about 8 pairs of skis for next season. From the snow to the dirt. We rallied out for a quick afternoon session on Thursday and then it was all moto from there. The track at Mammoth is prepped so good after each day of riding it's like a pow day on skis. A winter storm in the mountains after a few inches of fresh is the way I feel on the bike for the first practice at 8am. I was out there with Seabass and Dadak for fresh tracks Friday morning and felt like a pro railing the sandy berms, going anywhere I wanted and no bumps to tire me out. I rode for 34mins. Just like McGrath and John Dowd out there...well not really, but it felt awesome. That is another cool part of Mammoth. I pit right next to MC and get to check out his Factory American Honda 450 and then watch him rail the sweetest turns and float over the big braking and accelerating bumps. He's got amazing speed and talent on the bike even now when he spends all his time in his CORR truck. That's one of the reasons Mammoth is my favorite race to take part in. A crew of riders that show up every year to have a good time, but are serious about racing. Great competition, but at the end of the day everyone is telling stories, stoked on each other's rides and supportive. Broken parts which always seems to happen is either taken care of by our tight community of riders or all the sponsors that show up for support. Since I'm on this subject I want to thank Red Bull, American Honda, Works Connection, FOX Racing, Bell, Oakley, Dunlop, Factory Connection, DRD and ZLT. Back to the track. It's amazing the difference from that ride to the main event after 22motos and practice. It's a full on rodeo ride in the main. What motocross is really about. Rough and nasty. The main in the vet int class was 7 laps. Around 17mins of racing and it was gnarly. First day I had a decent start and worked up to 5th on the 2nd lap. Then I slid out of a turn into a jump and ended up laying it down wheels at the lip. I got it back up and waited for a small gap in traffic to gas it off the track turn around and back on. Then I tangled up with a guy in the back corner and tore out 4 spokes on my front wheel. It's a race and I'm not about to back off so I kept going and tried to get a flow going amongst all the chaos. I went for a last lap pass on Jason Harpa from the Leatt Brace company and slammed into him on the right hander after the whooped out sand section. He closed the door on me and I just went for the lay down move and hoped my Dunlop's would stick enough to keep me on the bike. Not a chance. He looked back as to say, "what the hell" and kept rolling. I got up and rode it out on my last bit of strength. When I got back to my trailer I sat down and felt like I got run over by a truck I was trying to out run. Man was I spanked. A Red Bull Cola never tasted so good. OK redemtion day 2. After a good practice and another crash into Brian Keupler from South Shore, one of Palmer's bros and a friend of mine, I decided that my luck was to change in the main. I had a good jump, but got pulled and was in mid pack. I tried to sneak in on the inside at the top of the hill, but got stuffed by a 4 man pile up. I had to get off my bike and pull it out of the mess and saw Mike Carter on the ground and Brian stuck in front of me. Brian gased it over a bike and broke free. I backed it up and had the whole pack infront of me minus the 4 bikes still on the ground. I was on a mission. From in the 30's to 8th after 7 laps. I stayed on two wheels for my first moto of the weekend. Mammoth is a battle royal. There were some fast guys out there and I had lots of fun pushing my limits on my CRF450R. Unfortunately, I've got to wait for next year for my redemtion on that track. I'm ready to get back on the line and face it once again. Thanks to the Mammoth Crew. You guys do an incredible job and run a great race day after day after day.

Thanks, D

More photos...

Got a nice write up on Dirt Rider's website.
Thanks a lot Jimmy!

Here's the link...

Dirt Rider Article

I'm heading to Mammoth and will send in race reports.
D

I ate lots of sand sandwiches Thursday in the 450B and 30+B class at Hangtown. The track ran in a reverse direction and truck loads of sand were brought in making for some rough conditions. I ran the amature day to prep myself for the crossover race on Saturday. Posted a video of the start in my Moto Practice gallery. The notorious Nate Holland Winter XGames gold medalist in boarder X did a fine job capturing my 2nd moto start.

Yesterday was the 7th annual moto crossover race at Hangtown Raceway. I pulled the Holeshot!!!!!...in front of a stacked 40 rider gate the first moto. Sweet feeling, unfortunately it didn't take too long for Aaron Cooke and Shaun Palmer to get by. Have to say it sounded pretty cool to hear Palm's CR250R go by on the pipe. That guy has talent. I held onto 3rd until the last lap when Ian Price passed me and then I went down in a muddy turn. Mounted back up and finished 5th. Next moto my start was the complete opposite from moto1. It was a battle in the middle of the pack, but scrapped my way to 6th. Two fun rides on a pro prepped track with big step ups, step downs and a nice floaty hip jump. To get the chance to run the pro track at Hangtown was an incredible experience. Got to thank the Hangtown Dirt Digger's North MC headed by Ed Santin and the Hangtown Crossover Ride creator Pat Schutte. Shaun Palmer, Aaron Cooke, Kevin Barda finished top three. The day was topped off by watching Stewart, Short, Townley, Millsapps, Alessi, Villapoto, Strupe, Canard, Ryan Ferris and the rest of the best hang it out in their practice sessions.