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Smithville Lake, Missouri
4th of 17 in Vet
It's a long, long drive to the best trails Missouri has to offer. Smithville Lake is 'da bomb, it's
all 'dat, the shizzle in the hiznet. Or something. To get there from St. Louis, hop on I-70, go
west for about 3 hours and turn right. That's pretty much it, 275 miles later. Sure, it's an early
morning and a long day, but the rewards are sweet. Singletrack, and lots of it, mostly free of
rocks. No ATV's. And this year, perfect weather with very little dust.
Clay County Parks & Recreation was again generous enough to provide a portion of its
7,200-acre Smithville Lake property for Round 13 of the Missouri Hare Scrambles
Championship. The course used the same portion of those acres as last year, which had
been a completely new Smithville course. In 2002 I worked this race, so the 2003 event was
my first time riding these awesome trails. During the rider's meeting, Tom Eidam gave us a
refresher course on trail courtesy, which was the standard "If you hear a screaming engine
behind you, get the hell out of the way" coupled with "Expect to hear various colorful
metaphors and insults to 'yo mama if you choose not to get out of the way."
The Smithville course was around 8.5 miles of mostly singletrack and a long grass track that I
actually enjoyed riding. The grass track was near the staging area, providing some good
viewing for spectators. Despite the relatively narrow trails, the practice lap revealed
numerous, yet relatively inconspicuous, spots to pass and be passed in the woods. The
course began and finished at the grass track, with the final mile or so winding in and out of a
waterway, through a narrow creek bed, and out into the open for a half mile of moto-like
sprinting to the finish. Once again I brought my insanely comfortable lazy chair, and after the
practice lap kicked up my feet, sipped a Breeze iced tea, and contemplated the gorgeous
morning. In this part of the world we get about 10 days of such fine weather each year, and
what better way to enjoy it than outdoors on a dirt bike.
For the first time in forever, the Vet class lined up on the third row, just behind the A and AA
riders. The first corner was at the edge of the open field, and when the board dropped for
the start of our race, I was about mid-pack entering the tree-lined turn. Matt Weis jumped out
ahead and set an extremely fast pace. Soon after, I could hear #76 Gary Mittelberg behind
me, searching for a place to pass. He finally found it at one of those inconspicuous
corner-shortening opportunities that I had noticed in the practice lap but didn't see in time to
use. I followed Gary for a couple more miles until I found a quicker way around a slow curve. I
was feeling pretty good about passing Gary for about a minute. The trail curved around a
large fallen tree, which normally would have been easy to hop over, but it was lying nearly
parallel to the trail. Most riders (including me) were taking the long way around, but Gary
hopped over the log with little effort and easily beat me around the corner. I trailed him until
the grass track, where he inexplicably let me by (a flat tire ended Gary's day). Steve Crews
got around me in the grass track and took off to pursue Matt Weis.
The next two laps went by quickly as I tried to work my way through the pack. Some of the B
riders in the rows behind me had closed the gap around the halfway point of the race,
including #128 Zach Bryant on his high-revving RM125 and #30 Adam Ashcroft in the 250B
class. Adam and a group of fast guys got around me shortly after the downed tree where
Gary Mittelberg had earlier passed by. I had killed the engine just before that spot and Adam,
following closely, told me to get out of the way. The nerve! I did get out of the way,
unintentionally, when I tried to take a higher line on an off-camber trail and misjudged the
gap between two trees. Even with 30-inch-wide handlebars, a 28" gap is just a little too
narrow to manage without slowing to a crawl. The Ashcroft freight train left me standing.
And now, a brief message to the 29 riders who were faster than me at Smithville Lake: When
I give you an opportunity to pass, please take it. Please don't follow me as I take the wide
route around a corner. Please don't smack my rear tire when I pull over. And finally, please
refrain from running over my foot as you pass by in frustration, expletives spewing from dusty
lips. If you do these things, I might get angry. Very angry. Enough for a green monster to
emerge....yes, that race-ready KX250 in the stable next to the tame orange beast. It's
coming. It's sooooo coming to a race near you.
I finished up by letting #454 Mark Green pass by in the grass track. He was restarting his
bike when I had passed him near the end, and I could swear he had been lined up in the A
class. No reason to slow him down, I thought, and I let off just enough for him to get around.
My fault, and it may have cost me third place. Oh well. The race was thoroughly fun and I
only smacked my still-tender ankle one time. Matt Weis took home the win in the Vet class,
followed closely by Steve Crews. The overall win went to #4 Holeshot King Doug Stone.
Congrats to Adam Ashcroft on his first-ever top-20 overall finish, and Tyler Ruckdeschell on
his first-ever Junior class win!!
September 21, 2003
Eugene, Missouri
8th of 10 in Vet
Ever have one of those days where for no particular reason you notice some random image
or event and later realize that the random image or event was a predictor of things to come?
Maybe that only happens to some people after a 5-hour Saturday morning Beverly Hills
90210 marathon on FX. Not that I would know because I've never done that (couldn't make it
past 4 hours). But it happened on the day of the Eugene round of the Missouri Hare
Scrambles Championship and it was weird. Very weird.
Image #1: driving west on I-70, passing and being passed by a hundred cars and trucks,
and of all those vehicles, of all those Missouri license plates with the familiar three digits
followed by a space and then three letters, I noticed the one that ended with the letters "DNF".
Image #2: riding my KTM to the starting area to begin my practice lap, while a small group of
cattle were quickly getting the message that they needed to find another place to graze, one
young bull couldn't contain himself and mounted up on an unsuspecting cow.
What do those images mean? If it isn't already clear after you read about my day at Eugene,
I'll spell it out later. As far as the racing was concerned, the conditions could not have been
more perfect. The morning was warm but not hot, the trails slightly damp but not slick.
Pleasant temperatures and perfect trail conditions made for a seriously enjoyable ride. The
long creek section that challenged us last year was run in reverse, meaning we were riding
downstream instead of fighting the current. The rains during the week had filled the creek
with fresh, flowing water that was just a bit too deep for comfort in a couple of spots. Like the
prior year, the bottom was either slick rock ledges or jagged-edged stones and boulders. I
walked this section prior to the practice lap and saw no good way to get through other than
straight down the beaten path, which was not so much beaten as it was a main line with some
of the bigger rocks pushed to either side. The pit area was adjacent to the first half of the
creek section, providing what was sure to be an entertaining afternoon for the spectators.
The rest of the course was a good mix between fast ATV and new singletrack, much like the
opening round at Lebanon. I hooked up with K-Ruck #94 for awhile and finished the practice
lap by myself. After starting on the 3rd row at Smithville, it was now our turn to head to the
back of the pack, somewhere around 8 rows behind the AA class. The Vet class starting line
was abuzz with the sight of #35 Robbie Jo Reed, making a rare appearance after winning the
first two rounds earlier in March. On either side of me was #76 Gary Mittelberg and #81 Matt
Weis, along with #442 Steve Crews, #237 Elston Moore, and K-Ruck in the mix.
My start was typically average, and I battled with Elston to the first turn. The initial quarter
mile was through the second half of the creek section. At the exit of the creek was a slippery
bank, followed by a steep off-camber hill. I passed K-Ruck there and settled in with a train of
riders. Gary Mittelberg and K-Ruck soon caught up to me, with Gary making his pass via an
alternate path through a rock ledge. Gary is one of the smartest guys on the trail when it
comes to finding ways around slower riders. Using a tired old corporate cliché, he thinks
outside the box. After Gary's pass, K-Ruck got around me and I followed him through the end
of the first lap.
On lap 2, Kevin put some distance on me in the creek section and I never saw him again. I
tried to keep up an aggressive pace and felt like I was riding well, but Kevin and Gary were
pulling away. I caught up to Robbie Jo Reed, who turned a fast initial lap but was fading on
the second lap. As usual, I had no idea what place I was in when I started my third lap, but it
didn't matter. At the beginning of the creek section, I fell over in the deepest part of the
creek. I almost kept the bike upright enough to prevent water from entering the airbox, but
slipped on the slick rock bottom and dropped the bike completely into the water. My day was
done. With help from spectators, I pushed the bike up the creek bank and called it a day. It
really is surprising how much water can get inside the engine is such a short time. It had
been about 10 years since I had last flooded a dirt bike, but the draining routine was fresh in
my mind. After ridding the bike of water, I had a notion to go out and enjoy another lap but
decided to pack up and go home.
To translate the abovementioned images, I didn't finish (DNF), got screwed (unsuspecting
cow) in the creek, but had a heck of a good time (young bull). K-Ruck took the Vet class win,
followed closely by Elston who put on a late charge. Steve Crews locked up the series with a
3rd place finish. The overall win went once again to Steve Leivan, who battled young gun
Caleb Wohletz the entire race.
