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Smithville Lake, Missouri
7th of 17 in A Sportsman
In the battle for hare scramble supremacy in Missouri, the Smithville race brought an end to
another outstanding MHSC season. If there’s a better course outside of Newark and
Warrensburg, it’s yet to be found. Simply put, I just can’t ride a lap at Smithville without a smile
on my face. It’s too good, especially when the weather is beautiful and the course is in perfect
shape.
Attendance was massive, thanks to Smithville’s proximity to Kansas and its Forward Motion
series racers. Around 260 guys and gals lined up in the starting area, which was a
multicolored sea of bikes and riders. Mr. Can’t-Buy-a-Good-Start made his presence known
with a three kick effort on the starting line. Even the four-strokes were gone before I was. In
the narrow woods just beyond the first turn, I caught up to the rear of the pack in a group that
included #53 Chili Roberts, #35 Kevin “I Can’t Stand My KTM But That Won’t Keep Me From
Buying Another” Ruckdeschell, and our newest A Sportsman, 2004 Open B champion Dwayne
Parish. A small pileup about a mile into the course got me around Dwayne and Chili, and for
this small piece of good fortune I was rewarded with a bruise to my lower leg as I grazed a
piece of a motorcycle and/or rider on the way by. A mile or two later I found K-Ruck on his new
KTM 450 thumping quietly ahead of me. Considering the recentness of his switch from smoker
to stroker, Kevin was riding pretty well. At that point Chili had remounted and was on my rear
wheel. He didn't waste much time passing both me and Kevin but we all stayed close together.
The three of us, along with Dwayne Parish behind me, checked into the scoring trailer just a
few seconds apart at the end of the first lap.
To start the second lap, we blasted through more than a mile of grass track that, due to the
position of the starting area, wasn't part of the first lap. Chili and Kevin on their four-strokes
were untouchable here, and it was all I could do to hold off Dwayne. At the woods re-entry
point was one of the trickiest sections of the course, a quarter-mile of rock-bottom creek/gully
that was the only significant mud we encountered. Some position-swapping occurred on this
lap, where or when is no longer clear, but I moved up five spots from 13th to 8th as I checked
into the scoring trailer to finish lap 2. I do remember passing Kevin at the end of a small grass
track and putting a filthy block pass on Chili where my alternate line through an off-camber
section converged with his. Block passes generally involve two types of blocking: a) the other
rider; and b) from ears, the expletives shouted by the blocked rider. Since I didn't hear my
own name, specifically, in Chili’s outburst, I assumed he was simply giving his own self some
words of encouragement (arguably, the blocking out of reality could be considered a third
component of the block pass). He and #32 Matt Weis were only seconds behind me to start
the third lap. Soon enough, Chili got around me and I tried to keep him in sight the rest of the
race.
Near the middle of the course was the only significant bottleneck, a small gully followed by a
hill filled with sharp, flat rocks. The hill would have offered little resistance if not for the gully,
but many riders were passive through it and attacked the hill without enough momentum. My
second and third passes through this section were slowed by riders stuck on the hill, and
each time I lost a position. Chili pulled a small gap on the third lap, while I put some distance
on Matt. Still, we were close enough that any small mistake would compromise our positions.
After checking through the scoring trailer for the third time, I brushed away mud on the face of
my watch and saw that I’d probably get in a fifth lap. Just beyond the spot of prior bottlenecks,
I caught up to #29 Steve Crews on his Kawasaki. In the same place I’d passed K-Ruck, I got
around Steve but he stayed close for the rest of the lap. His “little” KDX was remarkably fast
on the long grass track. Back in the woods, I was soon riding mostly by myself. Despite the
sheer size of the C and Beginner classes (112 riders in total), lapped traffic was only an
occasionally problem, with most of the slower riders very accommodating.
On the fifth and final lap, although Matt Weis was only 9 seconds behind me, it was enough
gap that I still felt I was riding alone. Twelve seconds ahead of me was Chili, who I hadn't seen
since the third lap. To my surprise, he reappeared in the second half of the last lap. I followed
him with the intention of attempting a pass in the same spot I’d passed K-Ruck and Steve
Crews. The attempt failed, and I fully expected to follow Chili to the end. And I almost did. In
the last section of woods before a grass track that ended the race, I kept on his back wheel
and a distinct thought passed through my mind: one small edge could get me around Chili,
but it better come quick.
It did.
For reasons I would understand shortly, Chili appeared to be grabbing at his goggles, which
slowed him just enough for me to make a pass. Needless to say, he was not particularly
happy. I was sure he’d put his big Husky 450 on my back tire and attempt a pass in the grass
track. In response, I rode as hard as I’m capable and held off Chili at the end. In racing, what
goes around tends to come back around, as I've both passed and been passed in the late
moments of races (Sedalia '00, Warrensburg ‘01, Marshfield ‘03, and Warrensburg ‘04). But I
have to admit, it’s a lot more fun to be the guy doing the passing. I stopped after the scoring
trailer to get the scoop on Chili’s problem near the end, and he showed me how the duct tape
holding his RFID card under his helmet visor came loose. If you’re curious, the answer is yes,
in terms of vision, a hanging RFID card is remarkably similar to riding with your helmet on
backwards.
Unbelievably, our class winner was not a guy named Slade. Kansas guy Troy Taff took the win
(and the highest overall finish by a non-MHSC regular), followed by Slade and a hard-
charging Elston Moore. Steve Leivan finished the season by taking the overall win for the
billionth time. Once again, the long drive was worth every mile, as Tom Eidam and the Platte
County Trail Riders Association put on another fantastic race.
