California Dirt Series #2 - Round Mountain

[Jim Hewett]

I am prioritizing the races in the California Dirt Series this year, as the series determines the California State Champion.  I was consistent enough in last year's series to win the Pro class overall title, so I'm doing my best to make it two in a row.

This course at Round Mountain was a new venue, but the NVCDC/California Dirt races are always good.  The track comprised a 5 minute climb to get up to the top of the mountain where we would then do 4 laps.  My son Simon raced before us, so I was able to check out the course a little while watching him.  Generally flowy and fast, with few rocks and some short, punchy climbs.  There was a fireroad section in the middle, but not really any other great passing spots.  

The Pro XC results from Sea Otter would be applied to the California racers that also attended this race.  Based on our finishes from the week before, it looked like I was second in the series going into #2.  Nicolas Jimenez had finished ahead of me at Sea Otter, but I had finished before David Duncan and Brent Wood.  Though the Pro field was once again pretty shallow with only six, I knew I would have a few guys to battle.

The weather was cool with a chance of rain as we lined up to duke it out on the unfamiliar course.  Lots of nervous talk at the start line from my competitors, mostly young guys that haven't been racing in this class for long.

We started at a modest pace up the hill and I led to the first steep section.  Wood came around me looking pretty casual, and then Duncan and Jimenez and Kyle Dixon, a racer from a Cat 1 class that started with us.  I stood and pushed it, but they pulled away from me and I backed off to keep the heart rate in a manageable zone.  It took us about 5 minutes to climb up to the start of the lap.  As we passed what would be the finish line after 4 laps of this upper loop, we started into the first and longest single track climb.  Duncan and Wood were going hard and got a little ahead of Jimenez and Dixon.  I was about 10 seconds back from them when I crested the hill and started down the singletrack.  The four ahead of me had bunched up, and I caught them pretty quickly.  The pace on the descents was less than I could have done, but they would punch it on the climbs and eventually the lead two began to get away from us.  I tried to use this first lap to get a feel for the course at speed.  The dirt conditions were pretty good, but there were a few surprise corners that threw me off.  By the time we had reached the fireroad section, I was still in fifth and Duncan and Wood were almost out of site.  I kept Jimenez and Dixon in view, but started my second lap 20 seconds behind them.

They both went hard up the first climb, and I matched their effort.  Once over the top, I let my Top Fuel run for a bit and closed the gap.  They were really trying to make it count on the short steep climbs, and I couldn't quite match it.  I kept pushing at a steady and controlled effort, trying to ride efficiently and keep the speed.  I could see Jimenez was out of the saddle a lot, probably trying to break me off, but his efforts never really stuck. 

I started the third lap in fifth, but with less of a gap this time.  I punched it up the first climb and caught them pretty quickly once we were going down.  I was riding Jimenez's rear tire, frustrated that he wasn't pulling over.  I figured these guys had been really burning some matches on the first two laps, and I attacked and came around them on the first short climb.  The effort was taxing but well-timed and now I was in front of them!  This was our third lap on the course and I was beginning to get the hang of it.  Lots of fun ups and downs and I popped out on the fireroad and stepped on the gas.  Dixon was showing he still had some life in him, but Jimenez was falling back. 

I backed off the throttle a little and Dixon closed the gap to me.  Turns out he is around my age and racing Cat 1, so I wasn't worried about placing ahead of him for series points, just for pride.  I kept the pressure on him for the last lap to discourage any real attacks, and he finished the race just behind me.

Duncan finished 3 minutes ahead of me and Wood less than a minute.  Third place points keep me in the game, as there are 3 more races in the series.