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Something new for us desert racers…TREES! One of our fellow MRANN members, Jeff Carmichael was
ever so kind enough to share his 480 acres in the Sierras with us and to let us hold a race on his property.
What an awesome event! The starts were similar to VC (10 racers to a row on the asphalt). When the flag
flew it was ON! The racers tore down the road … through the trees straight to the "shark pond" where
there was just a little carnage...then rocks and trees and logs and water bars and drop offs and hill climbs
and even a motocross track.
OK…so I got a little excited about this race. Let’s start from the top. Lassen MC and the Carmichael
family put on an awesome event this weekend. The whole town of Portola was involved. Breakfast was
served each morning by the Sierra Mountain Bakery. Burgers and hot dogs were cooked up for lunch by the
Portola High and Middle school wrestling teams. Dinner, delicious tri-tip, was served by the Portola Rotary
Club (the chili was great too!). The local Pizza Factory delivery lady was also kept very busy delivering
pizzas to hungry racers. Thank you to everyone who supported the local community of Portola.
Saturday races started off with the Pee Wee 6 & under race. Jakobee Keefe 51z got the hole shot
followed closely by Bryan Taylor 4z. Little Bryan had a bad first lap as he fouled a plug and had to have it
replaced on the course. He made up a ton of time and finished third. Zane Swindells 9z was showing off his
best tricks as he hit the jumps on the mx track. Austin Wilson 18z took the checkered flag and the cheers
from his adoring fans.
The second race of the day was the Pee Wee 7 & older race. Marcus Loll 1 took the hole shot with Dillon
Boyson 27 not far behind. On the motocross track Dillon cleared the double…and he then cleared the
berm. He shot into the trees and hurt his back. Unfortunately he had to have an ambulance ride so he did
not get to finish his race. Dillon’s father made sure to let us know that he would be OK and that we need
to put that footage in the Slakker video.
The third race was the Pee Wee 65cc and 4stroke classes. 38s got the hole shot in row one and 4a got the
hole shot in row two. 38s took a little spill on the same berm that Dillon flew over. He jumped up and was
back on his bike in no time. Zachery Tanner39s had some technical difficulties and was sidelined for most
of the race, but his pit crew got his bike running and he was able to finish, but only behind his sister Rachel
Tanner 22s. Young racer 896s went for big air!
The Mini race was the fourth race on Saturday, and our first trip to the “shark pond.” Spectators lined
the edge of the pond like vultures waiting for carnage. Although there were no crashes into the water
during the minis’ race, MRANN novice, Jake Frias #1398J, gave us quite a show when he took the drop
off a little too fast, flying straight into the water landing perfectly. Without missing a beat, he splashed
through the water keeping his bike under control…the crowd cheered wildly! The motocross track was a
great place to watch the racers come in. Troy Amaker 256j showed off his best FMX moves as he cleared
the table top. Philip Hauser 49s, all the way from southern California made his grandpa proud and took
first in his class after a disappointing DNF at the WSRA race last month. When asked if liked the course,
he simply replied “no, I did not like the rocks” but his favorite part of the course was… ”The finish!”
Marcus Loll 12s threw his chain out on the course but thanks to one of the helpful sweeps, he got his bike
fixed and still took first in his class.
The final race on Saturday was the women. The course was so much fun; Courtney Jackson 8v said that it
was the best course she’d ever raced. She loved the motocross track, which was evident when she passed
me (Christy Lemoine 11v) in the air on our second lap, beating me by 40 seconds after 4 laps. Rumor has is
that 1609v was our only swimmer in the women’s class after bumping the railroad tie and falling into the
pond.
Saturday night there was a gi-normous 940 foot tall bon-fire (just kidding, it was maybe 20-30’) where
hundreds of racers and their families gathered to talk about the day’s races and the upcoming big bike
race.
Sunday morning novice racers gathered near the scoring trailer for the riders’ meeting. They were then
led to the road where they lined up for their starts. Each row had 10 racers, row placement was
determined by what time each racer signed up. The earlier you signed up the closer you got to the front of
the race… and the fewer bottlenecks you had to endure. As you’ve probably guessed, the shark pond was
again lined with vultures, myself included. Peanut 88a was the first racer to stall in the pond, which drew
cheers from the crowd, only to be upstaged by Rony Carrasco #183a, when he launched off the edge of the
pond, endoed into the water, flew over the handlebars and made a huge splash. He was not hurt, but
unfortunately while trying to start his bike he was hit by another racer. His bike was broken and he did
not get to finish. After the starts we headed over to the mx track where Peanut once again gave us a
show, he cleared the double but didn’t grab enough brake and flew right over the berm and through the
orange barricade. (Don’t worry Peanut you weren’t the only one who pulled that stunt!) Most racers got
some nice air for the Slakker cameras on the first table top.
Race two on Sunday was the amateurs, which once again found us at the shark pond. Once again we were
not disappointed. I do believe that everyone who was at the actual starting line for the novice starts
joined us at the pond for race two. Even though no one went swimming there were a few “whoa, whoa, whoa’
s.” Tony Osterman 617p and Jamie Welch 69n almost knocked bars as they dropped into the pond, but they
both managed to keep it on two wheels. Gary Hurban? 314c managed to go a little too far to the left and
found himself deeper than he probably planned. 1467p cheated death as he throttled out of what might
have ended up on the Slakker “over the handle bar” page.
The experts were final race of the weekend. You’ll never guess where EVERYONE was at for the
starts…yep, the shark pond once again. Everyone except Slakker Bryan and his video camera. He said “I
caught three different guys go down at the start and slide 15-25 feet on the asphalt with their bikes
sliding right behind them. One particular racer slid on his behind for so long that I wasn’t sure if the
sparks were coming from his bike peg scraping on the asphalt or from his butt draggin’ on the pavement.”
All three downed racers got up and continued their race. Kudos to their safety gear. Back to the pond…as
the race started the experts took the drop off quite delicately, we all assumed that they would launch off
of it and clear the entire pond, which had subsided quite a bit. There were a couple of spectacular wrecks
worth mentioning. Jonathan Fulton 111n was passing Norm Burns 27s in the mud, as Jonathan maneuvered in
front of Norm they tangled, sending Norm spinning off to the left…and right into the deepest part of the
pond…jaws smelled blood and went in for the kill, luckily for Norm he quickly pushed his bike to the edge
and he didn’t get eaten. Art Fleming 59n put on the best show of the race, he had a little too much air
under his tires as he went down the drop off, and as soon as he hit that mud, he was bucked off to the
left, right into the mud. He jumped up, raised his hands in the air and received the well earned standing
ovation from the vultures. (I love that term, it so perfectly describes the scene). During the race
spectators at the shark pond got some added entertainment when Jenelle Chattin voluntarily took a swim
in the shark pond to win $18.
Everyone including the locals had a great time. We overheard one local calling friends in town to come down
to the races. “Get over here this is awesome” they said. Ty Carmichael worked so hard the entire
weekend, I have never seen someone sweep the course as dedicated as he was. We were all concerned
when we heard that he had to go to the hospital for heat stroke, and glad to hear that after being checked
out he is doing fine.
I know that I speak for all racers when I say “thank you” to Jeff Carmichael and his family for providing
us with one of the best racing weekends ever!
Click Here for RACE RESULTS
**If I've made any errors, or if anyone can help me fill in any blanks (names) click here and let me know, THANKS! **
| THE 2007 MRANN SERIES - ROUND 5 Lassen MC presents the First Annual Tree Dodger May 5-6, 2007 in Portola, CA Race Report brought to you by Slakker Racing Written by Christy Lemoine with collaboration from Stephanie Jackson |
