In 2010 I almost won the Pro class overall championship. Almost only counts with horse shoes and hand grenades though. With my deflated head and empty tank of motivation I took a break from hair scrambles. I raced the occasional one, mostly the fun Grand Prix ones like the Oklahoma Gold Rush or the Florance Grand Prix in Kansas, But I thought it might be fun to return to the WEBE Racing series that I chased with such vigor nearly 15 years ago. Why not the sand whoop strewn season opener in Farmington New Mexico. It was always one of if not always the toughest track in the series. Maybe a soft return in the open A class or hell why not the 40+ class and bring my big ol XR650R for laughs. After a whiskey and a brief talk with my wife about not being a sand bagging bitch I found myself signed up in the Pro class but somehow I was still thinking I was going to race the big red pig. I have just recently got the ol beast back in order after it was last raced in 2006 in the Baja 1000 where we finished after 32 hours. It was then left derelict and disassembled outside for many years before finding its way into my care. So there I was lined up on the front row with all the young fit pro riders on a bike/rider combo with 100+ pounds over the rest of em when the green flag waved signaling the start of the dead engine start. By the time my big ol kickstarter was through it's stroke most of the electric start modern zippity do da pros were off in front of me but I took a wide line on the first turn swooping across a 30 yard wide flat groomed sand wash and passed a handfull and then I sent the big red pig into orbit: smashing whoops, galloping across the rock gardens, and completely engulfing the large sand dune hills. Of course I did some big fat spread eagle no-footers over the jumps near the spectators as usual. The 30 minute lap times had me planing to make a pit stop on the 3rd lap. I had fitted my ol quick fill dry break fuel tank receiver into the stock XR650R tank, requiring much mesaging with a heat gun and my big fucking hammer (Just the handle). This is a mod I have always wanted to do since I hate the the feel of the big oversize tanks on the allready oversized BRP. My out of shape and over eager ass found a rhythm after the stomach cramp side ache went away I was in the top 10 over all at the half way point about ready to make my much awaited pit stop when I felt the dreaded rear end slug squirrel wiggle that can mean only one thing; A flat tire.... 10 hours of drive time, weeks of anxious, race prepping, only to have a failure that could have easily been prevented. I knew that rim lock was not holding but I hoped the new rear tire would not let it slip. As Mr. Know-It-All used to say: "You really should have known. "
It was pretty fun though.
