Alan Westerfield's Salt River Run Race Report (2007)
"White Lightnin’ Gets in Done . . . Sort of . . . "

Race Report: Kentucky Off Road Hare Scrambles Series (KORHS) - Round 4
Rider: Alan Westerfield - Bike 2nd Place Overall
Bike: 07 Yamaha YZ250F #4

By: Alan Westerfield

Round 4 promised to be a new surprise with fresh trails, a new venue, and a bountiful helping of mother natures dust control. I really don’t mind a good slick course, it adds an interesting twist to the racing equation. So does Paul Whibley, who is, with out a doubt; fast. I always try to line up beside Paul for more than one reason. Of course he knows how to get a good start, but I also try to get educated on foreign matters. New Zealand seems to be about as neutral of a place as I can think of, so I can always expect and honest answer from The Blazing Mr. Whibley. “So why does it seem like every country in the world doesn’t like Americans?” I ask him on this particularly sunny, low humidity day. He just looked at me funny, like that is not a normal question to ask 2 minutes before the race starts. Just something to think about while we’re riding I guess.

Soon the race began and the charge to the first turn played to my advantage. I tucked in behind Paul and tried to keep a safe distance. The terrain felt similar to snotty ice. I couldn’t hear Marty behind us, and later learned his new Thumper failed to start. I have a theory on that one actually. A bike is a lot like… say a dog, or maybe in your case a wife. Sometimes, you just have to teach them how to act. OK now this is getting hard to type looking out of one eye. (my other ones starting to swell shut from my gal pal’s left hook) Anyway, Marty’s new ride had about .003 hours on it, and it just wasn’t used to the engine running yet. It was only accustomed to hyperactive 9 year olds jumping on it in the showroom, twisting the throttle to the max and yelling two stroke noises while peeing their pants and rolling around on those silly shoes with the wheels in the soles.

Paul’s machine was hocking goo and earthworms into the cedar canopy and I couldn’t seem to stay out of the line of fire. I used his lines and even got a little cocky once and thought about a cheater line pass, but I knew he would have something up his sleeve in the final grass track before the scoring chute. Finally, toward the end of the lap, he got away from us - imagine that. Usually, lap two gets a little more tacky in this type of conditions, but not on this day. It was so slick that it didn’t matter what kind bike or tires you had, if you started to slide, you were going to kiss the earth. Of course I would take a good thing (2nd place position) and mess it up by crashing into a down hill cedar. Luckily, I had a decent gap on third place. Since I didn’t lose the position with that mishap, I tried it again by killing my engine. This time, Brock “the blizzard” Sims caught up. (he’s called the blizzard because he is sponsored by Dairy Queen?) Brock can really stretch a throttle cable out. We stayed together for the remainder of lap 2, but he must have stopped in for a frozen treat near the pits, because I never saw him again.

My thoughts began to wonder about Jeff Cregg, who was riding in the Lites class due to his iddy bitty Honda with dual tailpipes for better handling. Jeffy is a mud terrapin; he can slither through the stuff like nobodies business and if he ever latches on - its game over. As the ground tacked up and gave more confidence, I started to ride harder to keep the unknown distance between Jeff and I at a premium. I knew I had a little more torque than Jeff because of my big bore kit, but Jeff has bigger muscles and you can never underestimate “the bull”. We are lucky we were in Kentucky, because I was able to hold off the time deficit to hold my second place position.

Throughout the day, there were several honorable mentions that I must give a shout out to. First is the guy out there on an Honda XR250, who was making his way through the extreme conditions quit nicely. I cringed when I saw that he was wearing a pair of standard work boots; as I know how many times I hit my feet on objects throughout the race. He came from the “when men were men” generation. Seriously though, if you should happen to read my ramblings, I have an old pair of boots that I would gladly dedicate to your racing endeavors. PM “gasser” on the forum.

Secondly, is my pal Josh, who didn’t plan on racing until 5 minutes before I left Saturday. Josh had a Michelin M12 on that he had raced Lorretta’s on the weekend before. The tire looked like it had performed a smoky burnout on a meat grinder; but he still pulled off a 3rd place in Open C. You da man- and you snore.

Thirdly, you chicks who are tough as nails and keep on trucking through the slop. Hoots on Scoots- you have my respect.

I have had a lot of time to think about how I can get that #1 position back when Paul shows up. Maybe you remember those figure skaters back in the 90s; where the skanky blonde chick (played by Tonya Harding) hired someone to play knee knocker on the very attractive successful skater. (played by Nancy Kerrigan)… And yes, I remember that story because I have her poster on my wall. Well, I’m not quite that desperate yet, but I’m definitely not against the idea of feeding him a spoiled hot dog or something before the race. But if you must give us country folk the thrashing of our lives at the KORHS events, as least go the GNCC and put those guys in their place as well… at the very least you owe us that much. Good Luck.

I regret that I must end this race report prematurely, it seems as if an ant colony have moved into my dwelling; and are currently in the process of carrying a full size Dorrito up the wall. Stupid Ants, didn’t even think about what their going to do when they get to the top…..seriously, get a plan before I start crushing thoraxes.

Till next time!

Alan Westerfield, #4