Paul Whibley's Saddleback Race Report (2008)

Race Report: Kentucky Off Road Hare Scrambles Series (KORHS) - Round 5
Rider: Paul Whibley- Bike 1st Place
Bike: 08 Suzuki RMZ450

Well this report is a bit late coming out. I've had a busy week training and trying to sort a few things out, but lets get straight to the racing. I raced this series a lot last year and I ran into Rick Hollenkamp at an OMA race a few weeks back. He asked if I could come back and do some of the KORHS events this year. It was cool to get invited back and know my efforts racing were appreciated there.

The venue was at Saddleback near Louisville KY. The track looked good, they had added a cool little enduro x section near the scoring tent to keep the spectators entertained and challenge the brave riders. With the wave of a flag we were off (well everyone else was) I completely ballsed up my start and sat kicking on the line as everyone else raced off into the distance. I got the bike fired up after a couple of kicks and set off chasing down the pack. I soon caught back up and began picking off riders where I could.

The track was dry and pretty rock in places but some fresh trails had been added and it was a good loop. The track is similar to the Sparta GNCC in a lot of ways. I caught up to the leaders and Alan Westerfeild was up front on his little KTM and being chased hard by Nathan Alering. I tried a different line to try get around Nathan and got up beside him only to be covered in muddy water as he splashed through a small mud hole. I grabbed a tear off a my vision was restored to perfect again through my Smith goggles. I made a pass stick on Nathan and zeroed in on Alan. On a tricky rocky hill climb I cranked the RMZ up and passed Alan and took the lead. I put the hammer down the rest of the lap and built a comfortable lead.

Time for the pit stop. Somehow I had set my gas up on part of the track that was used in the morning race and was not used for the arvo event. I had been making laps trying to work out were my gas was then I seen Brandon and Jimmy track side holding up my gas can. They had carried it over to the proper track ready to gassed me up. Big Thanks guys. I completed the 2 hours safely and took the win.

At the prize giving the results revealed a tie for second. Nathan Alering and John Maschino had the same finishing time, down to one hundredth of a second. Thats Olympic stuff. This was possible because John started a row back and on adjusted time they were tied. I'm not sure how the sorted it but that's freaky after 2 hour racing to be that close!!

Paul Whibley