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When we arrived there in the a.m. Scotty took a look at the starting gate hill and yelled out NO WAY! So I took him down the hill a bit and let him start there. He did fine until he got to both the Table Top and the Equalizer. On both of these he had to bail out and push his bike to the top. By his third attempt at the WMBMX track he had started at the top of the starting hill and made it around the track all the way without stopping. By the next try he was using the starting gate. Scotty ran approximately 12 practice runs until it happened.... his first crash. On the 1st jump at the base of the starting hill he apparently went over the bars. My view was blocked by the jump. All I could hear was him crying. The track officials were fast to the scene and Scotty cried a bit and complained of a sore butt. I told him it looked cracked! He said it has always had a crack! His bike was fine. He took two more practice runs prior to race time. Well the time we had been waiting for was here. Scottys first race. His competition for the first qualifying moto was a kid on a junior or mini race bike, Mitch on a 20 inch conventional bike and Daniel on a 16 inch conventional bike similar to Scottys. Scotty started on the inside lane but on the first jump Scotty and Mitch came together. Scotty later told me that they had actually bumped together 3 times before they crashed going over the 1st jump. Neither rider was hurt and Mitch got up and was able to continue on, but Scottys bars were too crooked to continue and he was out. The kid on the racing bike won and transferred to the main. Moto #2 was comprised of the three equal bikes. Scotty, Mitch, and Daniel. Being leary of the first jump it was obvious that Scotty was holding back. He was in 3rd until they reached the superman turn and on the uphill backstretch where Scotty poured it on! He passed both riders by the bridge and maintained his lead through the rythm section to win his 1st ever BMX race. This transferred him to the main. The main event was basically uneventful as the kid on the racing bike whooped Daniel and Scotty. Scotty finished 3rd behind Daniel and rode right up to the trophy window to pick up what he called his 1st career trophy. The most important thing was he was unhurt and he had fun.
November 4, 2001. A double points race brought a nice crowd of over 100 riders to WMBMX. Needless to say it also brought 3 RACING bikes into the 5 & under class to whoop on Scotty, Daniel and Mitch and their conventional bikes. Scotty ran approximately 14 practice runs prior to race time all with no crashes! His fastest practice times matched his personal best lap time of 1:06 minutes twice.
Moto 1 the racing bikes spanked us and Scotty finished 6th and never challenged in this round.
In moto 2 Scotty again let the other riders lead the way and then passed Daniel on the equalizer uphill but let Daniel get back by him through the rythm section. Scotty did however set his personal best time of 1:04 in this moto.
By moto 3 all of the racing bikes had transferred into the main and it was time for the conventional bike racers to put on their race. Unfortunately one rider would be sent home and not get to race in the main. Pressure was on Scotty who seemed to be happy just following on this day. It was the best race of the day for Scotty & his friends. Daniel won moto 3 and it was a very close race for the final tranfer position as Scotty held off a galliant effort put forth by Mitch through the rythm section on the final straight.
Main event time. Well the 3 racing bikes took the three trophies home. Daniel finished 4th and Scotty 5th but again he bettered his personal best elapsed time which now stands at 1:02 minutes. Wont be long until he is in the 50s. Scotty seemed to handle the fact that he didnt win any awards on this raceday. We told him there would be days like this and today was one. His eyes welled up a bit and he was a bit bummed but his new friend Jessica volunteered to stay after the races and give him some private lessons. By the way, Jessica raced in 2 divisions that day and was the proud owner of a 1st and a 3rd place plaque for her efforts. Scotty said he learned a lot from Jessica, we will see next week. Again most of all....it was a safe and fun time for our team and we met some more great people.
November 10, 2001. Well we got to the track by 9 a.m. in time for Gelis dance lessons. We picked up trash around the track area and then swept the track surface. Then we went to lunch and came back to ready for raceday! We had a short class in the 5 & unders so Daniel and Scotty were stepped up to the 6 year olds. Luckily there was only one! Therefore it was what they call a total points race with no transfers. The three riders raced 2 motos and a main. Scotty tried out a different gear set up by borrowing a rear wheel and tire from his sisters bike. It proved to be too difficult to pedal up the equalizer and was quickly replaced with the original set up. Today was a learning day. We learned 2 things on this day. First was the gearing, but the second thing Scotty learned will stand out the most in his mind! This is how he learned what he learned... Track Director Rick Burke was watering the track down coming down from the bridge. As Scotty crested the bridge Rick warned him "Keep your wheel straight on the wet..." WHAM! "...track." TOO LATE! Scotty learned not to make a sharp turn on a wet slick track. He cried a bit, but was shaken not hurt. Ofcourse his riding suit was covered in mud and he had not even raced yet.
Moto 1 was uneventful for us as Scotty seemed to just cruise around the track following Daniel.
Special thanks goes out to Tim "The Ghost" Burke for coaching Scotty on standing up and pedaling after the races.
November 11, 2001. This marked the first time Scotty had raced on two consecutive days.
Another important lesson was learned today.
Todays races were filled with 6 riders all in the 5 and under class. This meant 1 rider would NOT transfer to the main event.
Moto 1 consisted of 4 racing bikes against the 2 conventional bikes of Scotty and Mitch. Well a little 4 year old named Dakota spanked the entire field on his racing bike. He was the only rider to transfer from this moto. Scotty finished last.
Moto 2 saw 2 riders transfer. Ofcourse the racing bikes spanked the conventional bikes. Again Scotty seemed to just cruise around the track coasting on the downhills and not standing up over the jumps or while pedaling. Again he finished last.
Moto 3 consisted of 1 racing bike against the conventionals of Scotty & Mitch. I told Scotty it was time to get mad at those pedals and stand up! On the gates drop Scotty did get a good start and did pedal down the hill, but when he got to that 1st jump he backed off. He obviously is still a bit scared of that 1st jump and of the traffic squeezing in on him. Scotty caught Mitch again cresting the Equalizer. Unfortunately Scotty was right on Mitchs tail when Mitch looked back to see where Scotty was. This made Mitch loose control momentarily and Scotty braked. That was all it took. Mitch looked forward, regained control, and never lost momentum. Mitch beat Scotty through the rythm section to the line.
Lesson Time! Scotty went past the line and out into the pit area straight to our car. When I caught up to him he was happy because he finished 3rd. I told him to help me start packing up the car and he stated he still had another race. I explained that he was done for the day, in which he misunderstood to think maybe that was the main event. So then he wanted his trophy for finishing 3rd. So then I explained to him, that was HIS final race of the day and that 3rd place was not good enough to transfer and that he got beat out and would not be in the main. Thats when the tear drops started to flow. I felt like crying too! I told him that we were here to race not to ride. There will be days like this and if you want to win trophies you have to race for them. I also told him to pass a little wider and not to follow so closely. Hopefully he will try a little harder now that he has gotten that bitter taste of defeat in his mouth. I just have to keep reminding myself that we just took his training wheels off on May 5th of this year and the first time he rode in the dirt over a jump was here at WMBMX a mere 2 weeks ago and he has had 3 scary crashes in that 2 week time period.
Special thanks goes out to Tim "The Ghost" Burke and anybody else for coaching Scotty on standing up and pedaling.
November 17, 2001 marks the day Scotty became an official member of the ABA. So we said good-bye to his cool #466 plate (his moms birthdate backwards) and said hello to plate #558 for this weekend only as it marked the final weekend of racing this year at WMBMX. Scottys team raised $75.00 in selling block spaces on the bridge. Thanks to all of the local Rising Sun, MD. businesses and to Scottys fans that contributed. We started Saturday off by painting a BIG Scorcher on our blocks at the bridge along with the commercial spaces.
The 5 & under novice class was represented today by Scotty, thats all. So, unfortunately this bumped Scotty up into the 6 year old novice class. It was not too bad because there is a team of brothers that race on 16 inch conventional bikes. There were also 3 racing bikes.
Practice went well and Scotty only laid it down one time going up the table-top due to lack of inertia.
Moto 1 went very good for Scotty. He seemed to be a LOT racier (or braver) this week compared to last. Of course the 3 racing bikes finished 1-2-3 as is expected, but the race in the 16 inchers saw Scotty go from 6th to 3rd with a daring pass in the Superman turn. Scotty was the 1st conventional bike across the line and was credited with a 4th place finish in this moto. 1 racing bike transferred to the main.
Moto 2 had 5 riders and the 2 remaining racing bikes would finish 1-2 and tranfer out. Scotty finished 4th in this moto between the 2 brothers.
Moto 3 was finally a race between all of the 16 inch wheeled bike. It was Scotty against the twins. Scotty raced hard but not hard enough to beat both brothers and finished a close 2nd. But this finish was good enough to send Scotty to the Main event which made him feel a lot better than last week.
Main event time. Well the racing bikes went 1-2-3 for the medals and Scotty caught the kid on the only other 16 inch bike up the hill but was unable to hang on to pass him coming down the bridge. Scotty finished last and again he rode that lonely ride past the trophy window straight to the car. By the time I got to the car he was sitting in the back seat bummed out with watery eyes. I praised him on the great job he did today. He was so much racier than last week. He agreed that he was trying harder. He looked up at me and said "I hate six year olds!" I laughed and told him next year he would be one. He explained he just hated being bumped up to the 6 year old class. I told him he did great and he beat two 6 year olds today and one didnt even get to race in the main because he was beat by a 5 year old kid. That made him feel better. Atleast he qualified for the main! Then he won 2 packs of stickers in the raffle and that made him get to go home feeling like more of a winner.
November 18, 2001. The final race of the season at WMBMX. Morning practice session went smooth and it was great to see Scotty trying so hard to ride standing up in practice and that there were no incidents. We were so happy to see there were only 3 riders racing in the 5 and under novice class, just because this would basically guarantee Scotty a trophy and he would be able to finish the season with a smile on his face and a new trophy on his shelf all winter long! But we did not tell Scotty this yet because we were afraid it might make him just ride instead of race.
Since there were only 3 in his group this is considered a total points race and each rider only races in 2 motos and a main event. There are no transfers. Moto 1 went as expected but something was different about Scotty today. Scotty was at the gate somewhat standing on his pedals awaiting the gates drop. Scotty on his little bike was the first bike out of the gate with a holeshot on the 2 racing bikes! ATTABOY Scotty! Of course the racing bikes had opened up the can by the first turn and were long gone.
Moto 2 saw Scotty get the holeshot out of the gate again. Again Scotty got whooped by the 2 racing bikes, but he never seemed to loose that raciness he had inside of him today.
Time for the main event. This main event was to be different from any main event Scotty will race. This marked Scottys last race at WMBMX as a 5 year old novice and it was also the last time he will get to start with me keeping his bike upright with his backwheel between my legs at the gate. I am gonna miss that very much.
I could not believe when I saw Scotty actually standing on his pedals at the gate. He was just trying it out a couple times. I thought about warning him that if he leaned too far forward he may flip over...but then thought why scare him. What he was doing was the right thing to do. But when the gate actually dropped he was sitting down but hard on the pedals and once again he got the holeshot out of the gate. 3 times today I got to hear Tim "The Ghost" Burke announce over the PA system that Scotty was the first out of the gate. This made me proud to see him trying new stuff on his own. Of course the race bikes were long gone by the first turn. Scotty was a distant 3rd. We joked at the trophy window because he was inline ahead of the 2 racing bikes that just beat him on the track. He beat them to the trophy window!
With all of the ups and downs Scotty has experienced over these past weeks he has been asked on several occasions if BMX is what he really truly wants to do. Everytime, even through tears of defeat, he said he loved it.
So with a partial season under his belt we look forward to a complete season of points racing at WMBMX with the ABA and all of the wonderful people we have met at the track. Now I have a question... How do you get a sponsor? C-YA Next Year!
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