Robby Bell Big 6 Race Report Round 5
June 13, 2012 by lasleeve_admin
Big Six Round 5
The Ranch, CA
After such a successful run in Baja, the Bobcat (my dad) and I had some celebratory Carbone’s tacos, loaded up the van and took off for the states. Getting home at one thirty in the morning and having to wake up at five, I kept joking with my dad, “Whose idea was it to do this?” but after just a couple laps of unclassified I was very happy with the decision as the SoCal motorcycle club laid out a fantastic course, winding around the hills of The Ranch. The racecourse was an entertaining mix of the motocross track, the signature rock section and the fast, flowing trails out in the hills making for a very enjoyable track. After having some fun in unclassified, it was time to line up for the first expert race.
Timmy Weigand made the trek back as well and lined up for the first expert race to try to get some points towards the championship so I knew I’d need to ride really well to get the win. As the green light burned to life I got a fantastic jump off the line and sped into the first corner in the lead, instantly looking to pull time. I rounded the second corner and as I over-revved the motorcycle a bit the bike started to cut out. Through the next section of jumps and the motor did the same, cutting out slightly at higher rpms and slowing my pace. Jason Parsons saw the opportunity to attack me and get the lead and I was doing my best to hold him behind me, hoping the problem would sort itself out. Just as the course was to head into the off road I was contemplating pulling off, unaware of what the problem with my bike was, but a couple of corners later the problem disappeared and having been able to hold the lead, I took off and started to put a gap on Jason. From there the bike ran flawlessly and I had such a blast over the entire course, feeling the flow from corner to corner and just working on hitting my lines and riding smooth. When I’m in this state during a race I love picking the course apart and connecting the corners as a formula one or motoGP racer would: starting wide, squaring the apex slightly and using every bit of the course on the exit to maintain speed. It makes it so much easier to ride this way when the bike is working well and my bike was just a dream. I could put it wherever I wanted and after what seemed like a very quick forty-five plus minutes, the checkered flag flew in front of me and I won the event by just under a minute.
The second expert race was the last race of the day and a little bit of wind had dried out the racetrack slightly, but the SoCal crew did a great job with it and the dust wasn’t too bad. I wanted another good start but as the light flushed green I was second into the first corner behind another Kawasaki rider. It took a handful of corners, but I was able to cut inside of him and take the lead away and from there I set sail once again, enjoying every second I was out there. I once again was able to just relax and enjoy the sights, taking my time through any lapped riders, being as polite as possible and having some fun along side. This race flew by just as fast as the first one, which seems to happen when you’re really enjoying yourself out there, and I crossed the finish line with another win on the day, bringing a terrific weekend to a victorious close.
My goal coming back for the Sunday races was to get a couple wins and gain points on the Honda boys and I was able to do just that. Timmy unfortunately had to drop out of the first race due to his injured hand that he was carrying from Baja and he decided not to push potentially worsening the injury and headed home. An added bonus to the day was how much fun I had out there; I really enjoyed the layout at the Ranch and the SoCal MC boys did a stellar job with the course. My team did a fantastic job getting my bike ready with the hectic schedule we had and I’d like to thank the Monster Energy, THR Motorsports, Precision Concepts Kawasaki team for working so hard for me; it feels so great to get them the results lately. Thanks to Fox Racing, Asterisk, John Burr Cycles and Hookit.com for again being so great to me and all of the team sponsors for their continued effort. Thanks to the Bobcat for sacrificing a decent night’s sleep and driving me back into the States so we could go dirt bike racing. And thank you to everyone at the Big Six for the congratulations both for my engagement and the results of the weekend, I really appreciate it. From here I have a couple weekends off and I’m looking forward to sleeping for about a week. Then it’s off to Utah for the seventh round of WORCS and then one of my favorite races: the Monster Energy Mammoth Motocross. See you at the races!
RB
www.robbybellracing.com
Thank you to all the Monster Energy, THR Motorsports, Precision Concepts Kawasaki team sponsors: FMF Racing, IMS Products, Hoosier Precision Machining, BRP, Renthal, Dunlop, VP Racing Fuels, Kalgard, DT1 Filters, Hinson, Matrix Concepts, ZLT, QTM, RK/Excel, Acerbis, Works Connection, Zip-Ty Racing, SealSavers.
The Ranch, CA
After such a successful run in Baja, the Bobcat (my dad) and I had some celebratory Carbone’s tacos, loaded up the van and took off for the states. Getting home at one thirty in the morning and having to wake up at five, I kept joking with my dad, “Whose idea was it to do this?” but after just a couple laps of unclassified I was very happy with the decision as the SoCal motorcycle club laid out a fantastic course, winding around the hills of The Ranch. The racecourse was an entertaining mix of the motocross track, the signature rock section and the fast, flowing trails out in the hills making for a very enjoyable track. After having some fun in unclassified, it was time to line up for the first expert race.
Timmy Weigand made the trek back as well and lined up for the first expert race to try to get some points towards the championship so I knew I’d need to ride really well to get the win. As the green light burned to life I got a fantastic jump off the line and sped into the first corner in the lead, instantly looking to pull time. I rounded the second corner and as I over-revved the motorcycle a bit the bike started to cut out. Through the next section of jumps and the motor did the same, cutting out slightly at higher rpms and slowing my pace. Jason Parsons saw the opportunity to attack me and get the lead and I was doing my best to hold him behind me, hoping the problem would sort itself out. Just as the course was to head into the off road I was contemplating pulling off, unaware of what the problem with my bike was, but a couple of corners later the problem disappeared and having been able to hold the lead, I took off and started to put a gap on Jason. From there the bike ran flawlessly and I had such a blast over the entire course, feeling the flow from corner to corner and just working on hitting my lines and riding smooth. When I’m in this state during a race I love picking the course apart and connecting the corners as a formula one or motoGP racer would: starting wide, squaring the apex slightly and using every bit of the course on the exit to maintain speed. It makes it so much easier to ride this way when the bike is working well and my bike was just a dream. I could put it wherever I wanted and after what seemed like a very quick forty-five plus minutes, the checkered flag flew in front of me and I won the event by just under a minute.
The second expert race was the last race of the day and a little bit of wind had dried out the racetrack slightly, but the SoCal crew did a great job with it and the dust wasn’t too bad. I wanted another good start but as the light flushed green I was second into the first corner behind another Kawasaki rider. It took a handful of corners, but I was able to cut inside of him and take the lead away and from there I set sail once again, enjoying every second I was out there. I once again was able to just relax and enjoy the sights, taking my time through any lapped riders, being as polite as possible and having some fun along side. This race flew by just as fast as the first one, which seems to happen when you’re really enjoying yourself out there, and I crossed the finish line with another win on the day, bringing a terrific weekend to a victorious close.
My goal coming back for the Sunday races was to get a couple wins and gain points on the Honda boys and I was able to do just that. Timmy unfortunately had to drop out of the first race due to his injured hand that he was carrying from Baja and he decided not to push potentially worsening the injury and headed home. An added bonus to the day was how much fun I had out there; I really enjoyed the layout at the Ranch and the SoCal MC boys did a stellar job with the course. My team did a fantastic job getting my bike ready with the hectic schedule we had and I’d like to thank the Monster Energy, THR Motorsports, Precision Concepts Kawasaki team for working so hard for me; it feels so great to get them the results lately. Thanks to Fox Racing, Asterisk, John Burr Cycles and Hookit.com for again being so great to me and all of the team sponsors for their continued effort. Thanks to the Bobcat for sacrificing a decent night’s sleep and driving me back into the States so we could go dirt bike racing. And thank you to everyone at the Big Six for the congratulations both for my engagement and the results of the weekend, I really appreciate it. From here I have a couple weekends off and I’m looking forward to sleeping for about a week. Then it’s off to Utah for the seventh round of WORCS and then one of my favorite races: the Monster Energy Mammoth Motocross. See you at the races!
RB
www.robbybellracing.com
Thank you to all the Monster Energy, THR Motorsports, Precision Concepts Kawasaki team sponsors: FMF Racing, IMS Products, Hoosier Precision Machining, BRP, Renthal, Dunlop, VP Racing Fuels, Kalgard, DT1 Filters, Hinson, Matrix Concepts, ZLT, QTM, RK/Excel, Acerbis, Works Connection, Zip-Ty Racing, SealSavers.
