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Tyler's RR Las Vegas SM
Tyler O'Hara "Livin' The Life" Race Reports: Round 3 XTRM/AMA Supermoto Las Vegas, NV
May 29-31, 2009
Hey everyone,
I think the saying goes, “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”. After this last race I wish that were the case. My weekend started out great; I arrived at the South Point Casino on Thursday around midnight. I found a curb front parking spot, and parked “Momma Shavanna” AKA the van. Like I said "started out great", after finally falling asleep I was abruptly awakened by South Point security guards pounding on my van. Even though I told them that I was there for the race and had practice in a few hours, it didn’t matter. I had to move the van 50ft across the street to a dirt lot; this was the beginning of long weekend.
Friday Practice
After I signed in for practice I had my first opportunity to look at this one off custom indoor-outdoor Supermoto track. The track was defiantly one of a kind; the outdoor pavement section was half slurry sealer, quarter storm drain covers mixed in with concrete, and quarter handicap parking stalls, a slippery combination. Coming off of the asphalt and entering the air-conditioned dirt section there was a set of super cross style whoops that gradually got bigger. Following the set of whoops you were quickly either turning on a burm or jumping through a rhythm section. The track was amazing. After I figured out which painted lines to avoid, and storm drains to go around, my gearing selection never seemed so easy.
Sunday (Race Day)
Sunday started out with timed qualifying practice. The first practice went O.K., I got to see how I compared to the other riders, and I tried a few different lines. Early into my second qualifying practice I was feeling great and started to pick up my pace. After putting together a fast lap I exited the whoops on the gas and made my way around a rider who was entering the track. The rider saw me coming and tried to let me by. When he moved over he clipped a hay bale with his handle bar, which threw him into a gnarly high side and into my bike. With no time to think and nowhere to go we locked handlebars and both went tumbling. When the mess was finally cleared my bike was hammered and I had a lot of work to do.
As I headed into my heat race with a long list of new parts on the bike, I thought for sure my bad luck was over, boy was I wrong. After starting mid pack as a result of my tumble in qualifying, I was running in 5th place when the top three riders took each other out. I took advantage of their mistake and quickly moved into 2nd place. Just when I thought my luck had changed, one turn later my right hand guard came loose and got stuck between my fork tube and my newly replaced radiator, forcing me to pull off of the track. As I sat in the middle of the track, full of adrenalin and a little frustrated, I bent the guard back around my handle bar. Now, in a distant last place I charged back into the race, only passing two riders by the race’s end.
Main Event
Due to my fluke in the heat race, I ended up with a grid spot of 20th which put me on the last row outside. My start was horrible; I got a decent jump off of the line, but was quickly surrounded by a demolition of riders in the first turn. After making it through the first laps I was having a hard time getting by some slower riders. I would make it through one group of riders then would catch another group only to have the same problem. The riders were all so close together on speed and had their own little battles going on, so passing wasn’t easy. When the race was all said and done I finished in a disappointing 11th place.
Thanks to my sponsors: Mach 1 Motorsports, Jay and Bills Tire service, Camel Bak, Arlen Ness, Sheehan Construction, SupermotoUSA, E$Engines, SPS, LTD racing, Supermoto Engineering, Dirt Digits, Arai Helmets, D&W Images, Vizzo Racing, Moto201's Channel, Will Penington, bpracing, Jet Tuning, Browns cycles, Mr. Pickles, X Brand
Tyler O'Hara #9 "Livin' The Life"
www.xtrm.com/ohara129 or www.ltdracing.com
May 29-31, 2009
Hey everyone,
I think the saying goes, “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”. After this last race I wish that were the case. My weekend started out great; I arrived at the South Point Casino on Thursday around midnight. I found a curb front parking spot, and parked “Momma Shavanna” AKA the van. Like I said "started out great", after finally falling asleep I was abruptly awakened by South Point security guards pounding on my van. Even though I told them that I was there for the race and had practice in a few hours, it didn’t matter. I had to move the van 50ft across the street to a dirt lot; this was the beginning of long weekend.
Friday Practice
After I signed in for practice I had my first opportunity to look at this one off custom indoor-outdoor Supermoto track. The track was defiantly one of a kind; the outdoor pavement section was half slurry sealer, quarter storm drain covers mixed in with concrete, and quarter handicap parking stalls, a slippery combination. Coming off of the asphalt and entering the air-conditioned dirt section there was a set of super cross style whoops that gradually got bigger. Following the set of whoops you were quickly either turning on a burm or jumping through a rhythm section. The track was amazing. After I figured out which painted lines to avoid, and storm drains to go around, my gearing selection never seemed so easy.
Sunday (Race Day)
Sunday started out with timed qualifying practice. The first practice went O.K., I got to see how I compared to the other riders, and I tried a few different lines. Early into my second qualifying practice I was feeling great and started to pick up my pace. After putting together a fast lap I exited the whoops on the gas and made my way around a rider who was entering the track. The rider saw me coming and tried to let me by. When he moved over he clipped a hay bale with his handle bar, which threw him into a gnarly high side and into my bike. With no time to think and nowhere to go we locked handlebars and both went tumbling. When the mess was finally cleared my bike was hammered and I had a lot of work to do.
As I headed into my heat race with a long list of new parts on the bike, I thought for sure my bad luck was over, boy was I wrong. After starting mid pack as a result of my tumble in qualifying, I was running in 5th place when the top three riders took each other out. I took advantage of their mistake and quickly moved into 2nd place. Just when I thought my luck had changed, one turn later my right hand guard came loose and got stuck between my fork tube and my newly replaced radiator, forcing me to pull off of the track. As I sat in the middle of the track, full of adrenalin and a little frustrated, I bent the guard back around my handle bar. Now, in a distant last place I charged back into the race, only passing two riders by the race’s end.
Main Event
Due to my fluke in the heat race, I ended up with a grid spot of 20th which put me on the last row outside. My start was horrible; I got a decent jump off of the line, but was quickly surrounded by a demolition of riders in the first turn. After making it through the first laps I was having a hard time getting by some slower riders. I would make it through one group of riders then would catch another group only to have the same problem. The riders were all so close together on speed and had their own little battles going on, so passing wasn’t easy. When the race was all said and done I finished in a disappointing 11th place.
Thanks to my sponsors: Mach 1 Motorsports, Jay and Bills Tire service, Camel Bak, Arlen Ness, Sheehan Construction, SupermotoUSA, E$Engines, SPS, LTD racing, Supermoto Engineering, Dirt Digits, Arai Helmets, D&W Images, Vizzo Racing, Moto201's Channel, Will Penington, bpracing, Jet Tuning, Browns cycles, Mr. Pickles, X Brand
Tyler O'Hara #9 "Livin' The Life"
www.xtrm.com/ohara129 or www.ltdracing.com
