Webe Finals – Española Race Report

The Webe Racing season finals in Española, New Mexico proved to be an exciting race. Several fast guys came out of the woodwork to hit the final race of the season, and made things interesting. Gary Sutherlin and Jacob Argubright were the heavy hitters, along with last year’s Webe Champion, Keith Johnson – and EnduroCross Vet, Eric Rhoten.

I was pretty intimidated lining up with these guys. There were times during practice I just considered slacking on the start and let the fast guys go. But my ego got in the way and once Brett waved the green flag, I found myself getting the hole-shot and leading through the first corner!

 

It was pretty freaky sitting in front of those guys. I knew they were right on my ass, and wanted to get by, so I just held my line and tried not to get in their way (too much). It didn’t take long for the top guys to get around me – I was riding waaaay over my head and making terrible mistakes. I was also at redline within the first couple of minutes, but tried to push through the lung burn during the first lap.

I think that ended up working against me – there were several times I recall throwing up, but holding it in (gross) during the first two laps. I had to slow down and find my own rhythm for the race, otherwise I wasn’t going to make it! Several more riders passed, and I figured I would just let them go and try to catch them later.

By the end of the fifth lap, I was pretty much seeing triple. I was hoping for the white flag, just to know the end was near. During the sixth (and final) lap, I couldn’t see anyone behind me, so I just cruised and tried not to make any mistakes. It’s easy to wad it up toward the end of a 2-hour race, when you’re exhausted and dehydrated, so it’s important to race smart.

After the results were posted, I ended up in 8th place. I was pretty stoked – that was enough to bump me into 3rd in the points for the season – not bad for being an old dude pro rookie. Overall it has been a great season. I have been learning so much – riding with the fast guys, and I feel like my riding skills have come a long way since last year. I’m also looking forward to a little break from racing to enjoy riding for fun and doing other things.

Special thanks to Brett & Wendy and the rest of the Webe Crew for doing such a great job at the races. Also – thanks to Andrew Campo at the Off-Road Journal for doing such a great job posting race updates during the series. I always look forward to checking out the videos and galleries post-race.

Check out the Webe TV video on Andrew’s Vimeo Channel:

WEBE TV Espanola 2011 from Offroad Journal on Vimeo.