CROSS-71
Hardcore Racing: Diary of a Racing Kid
By Hunter Cross
After heating up my rear tire on the concrete I am watching
the 30 second board and waiting for the gate to drop at
Mammoth. I have a bad habit of thinking too much when
I am on the gate so I try to space everything out. After my
parents both give me last minute advice I do some arm
pumps to get my adrenaline going and then it is time to
focus. I don’t hear or see anything but the guy holding the
30 second board.
When the gate drops 35 riders race straight up hill into a
left turn that continues up to the top of the hill. My start
isn’t the best, so I cut my line in closer to the end of the
track and move into fourth and then make the pass into
third. Jett Reynolds and Jeremy Ryan are just ahead of me
heading toward the turn.
Everyone funnels
again into a left
hand U-turn and
straight
down
hill. I don’t have
a problem with
going up and
down hills but I
am looking for
the
smoothest
line that will allow
me to go down
as fast as possible
and miss the large
bumps. As we
make our way into
the S-turns in the
back of the track,
I look for a line
around Jeremy.
Because the Mammoth track is in the middle of the
mountains and trees most people never get to see us
racing in the back section of the track. For about a third of
the race we are in the trees and it is just us and the track.
We race through several more S-turns, a couple sweeper
turns, and small table tops. The sand section is really
rough and technical, but I make my way through it. Within
45 seconds we swerve into a big right turn around another
tree and we’re into the straight-away, sailing over two big
table top jumps right in front of friends cheering me on.
After landing the second jump we race into a tight rough
corner and jump through the finish line. A few moments
and we race past the mechanics area and back to the
uphill we started at.
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theROOTSMX • ISSUE 3 2014
I keep up my speed while protecting the inside lines to
avoid a possible pass. Mostly I am focused on the riders in
front. I keep an eye on their lines to determine what parts
of the track I am faster and what parts I am losing ground. I
try to make adjustments in my line selections that will allow
me to catch Jeremy and set him up for a pass.
The dirt has a lot of big rocks in it and in my last race when
I rode close to someone to make a pass the roost really
hurt. I put hand guards on my bike for this race but I still
got a rock to the face that split my lip open and bruises on
my arms and legs.
The other big challenge of Mammoth is the altitude, the
track is at 8100 feet. Breathing is hard at that altitude
but the bikes also don’t like to run. Getting the right fuel
mixture and jetting to get the bikes to run there is difficult.
Mammoth is not only a race to challenge the riders, it also
challenges the mechanics to find the best mixture to get
the bikes to run the fastest.
The track at Mammoth is different from most tracks I race
on because the turns don’t get ruts they have berms that
stay loose. Because there are no ruts it is hard to make
up time on other bikes. Everyone is able to get around
the track the same and there isn’t much to separate the
racers on the track after the start.
I take my time, getting in the flow of the race without overthinking. I am in the moment.
I make it to the last lap and when I get a really good run
off the single, I am side-by-side with Jeremy going into the
corner. He’s on the right side, which is a little rougher, and
I know I have a better run going to the corner. I get on the
throttle a bit harder and make the pass on the last lap
before flying over the finish line for a second place finish.
I am proud of my finish. I gave it my all and beat out some
very fast riders to win a bear. This year at Mammoth I raced
three classes so I got in a lot of riding....can’t wait for next
year!