Hi guy's my name is Paul Smith and I race two LT-R's in Australia and I resently made the trip over to the US to contested the fifth round of the ATVA Grand National Championship at the famous Budd's Creek circuit.
Riding an LT-R450 for Cernic's Racing, I contested two classes, the Production B and the Up To 265cc B. After Fridays practice day, to say that I had pre race nerves would be an under statement as I headed into Saturdays qualifiers. The huge track was chopping up very quickly and the enormous jumps were extremely intimidating, with monster step up's, table top's, whoops and the famed Henry's Hill.
I took off for my Production B qualifier, won easily and moved through to Sunday's final with a big boost of confidence for my 265 qualifier, but after I left the line in the 265 class he got tangled with another rider in the first corner and our quad's were tangled together. After finally getting them apart it was too late and I did not qualify but still had a chance with the last chance qualifier to be held over two laps the next morning.
Sunday morning came around and I won my last chance qualifier to move through to the 265 final moto. I was the top Qualifier and had first gate pick in the Production B, but he blew the start big time and was a long way back on the first lap. I did manage to claw back quite a few spots but ended up in 10th, giving me 7th overall for the class. In the 265 class however I got a good start and was sitting in third for a few laps when the rough hilly track started to take it's toll on me, dropping back to 5th by the end of the race, and getting 10th overall due to my poor qualifier.
This has been an experience of a lifetime. Just coming here and riding on a track like this is something special, but to also see the Pro's launch their quad over the huge jumps is something to be seen. I am happy with my results because I did not even know if I would be fast enough to qualifiy for Sunday's racing.
I would like to thank Kyle from Cernic's Racing over there for setting me up with his LT-R450 for the weekend and Luke Beechey and his partner Mel for looking after me while I am here. Without them it wouldn't of been possible for me to do this
Here is a link to an Aussie forum and one to my web site for more photos
http://www.dirtbikeworld.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20341
http://www.47industries.com/onlocation/smitty.htm
Riding an LT-R450 for Cernic's Racing, I contested two classes, the Production B and the Up To 265cc B. After Fridays practice day, to say that I had pre race nerves would be an under statement as I headed into Saturdays qualifiers. The huge track was chopping up very quickly and the enormous jumps were extremely intimidating, with monster step up's, table top's, whoops and the famed Henry's Hill.
I took off for my Production B qualifier, won easily and moved through to Sunday's final with a big boost of confidence for my 265 qualifier, but after I left the line in the 265 class he got tangled with another rider in the first corner and our quad's were tangled together. After finally getting them apart it was too late and I did not qualify but still had a chance with the last chance qualifier to be held over two laps the next morning.
Sunday morning came around and I won my last chance qualifier to move through to the 265 final moto. I was the top Qualifier and had first gate pick in the Production B, but he blew the start big time and was a long way back on the first lap. I did manage to claw back quite a few spots but ended up in 10th, giving me 7th overall for the class. In the 265 class however I got a good start and was sitting in third for a few laps when the rough hilly track started to take it's toll on me, dropping back to 5th by the end of the race, and getting 10th overall due to my poor qualifier.
This has been an experience of a lifetime. Just coming here and riding on a track like this is something special, but to also see the Pro's launch their quad over the huge jumps is something to be seen. I am happy with my results because I did not even know if I would be fast enough to qualifiy for Sunday's racing.
I would like to thank Kyle from Cernic's Racing over there for setting me up with his LT-R450 for the weekend and Luke Beechey and his partner Mel for looking after me while I am here. Without them it wouldn't of been possible for me to do this
Here is a link to an Aussie forum and one to my web site for more photos
http://www.dirtbikeworld.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20341
http://www.47industries.com/onlocation/smitty.htm
