Holyoke

Rain, Rain and more rain is all that we have seen here in Southern Wisconsin during the month of August, so it was
obvious that TEAM P&G OFFROAD was going to be met with a wet running of the Holyoke Enduro for 2007. However in an
odd turn of events we were greeted with 5.5 hrs of driving in the rain on the way to the event only to have the rain cease
about 30 minutes from the start! Upon exiting the rig in the parking lot of the Duquette town hall (The event started in
Duquette this year, which is one town over from the normal start due to construction work on a bridge in down town Holyoke)
we immediately noted the bone dry gravel. Our thoughts immediately turned to the precipitation levels or lack there of in the
immediate surrounding area! “NONE” was the response we got from locals and event officials…what? No rain in some time
was going to find us riding in what would be compared to Talcum Powder!

Signing up found us riding on minute 22, “us” being Gus, Dean, Smooth Shomberg and myself. As it turned out, anything
but a real late minute was a quality selection. The later minutes dealt with trail that was bermed up Talcum Powder vs.
bermed up dirt making railing the turns much harder for those riders to negotiate. The pit area this year was held in a
campground right in Duquette and was wonderful and at least 200ft farther from the train tracks that previous years, that
was a treat. If you have never attended this event is it a great one but the pit area is normally situated directly across the
road from a well used set of train tracks, making sleeping a 50 minute at a time ordeal (trains come thru every hour it
seems). The evenings cool temps were perfect for a “racesquetti” supper topped off with a few cold ones and some good
bench racing! Speaking of temps, removed 5 days from the previous weeks sauna it was awesome to stand around in a
hooded sweatshirt and hat and shoot the breeze compared to melting the week before! We all turned in early in anticipation
of the following days ride…early being about 10:30.

The group awoke to forecasts of possible rain and overcast skies but awesome temps and absolutely end of September like
surroundings. Suiting up the big questions was Sahara or XCR gear for day? All parties opted for XCR or M1…except for
the non team player Smooth Shomberg. He opted for his vented Klim gear! Motoring to the start excitement was in the air
and we Gus and I remembered “Down For Low” an old saying he and I used to shout at each other in our moto days….this
put a smile on our faces as we began a day of bar banging!

The event was set up this year, for the fist time, as a start restart format, the same as the AMA Nationals utilizes. Basically,
you have a known control for the start of the section and then you race out of the sections. The speed average is set high
enough so that you are guaranteed to drop points in each of the days sections. 30mpg was to be the average for the day
we were all shooting for……..NOT….it was impossible to keep this speed and the minutes added up quick once in the
sections….but it was the same for everyone. We would learn later that small mistakes would cost big with the point spread in
the top 23 ranging from 23 to 33…pretty tight! Gus and I banged bars literally all day and had a blast! Each section found
us drag racing to see who would lead. Dean, being the elder statesman that he is, sat back and watched us dummies battle
it out. I am sure we put a smile on his face more than once with our antics..but hey that’s what makes it fun for Gus and I.
Entering the last section I was bound determined to make up time on the competition, after the flip of the card Gus and I
were off….we drag raced down a two track and around a corner. Gus was on the right and me on the left……as we reached
top speed the trail made a quick left into the woods and Gus began to merge over to enter the woods. The problem was that
I was at full speed an bound and determined to pass him…..realizing that the trail turned I applied full brakes and whipped
the bike into a full on slide……yelling at the top of my lungs! Lucky for me, he missed the entrance by like a foot and went
up and over a huge mound allowing me to just catch the trails rut and not hit him. For the remainder of the section I thought
about how his quick actions saved both of our hides, only to find out later that he thought I was yelling to get by him and not
yelling to save our lives! We raced for about a half a mile and he decided to hit a tree and careen off the trail allowing me
by….then I hit a tree hard but managed to stay on trail. At that point perhaps we both deemed it better to throttle it back a
notch and keep our heads attached to our bodies! The rest of the section was uneventful and the end of the race found us
both happy with our results and most definitely ready for a BEER!
For the day scores, after the last section was thrown out due to an arrowing problem were:

Ryan Moss: 4th overall and in AA) 25
Speedy :13th overall (2nd in class) 30
Gus : 22nd overall (2nd in class) 33
Dean: 37th overall (7th in class) 37
Curt Shomberg 8th overall C (1st in class) 26

All in all it was an excellent event and thanks to the club and all its members for putting the event on! There is one small
part of the story that I am leaving out, the trip home….I will let Gus tell that story…believe me it is funny now but was not at
that time!

Here’s dirt in your eye,

Speedy Pete

I have to chime in here and put my 2 cents in as well. I am here to tell you that I am never pulling the race rig again. I am
not sure why, but every time I have pulled the race rig this year we end up broken down along side the road like a NASCAR
pit crew scurrying around attempting to fix the trailer. Maybe it is the immense amount of power the heavy Chevy emits
compared to the big Dodge or maybe it is just bad luck! Not sure, either way this break down was a dozy and we ended up
camping in the Black River Falls gas station on Sunday night until we could find someone that had a leaf spring to replace
the broken one on the race rig. (See below for pictures) I do want to shout out to the Dean and Speedy, every one pitched
in to get the job done and I didn't hear one minute of complaining about the situation, only, what needs to be done to get it
fixed. I would work with you guys on any problem. I think this attitude is typical for most all dirt bikers, thats what makes us
great.

See ya at the next race,

Gus