CFTR HS RACE REPORT

CFTR PEACE RIVER RACE REPORT

It sure felt weird not starting the season at the CFTR Peace River Hare Scramble. Hurricane Ian had other plans and we had to do some switching and head to Bartow for round two of the hare scramble season instead. To be honest I was not sure if this race would go on as scheduled or not. Hurricane Nicole decided to make her presence known throughout the state on Thursday, soaking the already saturated Central Florida region. Luckily, the property did not get the worst of Nicole and we were set to go racing. The storms definitely made it a challenge for the members of CFTR with multiple reroutes, re-arrowing and just a high amount of stress leading up to the race.

The trail was great, Saturday featured a ton of flow with some cool off-camber areas as well as some hammocks with that tacky black dirt. Sunday was a similar trail but with more fast-open straights. On the challenges of Sunday were the fast mud ruts that formed in the fields. These sections really bogged the bike down while being ultra-slippery at the same time. Throttle control was key here and the ones who could master it really went on to succeed.

The beginning of the season is always neat. Many people are on new equipment, people in new classes and new race rigs make their way into the pasture. One of the biggest changes of the new season was the Vet classes moving from Sunday morning to Sunday afternoon. It really caught me off guard with the number of new riders in the afternoon class. It seemed like there were way more people out on the track compared to last year. Another thing that caught me off guard was the number of AA riders there were on Sunday with 16 total riders. How about that AA class battle? Jesse Ansley and Jack Chambers put on a show with five laps of battling, Ansley would best Chambers in the end.

As for the Quad AA class it was a sea of Yamahas duking it out with Hunter Hart taking the win. The Quad AA class has become so competitive and is a must watch on Saturday Afternoons.

Let’s keep the great racing going!

RIDERS: ALEX COX #176 ANTONIO GAYA #18 LANCE FAGAN #68 PHOTO: TYLER MILLER