It was a good event, end of story.
The track changed remarkably over the weekend - Friday was like last weekend, Saturday morning was similar but better, Saturday arvo after the rain was slick, Sunday morning after the rain was sloppy, and Sunday arvo was very good (although predictably chopped up by then). And my concerns about the track watering after HBBB were...
washed away by nature's track watering! At least it was something that nobody had any control over, rather than well-intentioned actions.
Personally, I had a mixed weekend, but greatly enjoyed it.
My hastily cobbled together, POS Evo bike suffered a couple of failures, the last of which was a blocked fuel tap (WTF?!). Its a YZ125E with a longer shock and 125G forks jammed in - and it actually works really well, despite my fears that it would handle like a pig. In the one race where I completed more than half a lap on it, I was actually able to chase down a few of the newer Evo bikes and at least one pre-85 bike.
The newly completed MX250 was a model of reliability, although the rubbish shocks hurt it, and I was very timid on it (particularly in the slop). In the drying conditions on Sunday arvo, I started searching for the limits and got a lot more competitive.
That left the pre-78 125. On Saturday, I managed a surprising (albeit distant) 4th place and actually overtook Snowy76 for the first time ever (passing him while he's crashed doesn't count - that's happened plenty of times!). After a brief look at the track on Sunday morning(before the Evo bike died again!
), I decided to ride to survive and maybe try to beat Snowy and Davey Crocket - the three fast guys could go and do their own thing in the mud.
That went pretty much to plan - I finished an even more distant 4th place.
Into the final race, the only hope was that 090, Luke or Nick would DNF and I could Bradbury a 3rd overall.
It didn't work like that.... My gearbox jammed in neutral and I couldn't recatch John, and ended up 5th in that race and 4th overall. And the gearbox makes some awful growling noises now, so it needs the cases split. :'(
I was on the ACT team for the interstate challenge - listening to the names of the other riders in the race was more than a little intimidating! Of the 21 riders (three riders each, from ACT, Qld, NSW, SA, Tas, Vic and WA*), my name was one of six that I didn't recognise as being a 'name' VMX rider - and the other 'unknowns' were mostly known to be faster than me and/or also on the ACT team!
So my goals were to beat Freaky and not humiliate myself - and while I never threatened for the lead, I think I managed my goals.
I also realised that I was on the pace in a lot of sections of track, and even faster than some of the good guys in some sections - but that I was burning time in other sections... At the least, it makes it clear what I've got to work on!
The downside of riding in the insterstate challenge was not getting to watch what happened at the front!
Despite the pre-event conspiracy theories and the bitching, it was a well run race meet that (AFAIK) resulted in no protests and no injuries. Apart from mechanical issues, I think that all of the winners were deserving winners, and you can't really ask for more than that.
Other points that spring to mind:
Dean Burt's mechanical DNF in the second Evo big bore race, while leading comfortably. 1st, DNF, 1st left him with 4th(?) overall which must have been a bitter pill for him to swallow.
Gary Jones is a really nice bloke. And yes, he can still ride!
The Smith boys on the Elsinores are awesome to watch. Ditto the Herbert brothers on the YZ-As (thanks MM).
My travelling buddy Donny had a lousy weekend racing-wise - missing races, getting stuck on hills in the slop, etc. But his help was greatly appreciated - to the point that I warned him that, in the future, he might get dragged along as team manager/pit bitch whether he likes it or not!
I realised that I am yet to meet a genuine dickhead through old dirt bikes. Sure, there's plenty of unusual personalities, but no real dickheads - and the vast majority are good, friendly people who are happy to help out and expect nothing in return. We should never lose sight of that!
Never play poker with Dave Tanner, the bastard.
*There a few some ring-ins! SA had Boagy, NSW had Gary Jones, and there were at least a couple of post-74 bikes out there.... By my reckoning, the ACT team's bent the rules the least of the rule benders. 
