Rick Sherker Recap: Lake Hartwell

anderson, sc

Round 7 of the UWP-IJSBA tour took place this past weekend on Lake Hartwell in Saddlers Creek State park in Anderson, SC.  The pits were scattered throughout a wooded recreation area close to the water.  Other than a few brief and quick moving storms through the area, the weather was beautiful all weekend.  The course layout was a traditional left handed course, but this time the split was located on the right side which changed things up a little.  Luckily for me and a few other well prepared riders, the slippery red clay from the shorelines of Lake Hartwell proved to be little match for the hundreds of grippers on the bottom of my RS-15 Race shoes, giving me plenty of traction in what was without a doubt the toughest test so far this year on the national tour.

For me, racing started at 11:30 on Saturday with moto one of GP Ski.  The first start was red flagged as Chris Macclugage was called for jumping the start.  On the restart, Bill Haig was in front at the first turn buoy, with Rob Flores tucked underneath around the sweeper, with myself on the outside in third.  By the end of the big sweeper coming out onto the front straight, I found myself in first with the holeshot and Flores in second after a mistake by Bill Haig picking up an extra buoy that was supposed to be skipped on the start.  I went on to win the moto followed by Flores in second, Wilson in third, and Chris Macclugage in fourth.

At 1:30 I had moto one of Stock Spec Ski which turned out to be a rough one for me.  Starting out towards the end of the gate really hurt on this course.  I came out fifth on the start and just couldn’t seem to make any progress working up to the front after continuously following a train through the much faster outside split.  Finally, I took the risk and tried the inside only to lose another position where I ended up finishing a frustrating sixth place finish.

Saturday evening, there was a racer’s party in the center of Anderson at Bullfeathers Bar and Restaurant where we once again, all racer’s were welcomed with free food and a couple of free drinks.

For me, Sunday started with moto 2 of Stock Spec ski where I was able to improve slightly with a third place finish behind Rob Flores and Josh Block.  In moto two of Gp, I got a good start from the pole, just edging out Rob Flores at the first turn, but behind Jimmy Wilson who got a great jump out of the gate getting the holeshot.  We finished in that order with Wilson getting his first moto win of the season.  I finished second and Flores third.  Going into moto three I was sitting in first place for the overall, but had little breathing room, only one point in front of Jimmy meaning I had to beat him to get the overall and just three points in front of Rob meaning he could beat me, but I would have to be right behind him.  It turned out to be the mentally longest 15 lap motto for me all season.  This time Chris Macclugage got out first and grabbed the holeshot, Wilson went down at the first turn, Bill Haig came out second, Rob flores third, and I came out in fourth.  From lap one I knew if Rob made a pass on Bill I was going to have to do the same quickly, and from lap one, Rob kept the pressure on Bill.   Also knowing that as things stood, I would take the overall.  So for 15 long laps I watched, making a few runs of my own to make a pass on Flores to distract him from focusing on getting around Bill, but trying not to risk making a mistake of my own.  Luckily for me Bill Haig made no mistakes and things stayed the way they were.  I was able to earn the overall win in GP Ski with a 1,2,4 finish with Rob Flores taking second with a 2,3,3 finish, and Chris Macclugage in third with a 4,5,1 finish.  The third moto of Stock class was another disappointing one for me that kept me out of the top three for the first time this season, finishing fourth overall – but has motivated me to try and make a statement in the final round.

All in all, it was a great weekend of racing, with one of the best racer and spectator turnouts all season.  The pits were full of local venders selling food, and local dealers like Watercrafters and Mountain Motorsports and tour sponsors including Jettribe and Optima Racing selling gear and parts.  I look forward to Rd. 8 this weekend in Charleston, WV for the final round of the UWP-IJSBA National Tour which will be a double points round, making the points race for the national championship very interesting for sure!