MastaMax
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2011
- Bikes
- 19 ktm 300tpi 6 days / 15 Yamaha YZ250F / 08 Husky 450SMR / 13 ER6N / 13 KTM 300XCW(sold)
Round 3 of the Thailand championship in Mae Ai (แม่อาย
was from far the longest race I've ever done (out of 4 
).
Around 165km of racing, for about 3.5 hours race time.
This time I entered in the ED1 - Enduro Open category as I have a 290 I'm not allowed to compete in the lightweight class anymore. Harder competition ahead.
First day
3 stages on the first day. First stage was a 65km woods stage, second stage a 15km single/double track, and last stage 2 laps on a MX/cylecross track.
As I entered in the open category I was in the firsts to start and was lucky to avoid the rain during SS1 and 2, but got caught in the rain during the MX test which was in a horrible condition.
Here a picture of my friend Ton after the rain stopped. Deep very slippery mud ruts:
And a picture of the 65km stage, maxing out the WRF290 in 5th gear:
At the end of first day was very happy and had a pleasing 3rd position, only about 1 minute behind the second (on around 1h40).
Day 2
It rained all night until the morning so it looked like a hard muddy slippery day ahead.
At the market in Thaton buying some food (6am):
For the second day it started with the same 65km trail but this time in the opposite direction. As for the first day I got lucky to start first and avoid the rain, day 2 was the opposite. The trail being utterly slippery in the early morning. Hard packed orange slippery clay didn't make it easy, I slipped out in the first uphill and couldn't get up, had to turn around all the way down and lost loads of time. Got passed by the 4th and 5th before getting up that hill.
After that it went better and passed the 5th a few km later. The long 65km was really tiring!
Stage 2 of the day was a 3 laps on the MX/cyclecross track that got drier by the afternoon (but ruts were really deep). Had a good start being first for the first lap before Manod (current thai champ) caught up and took me over. Ended 3 in the MX test but that wasn't enough to keep my 3rd position.
Finished at a disappointing 4th position in ED1 class:
Ton in the family open category finished 3rd:
Bird and Arm in the family production open finished 2nd and 4th:
Will post a video later of the MX test and maybe more pictures if I can find some.
Had a few encounters during the race, almost rode over a dog, a ~1m50 black snake (most probably a cobra, didn't have time to analyse) and almost hit 2 pickups that apparently didn't care much a race was going on. But all in all a great but very tiring weekend.
was from far the longest race I've ever done (out of 4 ).Around 165km of racing, for about 3.5 hours race time.
This time I entered in the ED1 - Enduro Open category as I have a 290 I'm not allowed to compete in the lightweight class anymore. Harder competition ahead.
First day
3 stages on the first day. First stage was a 65km woods stage, second stage a 15km single/double track, and last stage 2 laps on a MX/cylecross track.
As I entered in the open category I was in the firsts to start and was lucky to avoid the rain during SS1 and 2, but got caught in the rain during the MX test which was in a horrible condition.
Here a picture of my friend Ton after the rain stopped. Deep very slippery mud ruts:
And a picture of the 65km stage, maxing out the WRF290 in 5th gear:
At the end of first day was very happy and had a pleasing 3rd position, only about 1 minute behind the second (on around 1h40).
Day 2
It rained all night until the morning so it looked like a hard muddy slippery day ahead.
At the market in Thaton buying some food (6am):
For the second day it started with the same 65km trail but this time in the opposite direction. As for the first day I got lucky to start first and avoid the rain, day 2 was the opposite. The trail being utterly slippery in the early morning. Hard packed orange slippery clay didn't make it easy, I slipped out in the first uphill and couldn't get up, had to turn around all the way down and lost loads of time. Got passed by the 4th and 5th before getting up that hill.
After that it went better and passed the 5th a few km later. The long 65km was really tiring!
Stage 2 of the day was a 3 laps on the MX/cyclecross track that got drier by the afternoon (but ruts were really deep). Had a good start being first for the first lap before Manod (current thai champ) caught up and took me over. Ended 3 in the MX test but that wasn't enough to keep my 3rd position.
Finished at a disappointing 4th position in ED1 class:
Ton in the family open category finished 3rd:
Bird and Arm in the family production open finished 2nd and 4th:
Will post a video later of the MX test and maybe more pictures if I can find some.
Had a few encounters during the race, almost rode over a dog, a ~1m50 black snake (most probably a cobra, didn't have time to analyse) and almost hit 2 pickups that apparently didn't care much a race was going on. But all in all a great but very tiring weekend.
