WORS#6 Sunburst - Juniors

Kewaskum, WI
WORS #6 Sunburst Showdown Sunday July 19, 2009
by: Andrew Schirpke

The weekend started a little strange. First race this year not traveling out of town.
Saturday morning we woke up, ate some breakfast and loaded the bikes. The Jeep wasn’t dragging the Thule on the ground like usual. Waited for my cousin to stop by and we were off to the hill. We dreaded the pre-ride after laying down just one lap the week before and opting to road ride instead. Pulled in, the lot was pretty full which was cool to see. My old Team(Team Extreme) had a ride leaving at 1pm so I joined in with my dad,cousin and friends from my Pre-Metal days, lol. Did a normal lap with no Jr cuts and was pretty used up. The course was definatley smoothed out from all the riders. My rigid was still hard to hold onto though. Dad wanted to get another one in and I didn’t. He won. Pretty tired after the second one and we were starving.
Went and got all the registration out of the way and started the Social Session.Jeff and Danielle are always great to see. Found out Russ and his son moved up. Nobody can call him a sandbagger anymore-ELITE #61.
So packed up the gear and headed to Piggly Wiggly for some grub. Pasta and grilled chicken, maybe the best Carb loading yet! We also picked up Italian sausages for the Bombers Mom would make for the race. Went to bed at around 10:30 after setting the alarm for 6.
Ring,Ring,Ring “Who’s taking a shower first!” Ate a light breakfast, maybe too light we all thought later. Packed up and my Aunt and Uncle showed up for the caravan. As we unloaded at the race Grandma,Grandpa and Aunt Julie showed up. Then Mom and sis followed by Uncle Jon and Aunt Lou. We had a great turnout and setup camp Schirpke by the finish. Jeff and Danielle also joined camp with ‘Jeff’s Race Cooler’. Got the grill fired to continue the bomber slow cook. They were grilled the night before and have been swimming in sauce for 12 hours.
Started my warmup and practiced a few starts. Got to the line and was feeling good. Alot of support = alot of pressure. Don yelled GOOOOOOO and we were off. I could hear everyone screaming Andy, like I said….pressure. Got to the early turn by our campout and was in fourth. Passed one on the uphill switchback and sat in third. I had the two toughest guys ahead of me and they were going strong. They shortened our lap and cut out the hardest hill, I could have used the uphill, I prerode pretty well. They continued to pull away and the leader stretched out further and further.I distanced all the riders behind me but I couldn’t gain on 1 and 2. Up the final hill a rider cut the course and slid into 3rd. Later he was DQ’d. Short race and before I knew it I saw the finish. I knew I was in third but everyone thought the DQ’d rider was ahead of me. Third Place meant a trip back to the podium. More hardware for my bedroom. Recovery drink and time to enjoy the day.
Rick thanks for the Beer Fueled Racer stickers, they match my PBR fork ones. Time for bombers and to watch my cousin and dad. Changed out of my kit and put on my DOPERS SUCK shirt. Everybody loved it. The weather was great and we had awesome seats. We kept the grill going all day, I ate 3. I think the record was 4(Ben). We did hand ups for Nate and all were glad we didn’t have to do 5 laps. Marko had a photo finish for 2nd just beating out Tristan, they were flying! Rooted on everyone with the cowbell and had a great time just hanging out. We even fed some Pro’s
http://b-matter.blogspot.com/2009/07/cross-training.html
Even though we weren’t on a mini vacation it was good to see all my MTB peeps especially Anna and Marilee Crystal Ridge WORS#7 another local then Ore to Shore.