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So I went down to Washougal MX Park this weekend to do my first ever mx race. I jump my first jump ever, scared myself 1/2 to death over and over.....and over.
I did learn a few things though;
1) I suck at starts....now, I've only done 2...EVER, but I pretty much suck at that.
2) I need to learn how to jump! I mean I can get the DX up, but after that
3) The fresh rebuild on this bike has it running like a screaming ape! It's quick, fast and powerful! I still need to rejet the bike, but I was able to get it leaned out enough to race this weekend.

The "small" table top at Washougal


"Horsepower Hill"

YOU LUCKY BASTARD...

I mean, CONGRATULATIONS!! That is freaking AWESOME!!

I would be glad to hear more details!!

Details? Well, alright....
I was racing vintage MX in a "support" class that is bikes from 90-93.....Since my DX is a 93, freshley rebuilt (broke the motor in LAST Saturday, I started vacation on Friday night and these races where going on....I loaded up the bikes, my wife and my 2 youngest and headed on down to Washougal, about 170 miles from home. I was the last moto of 20 (40 total races) in an open class, racing for the first time in my life (never even hit a track before), on a DX.....I sucked, but it was a blast...finished 14-10 out of 15 riders.
I hit my first jump ever during practice and launched that poor bike right over the top of it...scared the crap out of me....Blasted up HPH, going back down there is a "ski jump".....I could get myself to ride off of it at speed (all day)....just to scared. The whoops where to big for a KDX (at least with me on it) and I pretty much had to roll those. Came back around the track, hit that little flat top (first pic), that was fun, but still, I'm not that good at jumping, so I never hit it real hard. Came back around the start for the 2nd lap and hit that dang big single at the base of HPH again, felt like I was going to loop backwards this time...got the bike landed and BLAST up HPH in 3rd gear WOT, hit the "bump" in the middle of the hill and just about lost it...had the nose of the bike down....I barely landed that....I had my knees on the tank when I landed (nose into the hill) to keep from getting thrown...thankfully that worked, but I did bottom the forks really really hard on that hit. That slowed my down quite a bit. Oh and the triples...Ugh, I just couldn't get my confidence up enough to launch super hard off of those, I would land just short of the double on them...the poor KDX forks just don't like that type of abuse. So, that was practice.....
In the long run I had fun, I would do it again.
During the races I could ride fast enough to pass, but I couldn't muster the nerve to hit the jumps or ride the whoops, just rolled those, so keeping up with these guys was hard. Well, I didn't keep up very well at all. I started last (both motos)....2nd moto I was fast enough to catch up to every one and passed most the riders just before the first big single, this thing looked about 25' tall. Most the race bikes (KX 500's, RM's etc.) just launched passed me on that jump. I then caught back up going up HPH and through the U turn at the top, but coming down, again I couldn't do the ski jump, so away they went again. Caught a few more in the corners again...these bikes corner so well...get passed in the whoops, catch a couple again, pass in the corners, get passed on jumps, catch, rinse repeat. That last picture is me racing a guy up HPH. While going up HPH, I could pass all the bikes but the 500 and one CR250, never saw those guys after the first jump until the CR250 (race winner) was trying to lap me. He got me at the very end of moto1, but I held him off on Moto2.

That track looks incredible!

Bike looks good too, what rear brake setup are you running? That disk guard is way cool

Gotanubike wrote:That track looks incredible!

Bike looks good too, what rear brake setup are you running? That disk guard is way cool

The track is amazing, I just looked in awe at it when we first got there. I think the disk guard is a "scott's" it bolt right onto the brake carrier. The rear disk itself is a Tusk wave rotor.

DAMN!!! JUST AWESOME!!! I have watched the races on TV for years, so I am familiar with the turns and jumps you mentioned.

DUDE!! That is so awesome!! Thanks for the details. Any chance you have video camera footage? (GoPro)??

Gotanubike, look up Washougal on youtubefor hours of fun.

Thanks, will do. That sure puts our little Cruikshank construction side project track to shame

Jason wrote:DAMN!!! JUST AWESOME!!! I have watched the races on TV for years, so I am familiar with the turns and jumps you mentioned.

DUDE!! That is so awesome!! Thanks for the details. Any chance you have video camera footage? (GoPro)??

Gotanubike, look up Washougal on youtubefor hours of fun.

I wanted to video it....but my skill level + Nationals track....I figured for my safety that it was a bad idea to strap a camera to my helmet. If I crashed at speed, having a camera mounted to my helmet could cause extreme injuries.
The club was taking pictures ( I will link to them IF/when they post them and I have a file of them that my wife took. There all of my races though. You can find them here http://s1005.photobucket.com/user/marbl ... t=3&page=1

Gotanubike wrote:That track looks incredible!

Bike looks good too, what rear brake setup are you running? That disk guard is way cool

Sorry, not the wave rotor on that wheel, that's the wheel from my 95 KDX.

Oh, forgot to mention my tires. I am SO impressed with these tires that I would recommend them to anyone. They have been flawless on the trail and the track, best tires I have ever used.....I will be buying them again. The dirt at Washougal is a chocolate brown, thick dirt...I've never rode on anything like it, but MOST of my riding is on hard pack and involves all types of rocks. These tires grip anything!

Now the "funny" part.....since I bought these for a 70 mile dessert poker run and race, racing dessert is an endurance challenge, not so much an MX style race and has seriously sharp rocks.
They are Kenda Washougals. Paid about $150 for the pair from Bikebandit.com.

Oh yes, another thing I forgot to mention...Grandpa Villipoto was there racing his vintage, open class racer....HE was clearing the triples on his dual shocker....quite the site to see.

I would say that a first race being at Washougal was a big jump, but it sounds like you had a blast.

Congratulations again. I have seen a few races at Budd's Creek and TV can not do justice to a national level track.

I am checking out the pics now.

That is crazy that Grandpa Villopoto was there and doing that. It must run in the family.

EDIT: THANKS for the link on the pics. Those are great.

Amazing ride! My tongue would be hanging out after one lap, let alone 5...

Awesome to see a KDX on a Pro Track !

congratulations on your ability to just jump in and do it!
I used to race my KDX and found that the steep fork angle is mostly for woods riding and can make you do tank slappers in really rough stuff. What I recommend for changing it and other pointers for MXing the KDX can be read by clicking on my signature link.
Jumping is easy, just go fast and let off the throttle before your front wheel gets airborne and your body position (front or back) determines whether you will land nose up or nose down. By trial and error you will learn where to be on your bike when launching. If you get too far nose down in the air then lean back and blip the throttle over and over again to get the front up a bit before landing.

PLEASE do not let off the throttle, THEN jump. Maintain at least some throttle. You are begging for a trip over the bars that way.

PIN IT TO WIN IT!!

SEAT TIME is the main thing you need. (you LUCKY BASTARD) That's still so awesome!!

The forks on that thing are pretty nice, I had them built for dessert speed and whoops in my local trails. I bottomed them out once, when I hit the lip about 1/2 way up HP Hill. I was in bad form on that one and basically jumped right into the side of a hill. The first jump I did was the 25' single at the begining of the track, just below HP Hill and I flew right off of that, landed pretty good (for a newb), but the rake on the KDX just makes landing a little rough (again, I'm a newb at jumping). After a few laps of bad jumps...short on the doubles and hitting that hill so hard. I just tamed it down on the jumps. Just didn't need to kill myself out there. I did wish I had brought fork oil and a filler "thingy" (tool) so I could add a little bit of oil to the forks. Oh well, I'll remember next time.
Those forks are back on my 95 and the 95 forks back on the 93....My oldest will be riding the 93 for a while, so he gets the forks that I built, instead of the smooth ones that I had built. I'm working on an RM front end ATM....got to make sure the forks are any good before taking the tree and stem to the machinist. I hope they are....I'm pretty interested in trying out those Showas!

And yes, riding at Washougal was absolutely cool!

I run the 49mm conventional showas off a DRZ and I really like them...

Jason, you obviously don't jump. Before I got into motorcycles I was into BMX and the concept is the same; you coast over jumps, controlling the bike attitude by where your body is.
In the first picture of him jumping you can see his front wheel is higher than the rear wheel although his body position is forward. He obviously had partial throttle on when he jumped which explains why he almost looped it a few times going over jumps. Only on shallow angled jumps can you go over with throttle on while maintaining body position forward.

Jaguar, I do jump. Thanks for caring.

PRETTY PLEASE leave your offering "poor technique" away from those who might want "better technique". That may suit you when you race MX (you do race MX, right??), but when the gate drops around here, we don't coast over jumps.

It was his first time on a track. YES!! He is going to be squirelly. SO WHAT! He was at Washougal having a blast!

DON'T HATE! APPRECIATE!

6 Riders wrote:The forks on that thing are pretty nice, I had them built for dessert speed and whoops in my local trails. I bottomed them out once, when I hit the lip about 1/2 way up HP Hill. I was in bad form on that one and basically jumped right into the side of a hill. The first jump I did was the 25' single at the begining of the track, just below HP Hill and I flew right off of that, landed pretty good (for a newb), but the rake on the KDX just makes landing a little rough (again, I'm a newb at jumping). After a few laps of bad jumps...short on the doubles and hitting that hill so hard. I just tamed it down on the jumps. Just didn't need to kill myself out there. I did wish I had brought fork oil and a filler "thingy" (tool) so I could add a little bit of oil to the forks. Oh well, I'll remember next time.
Those forks are back on my 95 and the 95 forks back on the 93....My oldest will be riding the 93 for a while, so he gets the forks that I built, instead of the smooth ones that I had built. I'm working on an RM front end ATM....got to make sure the forks are any good before taking the tree and stem to the machinist. I hope they are....I'm pretty interested in trying out those Showas!

And yes, riding at Washougal was absolutely cool!

What exactly is your setup on those 93 USD forks? Or are those 95 forks?! What springs did you have in them? Stock or something else? What rate? Looks really cool. I've never jumped myself, I mostly do enduro-type technical riding. I'd be scared shitless to be honest, LOL. I'd finish the race with brown pants.

Bitteeinit wrote: What exactly is your setup on those 93 USD forks? Or are those 95 forks?! What springs did you have in them? Stock or something else? What rate? Looks really cool. I've never jumped myself, I mostly do enduro-type technical riding. I'd be scared shitless to be honest, LOL. I'd finish the race with brown pants.

They are 93 forks, so dampening rod only. There is not much to do to them tuning wise. These have .41 springs and a "balancing hole" drilled into the dampening rod for better oil flow. I think that he did something else, but I can't remember. They are definitely NOT MX forks. I think the 94 up forks would actually be better for that since they are a cartridge type fork. The bike did great, everything I asked it to do...the rider on the other hand...was not so good