July 6th
So the weekend racing was a lot of fun even though I didn’t do too well. We got to the track Thursday after John VenJon got his motor home stuck in an entrance to a gas station, all 8 drive wheels were off the ground. Police eventually had to come because we had blocked traffic and a tow truck was needed to help pull VenJon off the ramp.
The track looked like a lot of fun after walking it with Luke. Friday practice was a lot of fun and I felt pretty good just needed to work on a few corners. Saturday came around and since I am not racing Pro-Am Unlimited I get to watch the days racing until 3pm when we have Pro practice. The weekend was very hot and I am still trying to get conditioned to race in the summer. The Pro-Am unlimited qualifiers were a lot different than usual, Joel had some bad luck and qualified towards the back, Chase and Corey Snapp would also have bad luck as Corey was leading and stalled and Chase on the 3rd last corner of the last lap rolled it down the hill hurting his wrist. The LCQ was full of top riders and in the end Chase wouldn’t qualify due to another crash. Pro practice was different as well we went backwards on some of the track, which was pretty cool. Saturday night there was a lot of fireworks because of July 4th which is a huge holiday in America. Sunday morning was qualifying and I qualified 15th, it wasn’t the best. The track was really muddy like very bad and I wasn’t thinking and I put down my fast lap on the 2nd lap, I should have waited until the track was swept of the mud and put down a solid lap when the track was better but as I said I didn’t think so 15th it was and that meant a shitty gate pick. Moto 1 and I was on the far inside gate, front end lifted off the gate and was put back into the middle of the pack. I past a couple guys in the first few corners then would only pass one more guy in that moto to finish 7th. Moto 2 I had a better gate pick and I got a reasonable start, I was running in 6th and Billy Cottage was on my ass, he passed me and I passed him back. 2 corners later I came into the turn too fast and the track had been watered and I couldn’t stop because it was so slippery and flew off the berm, it was a good 8-10 foot drop into a drain with huge rocks and what not. I don’t know how I didn’t hurt myself or stay on but it took me a lap and a bit to get my bike out and get going again. I ended up 17th which gave me a poor overall. I’m still working on my fitness and I am thinking of driving up to stay with Josh Creamer and train with Lynn’s, hopefully I can get into the top 10 fingers crossed. Cheers and thanks for all the well wishes, see you on live scoring
Chris Brenton #55
So the weekend racing was a lot of fun even though I didn’t do too well. We got to the track Thursday after John VenJon got his motor home stuck in an entrance to a gas station, all 8 drive wheels were off the ground. Police eventually had to come because we had blocked traffic and a tow truck was needed to help pull VenJon off the ramp.
The track looked like a lot of fun after walking it with Luke. Friday practice was a lot of fun and I felt pretty good just needed to work on a few corners. Saturday came around and since I am not racing Pro-Am Unlimited I get to watch the days racing until 3pm when we have Pro practice. The weekend was very hot and I am still trying to get conditioned to race in the summer. The Pro-Am unlimited qualifiers were a lot different than usual, Joel had some bad luck and qualified towards the back, Chase and Corey Snapp would also have bad luck as Corey was leading and stalled and Chase on the 3rd last corner of the last lap rolled it down the hill hurting his wrist. The LCQ was full of top riders and in the end Chase wouldn’t qualify due to another crash. Pro practice was different as well we went backwards on some of the track, which was pretty cool. Saturday night there was a lot of fireworks because of July 4th which is a huge holiday in America. Sunday morning was qualifying and I qualified 15th, it wasn’t the best. The track was really muddy like very bad and I wasn’t thinking and I put down my fast lap on the 2nd lap, I should have waited until the track was swept of the mud and put down a solid lap when the track was better but as I said I didn’t think so 15th it was and that meant a shitty gate pick. Moto 1 and I was on the far inside gate, front end lifted off the gate and was put back into the middle of the pack. I past a couple guys in the first few corners then would only pass one more guy in that moto to finish 7th. Moto 2 I had a better gate pick and I got a reasonable start, I was running in 6th and Billy Cottage was on my ass, he passed me and I passed him back. 2 corners later I came into the turn too fast and the track had been watered and I couldn’t stop because it was so slippery and flew off the berm, it was a good 8-10 foot drop into a drain with huge rocks and what not. I don’t know how I didn’t hurt myself or stay on but it took me a lap and a bit to get my bike out and get going again. I ended up 17th which gave me a poor overall. I’m still working on my fitness and I am thinking of driving up to stay with Josh Creamer and train with Lynn’s, hopefully I can get into the top 10 fingers crossed. Cheers and thanks for all the well wishes, see you on live scoring
Chris Brenton #55
Hey guys
So it’s the Monday after Muddy Creek and I have gotten my best result yet. Friday’s weather was very hot but a perfect day with no clouds in the sky and the track from looking at it was awesome with plenty of jumps, 23 in total. Fridays practice was fun, Josh Creamer’s girlfriend Paige Cowell used my practice bike and rode practice which she enjoyed and I then I had my 3 practices. I had a couple of issues with the bike and how it was running due to the heat which sucked. but Dad and I worked at trying to fix it for the pro practice on Saturday and Sunday’s racing.
Saturday’s practice went well and the bike was running much better than Friday but still not 100%, so Saturday night we made a few more modifications and changes to help for Sunday. Dad and I went out to dinner with Josh Creamers family to Olive Garden (Italian food) which is my favourite place to eat out. Sunday comes along and it is time for qualifying, the first lap and a half is spent looking at the track and trying to find fast lines but the track is always muddy and slick for the Pro-am Production guys so it’s hard to see. I was in 18th spot until the last lap where I jumped from 18th to 12th that gave me 12th pick for gate choice. From 8th to 17th place we were all on 2:04 lap times so it shows how close the competition is in my class. First moto I picked my gate and dad helped pack it and boy did he do a good job because I nearly got the holeshot but Chase Snapp just got over the line before me and to my surprise I was in 2nd place. I stayed on Chase for a lap and a half but after that he pulled away and it took Joel Hetrick 2 laps to pass me which I think is pretty cool but I had no idea it was him behind me! I ended up 4th after Casey Martin passed me due to my lack of fitness. Second moto and I chose the same gate right next to Chase but this time my start wasn’t as good but I was still 5th out of the corner. I stayed there for the majority of the race until the last couple of laps, I tired allowing Hagsmaa and Higgerson to pass me which put me to 7th place and that’s where I finished. Billy Cottage got a 7th and 4th and I had a 4th and 7th but because he placed better in the second moto he got the 4th overall and I got 5th. I am at Billy Cottages now where I will be doing some serious fitness training and riding to get used to this heat and intensity that I have to now ride at. I’m not used to the heat at all and I think that’s what hurt me the most in my moto’s. My P.E.P’s worked amazing as always and I’m happy with the power we are now getting from the KTM.
So remember if there is anything you guys need to do with KTM’s, P.E.P suspension or even new graphics don’t be scared to message me on face book and ask.
Thanks for all your support and well wishes its great
Chris
#55
So it’s the Monday after Muddy Creek and I have gotten my best result yet. Friday’s weather was very hot but a perfect day with no clouds in the sky and the track from looking at it was awesome with plenty of jumps, 23 in total. Fridays practice was fun, Josh Creamer’s girlfriend Paige Cowell used my practice bike and rode practice which she enjoyed and I then I had my 3 practices. I had a couple of issues with the bike and how it was running due to the heat which sucked. but Dad and I worked at trying to fix it for the pro practice on Saturday and Sunday’s racing.
Saturday’s practice went well and the bike was running much better than Friday but still not 100%, so Saturday night we made a few more modifications and changes to help for Sunday. Dad and I went out to dinner with Josh Creamers family to Olive Garden (Italian food) which is my favourite place to eat out. Sunday comes along and it is time for qualifying, the first lap and a half is spent looking at the track and trying to find fast lines but the track is always muddy and slick for the Pro-am Production guys so it’s hard to see. I was in 18th spot until the last lap where I jumped from 18th to 12th that gave me 12th pick for gate choice. From 8th to 17th place we were all on 2:04 lap times so it shows how close the competition is in my class. First moto I picked my gate and dad helped pack it and boy did he do a good job because I nearly got the holeshot but Chase Snapp just got over the line before me and to my surprise I was in 2nd place. I stayed on Chase for a lap and a half but after that he pulled away and it took Joel Hetrick 2 laps to pass me which I think is pretty cool but I had no idea it was him behind me! I ended up 4th after Casey Martin passed me due to my lack of fitness. Second moto and I chose the same gate right next to Chase but this time my start wasn’t as good but I was still 5th out of the corner. I stayed there for the majority of the race until the last couple of laps, I tired allowing Hagsmaa and Higgerson to pass me which put me to 7th place and that’s where I finished. Billy Cottage got a 7th and 4th and I had a 4th and 7th but because he placed better in the second moto he got the 4th overall and I got 5th. I am at Billy Cottages now where I will be doing some serious fitness training and riding to get used to this heat and intensity that I have to now ride at. I’m not used to the heat at all and I think that’s what hurt me the most in my moto’s. My P.E.P’s worked amazing as always and I’m happy with the power we are now getting from the KTM.
So remember if there is anything you guys need to do with KTM’s, P.E.P suspension or even new graphics don’t be scared to message me on face book and ask.
Thanks for all your support and well wishes its great
Chris
#55
July 23rd
Unadilla
So my American language is getting a little better, I’m learning new words all the time and also teaching the yanks some Aussie slang. This past weekend was the famous outdoor national track of Unadilla in NY, I had raced here once before in 2006 when I came over for a single race so I was excited to ride on it again. Rain had been forecasted for Fridays practice but was meant to be fine Saturday and Sunday, well it was nearly correct. After practice was done on Friday the skies opened up and the rain came down heavy which didn’t bother me because all I needed to do Saturday was tech inspection at 9am and a pro practice at 3pm. Saturday I woke up got my tech out of the way, the bike is all ready to go and for once I am ready so I decided to help out the Snapp brothers and Luke Nixon who was racing his first Production A race. Corey had some bad luck in the Unlimited class where his chain came off but he won his LCQ which got him into the main. Chase won his qualifier and came second to Joel Hetrick in the main who won the overall. Luke won his first moto in the 16-24 class but in his production “A” moto he didn’t do so well. So now the time comes for the Pro-am Production guys to have their pro practice, I get ready and ride up to the gate when it starts to rain. This wasn’t any normal rain it was heavy and really cold. Only a handful of riders decide to check out the track including me, that surprisingly was a lot of fun! It rained all night and we even had a weather alert so everything was packed away back into the trailers, there was even a tornado warning but thankfully there wasn’t one. Sunday comes and the track is muddy but thankfully the guys know how to prep a track and get rid of most the mud, except off the holeshot which was a complete mess and to have any chance at a good moto finish you were going to need a good start which meant a good qualifying time to get a good gate pick and I hadn’t really been doing well in my qualifying times! So we go out for qualifying and I felt really good, the bike was running great, suspension was working amazingly and I was riding how I should be riding after being here for nearly 6 months. I surprised myself and everyone else with a 5th place qualifying time and boy I have never been so happy.
Moto 1 – I line up next to Chase where Shane and I prep my gate ready for a practice start and my sight lap. The track is looking good and I’m feeling good about my gate pick. I get an awesome jump on Chase and the bike pulls down the holeshot but I am slightly pushed out by Joel and Chase but come out 3rd. I try to stay on Chase who was in 2nd and follow his lines and try to push myself to get faster. It isn’t long before Joel and Chase have pulled a gap on me but surprisingly I pull a gap on 4th. Rastrelli works his way through the pack and onto my ass, I started to make a few mistakes with him there and I thought I was holding him up so I wave him by, but surprisingly I stay on him the whole race. Afterwards he tells me he had nothing left for me and if I didn’t let him by he wouldn’t have got passed!
Moto 2 – I get a good jump but in the first couple of corners a few riders pass me which shouldn’t happen. I ended up 9th and was in a pack of about 5-6 riders all bunched up. I pass Tulenchik for 8th but make a little mistake and he passes me back. You can’t make any mistakes riding with these guys or you get passed which makes you ride more mistake free. So I’m back in 9th place trying to pass but its hard on this track. 8th makes a move on 7th but they tangle a little allowing me to pass both Tulenchik and Schwartzfager. I get right behind Bobby Ross but was unable to make a pass which gave me a 4 – 7 finish and another 5th overall. Hopefully I podium before the end of the year but we will see. I have 2 weeks at Chads again so I’m going to ride as much as possible.
Cheers
Chris #55
Unadilla
So my American language is getting a little better, I’m learning new words all the time and also teaching the yanks some Aussie slang. This past weekend was the famous outdoor national track of Unadilla in NY, I had raced here once before in 2006 when I came over for a single race so I was excited to ride on it again. Rain had been forecasted for Fridays practice but was meant to be fine Saturday and Sunday, well it was nearly correct. After practice was done on Friday the skies opened up and the rain came down heavy which didn’t bother me because all I needed to do Saturday was tech inspection at 9am and a pro practice at 3pm. Saturday I woke up got my tech out of the way, the bike is all ready to go and for once I am ready so I decided to help out the Snapp brothers and Luke Nixon who was racing his first Production A race. Corey had some bad luck in the Unlimited class where his chain came off but he won his LCQ which got him into the main. Chase won his qualifier and came second to Joel Hetrick in the main who won the overall. Luke won his first moto in the 16-24 class but in his production “A” moto he didn’t do so well. So now the time comes for the Pro-am Production guys to have their pro practice, I get ready and ride up to the gate when it starts to rain. This wasn’t any normal rain it was heavy and really cold. Only a handful of riders decide to check out the track including me, that surprisingly was a lot of fun! It rained all night and we even had a weather alert so everything was packed away back into the trailers, there was even a tornado warning but thankfully there wasn’t one. Sunday comes and the track is muddy but thankfully the guys know how to prep a track and get rid of most the mud, except off the holeshot which was a complete mess and to have any chance at a good moto finish you were going to need a good start which meant a good qualifying time to get a good gate pick and I hadn’t really been doing well in my qualifying times! So we go out for qualifying and I felt really good, the bike was running great, suspension was working amazingly and I was riding how I should be riding after being here for nearly 6 months. I surprised myself and everyone else with a 5th place qualifying time and boy I have never been so happy.
Moto 1 – I line up next to Chase where Shane and I prep my gate ready for a practice start and my sight lap. The track is looking good and I’m feeling good about my gate pick. I get an awesome jump on Chase and the bike pulls down the holeshot but I am slightly pushed out by Joel and Chase but come out 3rd. I try to stay on Chase who was in 2nd and follow his lines and try to push myself to get faster. It isn’t long before Joel and Chase have pulled a gap on me but surprisingly I pull a gap on 4th. Rastrelli works his way through the pack and onto my ass, I started to make a few mistakes with him there and I thought I was holding him up so I wave him by, but surprisingly I stay on him the whole race. Afterwards he tells me he had nothing left for me and if I didn’t let him by he wouldn’t have got passed!
Moto 2 – I get a good jump but in the first couple of corners a few riders pass me which shouldn’t happen. I ended up 9th and was in a pack of about 5-6 riders all bunched up. I pass Tulenchik for 8th but make a little mistake and he passes me back. You can’t make any mistakes riding with these guys or you get passed which makes you ride more mistake free. So I’m back in 9th place trying to pass but its hard on this track. 8th makes a move on 7th but they tangle a little allowing me to pass both Tulenchik and Schwartzfager. I get right behind Bobby Ross but was unable to make a pass which gave me a 4 – 7 finish and another 5th overall. Hopefully I podium before the end of the year but we will see. I have 2 weeks at Chads again so I’m going to ride as much as possible.
Cheers
Chris #55
Follow Chris Brenton's Blog as he completes his 2010 US Series
with just 2 rounds to go
Round 10 on August 1st
at Redbud and Round 11 August 15th at Loretta Lynns
You can follow all the action as it happens
on escore live results
click here for the link
His latest Blog is below
with just 2 rounds to go
Round 10 on August 1st
at Redbud and Round 11 August 15th at Loretta Lynns
You can follow all the action as it happens
on escore live results
click here for the link
His latest Blog is below
So it’s the weekend of Redbud and the most liked track in MX. I arrived Thursday as usual and got set up, finished a couple of things on my race bike ready for practice on Friday. The atmosphere is good and the track looks awesome. Friday’s weather is amazing and the track is perfect all day (it did get rough but still good), I didn’t feel too good in practice and thought my corners were a little slow. That night I went out to dinner with Josh Creamer, Patrick and their girlfriends to Olive Garden.
Saturday comes and I get everything I need to get done early so I have the rest of the day to help out pit boarding for Corey Snapp until my Pro practice. The Pro section at Redbud is sick it had a sweet step up double and a really steep off camber corner which was difficult to get around. Now some of you might have heard about “Larocco’s Leap” which is a huge up-hill triple, well that jump is on this track, however the quads can’t get enough speed up to clear the whole thing so we have to double into it which sucked because it is massive. I felt ok in the practice, but still wasn’t feeling very good and that I was lacking some speed.
Sunday comes along and it’s time for qualifying, I took off mid pack and I really wanted to get a fast lap in while the track was still smooth but I couldn’t seem to find a gap anywhere and I would always catch the person in front of me and get slowed down so I pulled off, had a drink and waited till a big enough gap came and got going again. I ended up setting my fastest lap on the last lap of timed qualifying which sucked because it had train tracks and was choppy, I could have set a faster time in the first couple laps but not to worry.
1st Moto - I got a mid pack start and everyone was bunched up as we approach the pro step up, one person decided not to jump it who was up front which cause a dominos affect on everyone else who all slowed up and jumped off to the left but I seen what was happening and kept the gas on and hit it jumping to the right and passing 4 people which put me into 5th place. I was right on 4th but made a slight mistake which put my right wheel over a sand wall causing my bumper to dig in and flip me off. I got back on passed a couple of people and finished 11th which was shitty because the guy in 4th ended up crashing.
2nd Moto - I felt good about the start but when the gates dropped I got a really bad jump and ended up getting tangled with Rastrelli, we were eventually pulled out and got going but we were way behind. We were setting awesome lap times which were better than 3rd place and back but oh well I’m not sure what I finished in that race or overall but it wasn’t too great.
Chad Wienen however set a 2:15 lap time which was on the exact same track as the pro dirt bike guys raced on a month or so back. That was 5 seconds faster than the top pro 450 dirt bike (Ryan Dungee) so with my 2:20 lap time, I was as fast as the pro 450 dirt bikes. The last race of the season is nearly upon us here at Loretta Lynn’s, so hopefully I finish the season strong.
Chris Brenton #55
Saturday comes and I get everything I need to get done early so I have the rest of the day to help out pit boarding for Corey Snapp until my Pro practice. The Pro section at Redbud is sick it had a sweet step up double and a really steep off camber corner which was difficult to get around. Now some of you might have heard about “Larocco’s Leap” which is a huge up-hill triple, well that jump is on this track, however the quads can’t get enough speed up to clear the whole thing so we have to double into it which sucked because it is massive. I felt ok in the practice, but still wasn’t feeling very good and that I was lacking some speed.
Sunday comes along and it’s time for qualifying, I took off mid pack and I really wanted to get a fast lap in while the track was still smooth but I couldn’t seem to find a gap anywhere and I would always catch the person in front of me and get slowed down so I pulled off, had a drink and waited till a big enough gap came and got going again. I ended up setting my fastest lap on the last lap of timed qualifying which sucked because it had train tracks and was choppy, I could have set a faster time in the first couple laps but not to worry.
1st Moto - I got a mid pack start and everyone was bunched up as we approach the pro step up, one person decided not to jump it who was up front which cause a dominos affect on everyone else who all slowed up and jumped off to the left but I seen what was happening and kept the gas on and hit it jumping to the right and passing 4 people which put me into 5th place. I was right on 4th but made a slight mistake which put my right wheel over a sand wall causing my bumper to dig in and flip me off. I got back on passed a couple of people and finished 11th which was shitty because the guy in 4th ended up crashing.
2nd Moto - I felt good about the start but when the gates dropped I got a really bad jump and ended up getting tangled with Rastrelli, we were eventually pulled out and got going but we were way behind. We were setting awesome lap times which were better than 3rd place and back but oh well I’m not sure what I finished in that race or overall but it wasn’t too great.
Chad Wienen however set a 2:15 lap time which was on the exact same track as the pro dirt bike guys raced on a month or so back. That was 5 seconds faster than the top pro 450 dirt bike (Ryan Dungee) so with my 2:20 lap time, I was as fast as the pro 450 dirt bikes. The last race of the season is nearly upon us here at Loretta Lynn’s, so hopefully I finish the season strong.
Chris Brenton #55