Menu

Skyler Howes and Braydon Bland win at USRA- Finishline “Drunkards Wash GP”!

BLAIS RACING SERVICES / FASST CO RACE REPORT!
USRA – Finishline “Drunkards Wash GP”, Price, Utah
June 21, 2014

By: Skyler Howes, Open Expert

The USRA crowd is always amazing! After arriving early Friday afternoon to the Price Fairgrounds, the Phillips’ were kind enough to lend me a ride to grab a bite to eat. The Christensen’s as well took me in to make sure I was fed and let me use their trailer! Thank you so much everyone who consistently makes sure I’m taken care of at the races, what would I ever do without you all?!

Skyler Howes airing it out at USRA
PC: Randy Christensen

Race day!
I had a very late start at noon so I tried my best to sleep in. That worked out great when my internal alarm set off at 6am! I hopped up and made myself some breakfast and waited around for Race 1, which was the Super Mini race. Price MX is run by the city of Price and they had the track looking so prime for the start! My teammate, Braydon ripped a sick holeshot and led the Super Minis from start to finish! I noticed immediately how gnarly the dust was once they hit the offroad portion. I knew that the start would determine most of the race.
Skyler_Howes_Holeshot_KTM300XC
PC: Randy Christensen

Noon rolled around and I got geared up in my fresh Troy Lee Designs kit and headed up to the start gate. We all hung out knowing the start would be delayed a bit, well, that bit turned out to be about an hour of sitting in the sun. I think I got a tan! Finally we had the riders meeting and revved up our bikes waiting for the green flag to wave. I got a great jump and the power of my Blais Racing KTM 300XC made me pull a wheelie! I kept her pinned and was able to set it back down gracefully and grab the holeshot! Coming into corner two, a 4-stroke hung it out and put a pass on me. I stayed in close knowing I could make a move soon. Over a few jumps and into a right hander, he slid out into a bush! I snuck around him but a few guys behind me hit him and caused a gnarly pile up! Smooth and steady for the rest of the moto track, I headed up the hill and out to the offroad section in first and I was stoked. The first section of offroad was wide open! Around the first S turns, I glanced back to notice I had a halfway decent lead. I dropped into the tighter washes and found my pace.

Price has some great trails! I had a blast flowing through the tight washes and single track. The Expert race had some fresh trails but coming towards the end of the loop we hit some course that was used for the previous races and, oh boy, were they beat. After hitting Check 1 first and grabbing that $100 prize, we got into some silt or “fesh fesh” as Blais would call it. One silt bed was right out of a corner. My front wheel hooked in some random rut while my rear wheel spun out and I tipped over. I quickly re mounted but Josh Knight moved in right on my tail! We hopped on to another road and I gave that KTM all she had. I could see a little stand with a small child sitting on it in the distance. He had a yellow flag so I assumed something had to be coming up. As I approached, no course marking or anything he just stared at me. I took a glance back and saw that he was very cautiously pointing down to a wash. I quickly wheelie turned back around, jumped a wash and launched back onto course just barely edging out Josh who noticed me and was able to stay right on course.

The visibility helped me a lot while I was navigating the course, I could gain a big enough gap to help me maintain the lead if any mistakes were to happen. Back through the pits and onto the moto track, Josh and I were in a battle! I kept the lead just barely as we hit the offroad section again. I put my head down and charged on. I nailed this loop with no mistakes and opened up a good lead coming in to the pits where I needed fuel. I could see Josh’s pit not prepared for him so I took a breath. Thanks to Braydon, Boe and Jagger, I was out quick in the lead. I hit the moto track with my water bottle thinking Josh had stopped for fuel as well. NOPE! The sneaky guy skipped fueling on this lap and snuck right in on me on the track! He put a pass on me, I stayed right on his rear wheel and we were pinned all the way through the scoring tower and back out to the desert. I knew this would be a deciding factor for both of our races if he was able to make his lead stick.By lap 3 I was feeling confident in the course and my machine and let it all hang out. I edged right in on his rear wheel on the roads. There was a long sweeping S turn coming up over some rollers. I had checked these out on the previous loops and there was nothing out there that could bite me. I held it wide opened and launched off the road and over a roller, right into the face of the next, this put me right next to Josh. The 300 power hooked up and I was able to put the pass back on him. I gave him a fist pump as we pinned it down the road and funneled back into the tight trail.Then came the lappers. By this time the course was hammered. It was mostly baby powder with some rocks mixed in and hidden ruts underneath. The washes were sick still though! I’m so stoked for my Kenda tires that kept me planted. Most of all the NoToil air filter that saved my bike from all that powder! The dust was thick and you really had to get creative on your line choices to make passes. My Xbrand Goggles kept the dirt out of my eye and my vision clear. We made our way back around through the pits and I saw Josh’s pit with his dump can out meaning he had to fuel this lap. I had opened up enough of a lead that I settled back in and rode conservative for my last lap.

I was stoked, making my way back through the moto track to the scoring tower I had a grin ear to ear. Josh put up an awesome battle. What makes it better is right after he rode over and we congratulated each other and bench raced for a bit. That’s what makes desert racing the best is having my good buddy put up such a good fight and we can bro down afterwards.

Skyler_Howes_Drunkards_Wash_USRA_Overall_Win

I am pumped to take the overall win but definitely could not do it without the help of my amazing sponsors: Mom and Dad, Blais Racing Services, Fasst Company, KTM, Rebellious Status Clothing, ESR suspension, Race Tech, RAD Mfg, Freegun, AMS OIL, Alpinestars, Kenda, Pro Moto Billet, Fastway, FMF, Rekluse, HBD Motografx, Regina, TLD, BRP, Bullet Proof, DirtTricks, REEL Cameras, Eline, IMS, No Toil, Acerbis, Muscle Milk, Xbrand Goggles, A’ME Grips, RMOR FX and Bike Week Radio.

By: Braydon Bland, Super Mini

Last time I raced in Price Utah it was super dusty so I wasn’t to excited about this race until it rained earlier that week.  On Friday my dad and I drove down to Price for the race. When we arrived I signed up and walked the track with Skyler.  Afterwards Skyler, my dad, and myself talked a lot about the 10 hour race coming up this weekend and also ate some delicious burgers made by Brad Christensen.  When we finished dinner we went back to the hotel to check in so we could get some sleep.

Braydon_Bland_USRA_Win

PC: Bretlynne Lucas

Saturday we woke up early and had some breakfast then headed out to the race site.  I then noticed that it was dusty but still excited because it looked like it was going to be awesome. I got all geared up and went to the starting line, it was super muddy. I made myself a nice rut and got ready to start. The club would move us forward so none of us got the good lines we were hoping for.  We started on the motocross track but we were not using the gates.  It was a guy with a green flag and live engine.

When the flag moved we all took off and I got a good jump by the first corner. After  going around the track we hit the desert and I was out front with no dust. After about a mile I looked back and seen that it was super dusty but my buddy Jagger was charging through the dust.  Out on the course I hit a big double danger and smacked my pipe disconnecting it from my muffler so I focused on finishing my first loop as fast as I could.

Braydon_bland_Moto_Turn

PC: Michael Knight

Going out onto the second loop I noticed my buddy Benji’s bike off the side of the trail with no Benji. I was hoping he was ok.  The rest of the loop I felt solid again and had fun. Coming into the pits I would stop to have my dad fix my pipe. It was a fast pit considering what they had to do to fix my pipe but they were  still able to get me out right before Jagger finished his pit.

Third loop my bike lost a lot of power, which I assumed was my pipe. Going out onto the flats and faster parts of the loop I was having a hard time passing the lappers because of the loss of power. I still managed to stay in front of Jagger because of dust. When we came into the finish I looked back and noticed Jagger finished right behind me.  Stoked on taking 1st Overall!

After the race we were talking about my pipe and my dad noticed that my spark plug had twisted almost all the way off. He moved it about a half a turn and it fell right off.  Which solved the question of why the loss of power.  I was lucky to have finished the race.

The big bike race would start soon and I watched Skyler pull a sweet hole shot, battle on the track with a few people and would have the lead going into the desert. Skyler Howes and Josh Knight would battle through the race but Skyler Howes would end the race in 1st Overall!

Braydon_bland_USRA_Overall

PC: Michael Knight

I would like to thank USRA for putting on a great race and course.  My mom and dad for taking me to all my races and all my sponsors for the help, Blais Racing, XBrand Goggles, Fasst Company, Rekluse Motorsports, RAD Manufacturing, and everybody else for the help.

 

, ,

No comments yet.

Leave a Reply