Back in around '90 my friends and I drove down to southern Ohio for a big race and the track was basically flooded nearly the whole way around with just the jumps showing (a small stream next to it had flooded it's banks overnight). Suprisingly they did not cancel the race. I thought I would be smart and wear a garbage bag over my gear.... yeah that ended up being pointless. I started with about 4-5 tear-offs and within one or two laps, I had my goggles off. The underwater ruts were brutal and in the few spots where you could get out of second gear, the water would try to rip your feet off the pegs. I had my air box sealed up pretty good on my 1990 CR 250, but my buddy ended up smoking his crankshaft due to sucking too much grit into his bike there were a couple holes that were nearly 3' deep andhe found one of them. I am guessing only half of us finished that race (I got second IIRC). After the race we were suprisingly "somewhat" clean as it was more like a JetSki race than a motocross race.
My home track in Delta Ohio was clay. When it was wet, it was miserable as it would rut badly and sticky clay mud would cake everywhere on the bike making it feel like a heavy pig. I used to skip practice so I would have a spotless bike for the first moto. I nearly always pulled the holeshot, and until you ran into lappers, you had pretty clean sailing if you kept it upright and out front.
Watching this stuff on TV is bad for me. I always end up with a bad urge to buy a new bike and start hitting the races again in the 40+ class. A few years back I let my daughters try racing and I bought myself a cheap clapped out CR125 to putt around with them. I won the 2 races I entered in the 30 plus class against guys riding new fourstroke 450's even though I was on an old clapped out 125. Motocross is without a doubt the best form of racing or hobby I ever was involved with. It is nearly 100% about the skill/gonad size of the rider unlike most other forms of motorsport where it is often a combination of skill AND spending a fortune on a competitive mount. The feeling I used to get sitting on the start line with the 30 sec board turned sideways and the gate about to drop is like no other I have ever experienced.
Damn it I need to start racing again!
OK, I will shut up now
