Cody Schafer- One To Remember

Written by The Off Road Corner
One To Remember


2009 has been not only a learning curve in my amateur career, but it has been a year where all my hard work and effort has finally begun to pay off.  In 2009 my main goal was to chase points in the Pro 2 class of the WORCS series. Before the season started, I set my sights on just finishing top ten, but as the season began to wind down; I realized I had a shot of actually finishing within the top 5 which soon became my new goal. In the end I ended up as 4th overall in Pro 2 as a non-factory supported rider.

The year didn't start off the best way as I would've liked. In Speedworld with me having my countershaft sprocket loosening and coming off (turns out me the master mechanic I am, I forgot to pound down the lock washer onto the sprocket so that was my little mistake…Won't do that again!) With my bike breaking down the second race I thought my chances of racing the first Pro 2 round were all but gone.  Luckily I was the first person to miss out on qualifying out of the first race so with the people who qualified out of both races I was bumped up to a qualifying position. With my bike broken, I had to ride one of the bikes I had just bought and was very unfamiliar with so it was going to be a struggle to say the least. I finished that race up in 13th I believe, so it was a bit of a disappointment but at least I got to race.

As the year went on my finishes got better and better! So I just tried to remain consistent and always finished inside the top ten. With each race came a new challenge at a new track, which made it very exciting to see where different riders had strengths and weaknesses.  My favorite race of the year was Honey Lake where the bit slower speeds and rocks seemed to fit my skills better then most the other tracks.   
The most memorable moment from this race came in the last quarter mile of the race.  I had been feeling very well at the end of the race and just began to push and start catching the riders in front of me.  I worked my way into i think 5th past Travis Coy and with one lap left he was right behind me as we were coming into the pro pit section which they had built a chicane in with hayebails.  Travis pulled up next to me and we were in a drag race to the chicane; neither one of us was going to back down and we both shut down too late and we exploded the hayebails side by side with our bars pretty much entwined.  It was now a race to pick yourself up and get your bike going to the finish about 100 yards away.  He won the battle this time.  At the finish line i was laughing so hard i could barely ride.  It was so funny to think that at the end of a 2 hour race it comes down to who can pick their bike from the mess of hay bails to get just one more position.
The best race i had ended up being Glen Helen where i finished 4th,  i really thought this would be one of the tougher races for me to do good but things just seemed to come together for me at this race.  The course ended up having an awesome Pro only section that i think really helped me out because it seemed like i would gain tons of ground compared to the other riders every time i went through there.  Looking back i think just being smooth and riding a smooth comfortable pace helped a lot in the end.  The track was nasty and could slam you on the ground really quick.  This race hurt quite a few of the top pros and i am sure some of the pro 2's had troubles as well.

At the end of the year i began to realize you couldn't win the race on the first lap but you sure could lose it.  At Racetown i was in like 6th coming into the Endurocross and when i went to go over the small set of tires i put my foot down and somehow it got stuck in between two of the tires and i was trapped!  after donkey kicking myself out of the tire i had a lot of work to do to catch up and just made the race way harder then it should have been.  At one of the next races i round myself trapped in a crevice under my bike so that was great.  Another race i found myself looped out on a hill with Robbie Goolsby's tire on my back, another race we raced in a downpour which turned the ground to ice, another race was a hundred something degrees and to finish it up the last race had sections of silt that swallowed many riders bikes.  With all of these crazy conditions it just became very apparent survival was the key to good finishes.  I for sure am not the fastest rider out there but i was consistent and finished every race inside the top ten that let me finish the year the way i did.
WORCS was a very fun series to chase and it would be a great thing to try to do again next year.  It was always a great road trip and we were able to meet tons of cool people and have stories we will be able to tell for years down the road.  We went from the beginning of the year not knowing a person to having many friends.  We met lots of people who were kind enough to invite us out to their houses in the winter to get out of the Colorado snow and we will probably have to take them up on those offers.  As i am writing this now there is about 18 inches of snow pilled up and I am really wondering how i could escape this state…  I think my next trip out west will be for day in the dirt and i am super excited because i have wanted to do this race since i was a little kid!  So i will probably see some of you again in a couple weeks.  Thank you all for reading this year!

Cody