Kyle Schafer- Post Season Report

Written by The Off Road Corner
Post Season Race Report

450 B class winner. That pretty much tells the story of the past weekend in Mesquite, Nevada. I was able to pull off the championship in the WORCS series. On Friday in practice I was trying to get comfortable on my YZ250 after riding a KX250f for the three weeks prior to the race. My bike took a dumper at round 9 in Glen Helen and almost cost me the championship, so I was a little more accustomed to the Kawasaki and during practice I was about to throw the Yamaha off a cliff! I was so uncomfortable!

Luckily by the end of the day I was somewhat used to the YZ again. As Saturday morning rolled around I rode a few laps in the Unclassified race and was feeling back to 100% on the YZ and was ready to race.
Sitting on the starting line I was more nervous than I had ever been before in any other race… I had to win. It was my only option. As the flag waved I was about third coming out of the first corner, I could work from there. As my class entered the off-road section there were riders laying everywhere! The first lap I only went down three times. I remember listening to Steve Hatch say, "Race the track not, the other riders," It helped out a lot! I was running third after about the thirty minute mark and had second in my sight. It was the rider that was leading the points in my class! Race the track not the other racers! I had to keep telling myself this. After pressuring second into a mistake I was able to get by and work on first. As I came around and scouted out my mom in the pits and read the pit board, I realized I was about ten seconds back. I pushed hard and on the last lap as we both entered the off-road section I was right behind the leader, I came around one of the sand corners and saw Mr. Skylar Dupree parked in the weeds after picking his bike up for probably the 8th time. He was pointing straight at the leader and I think he might have scared him a little bit! The leader stumbled in the sand and I was able to make a pass for the lead. All I was thinking was, "Don’t crash!" I rode the rest of the lap as smooth as possible and somehow managed to keep it on two wheels. I crossed the finish line and looked up in relief. The race was over, I did everything I could and emerged victorious! Woo Whoo!!!

As the afternoon came around I was just thinking to myself how smooth the track was going to be. "Like a freeway," I told myself. Sadly this wasn’t the case. Some of the whoops were deathly large! The sand whoops were bloody dreadful and the silt in my eyes made me cry! Not the most fun I’ve had on a bike but it was definitely better than sitting in English class! Homeschooling please! Trying to find a smooth line or two was like looking for Waldo! One of the most impossible things to find in the world! I was able to pull out a third in the Open B race… turns out the other riders felt just as worthless as I did! Unfortunately on the last lap I came upon my team mate Corey Dry slouched over his handlebars, he went down and wasn’t feelin’ too good. Luckily he was still able to qualify for Pro 2 along with my brother Cody. 

Sunday morning was the Sport B race and I was hopeful for a smooth track! I got a terrible start but I was able to work up into fourth. The race was very uneventful other than the usual crying from silt in the eyes, I managed to finish the series in 3rd overall in the Sport B class. I ended up having quite a successful year and I would just like to thank God for keeping me safe all year. In addition I would like to thank my Mom and Dad for slaving away to support me in my expensive habit! Ian Blythe and my brother Cody definitely helped me out with increasing my speed so thanks to those two as well.  And of course I have to thank my sponsors for their support: G- Force Powersports, Theorc.com, Bell Helmets, Fly Racing, Pro- Action, Easton, Rev Grafix, Topar Racing, and most importantly Andrew Campo for getting me so much help this past year. Thanks for reading!

-Kyle Schafer #148