Shayla Fulfer – Woman’s A class - Race Report, Round 7

I arrived at Utah Friday afternoon with my dad and went straight to the race site to sign-up for the race. The pits were full of campers and people there for the National Hare and Hound, Round 7,  50th Anniversary of the Cherry Creek race in Delta, Utah. I went into the big sign up tent that was full of people getting autographs from the pros. I signed up for the Woman's A class and got on my way back to Nephi, Utah, where I was staying the night.
My dad and I woke up early in the morning and headed to breakfast with David and Kit Kamo, then headed back out to the race site to get ready.

When we first got to the race site, we decided to go check out the bomb run before the race and walk it. The bomb run was pretty straight forward and easy. It was a grassy flat pasture with a few small G-outs towards the end of the bomb run. Once I walked the bomb run for about an hour, I decided to head back to the pits to get ready for the race. I pitted right next the factory KTM riders, David Kamo and David Pearson. I got all my gear on and made sure my bike was ready and got it tech inspected. My Yamaha YZF 250 was really noticeable to see because I painted the hand guards, radiator fins, and fork guards bright pink. I then went out to the starting line where I decided to start on the left side of David Kamo.

The race was suppose to start at 10:30 a.m., but got delayed for about an hour because some of the mini riders weren't all done racing yet. We then had the riders meeting and then the race began. They had the normal banner start and a gun shot started the race. I didn't get the best start because my bike didn't start until the second kick, but once it got started I was excited and took off. In the start I happened to catch up to Joanna Kaczmarek, who was my main competition. I ended up passing her towards the end of the bomb run. The first loop was really high paced and dusty. I got really bad arm pump and could barley hold on to my bike. As I came into the pits for the first time, everyone was cheering me on, which was very exciting and made me pumped. I got fueled up and away I went on the second loop.

The second loop was mostly in the tight Juniper trees, kind of technical, mostly first and second gear. The end of the second loop there was a sign that said "Lemonade Ahead", and I laughed because is was random and I thought people were playing a joke on us, but it wasn’t. I came around a couple of turns and there was a guy waving me in and holding a cup of pink lemonade. So I of course stopped cause I was thirsty and I thought that it was really cool that they did that. I finally came into the pits the second time and people were still cheering me on. I stopped at my pit and my dad and Kit Kamo helped refuel me and told me to take a break for a few cause I was in the lead by about five minutes. I ate a Reese’s peanut butter cup for some quick energy and it took me forever to get it down because it was so dry and stuck to my mouth, so I washed it down with some Gatorade and took off for the third and final loop.

National Hare and Hound women do the full course, but some of the woman only had to do two loops. The third loop was mostly tight tree riding again with some fast paced stuff. I was so happy to cross the Cherry Creek because I knew that it was close to the end. I was beat from hitting all the whoops, but I was happy to come into the finish in one piece without crashing once, which is surprising for me! I got to the finish, where I was handed my trophy, which was shaped as a rear sprocket and I got a $100 for being the first place woman finisher. I also got a cool belt buckle for finishing!

I would have to say that this was the best race I have raced so far! I thought the course was so much fun and I especially liked the tight tree riding. I also liked how the course was marked out really well and I liked how at every check point all the helpers and spectators were cheering me on, which makes me happy and gives me some extra confidence! I would like to thank everyone for putting on such a wonderful race and I can't wait for next year’s race!

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