Brooksville, FL
I haven’t been to a race in 3 months so I was only hoping for a top 12 finish. The track was a smooth flowing, fast, dust free course. I got a lousy start but stayed in the top 12 the whole race. After finishing 4 laps and just coming 7 seconds shy of being able to make a 5th lap, I was more tan satisfied with 11th place. I am looking forward to running some enduro events next year.
Yesterday on the way home they “Beast” finally rolled it’s first of hopefully many 100k increments.
I can’t wait the race this Sunday, it is at my favorite properties of the season. It just rained yesterday so the course should be perfect for the weekend. It’s been a while since I have seen everyone at an FTR event so I hope to have a great time racing with my son Cody.
This was the toughest race I have raced to date. “Rough” is an extreme understatement to try an describe this terrain. I have never seen so many riders screaming “Uncle” half way through the race, and I have to admit that I did not enjoy this race at all and am proud to have just survived it. My goal was to finish in the top 10 and I am more than happy with a 9th place finish in the new “B” class (Those guys are fast!)
Cody in his new class “C250” 
Cody and I have been getting ready to go to our first race of the season this Sunday in Bartow. It seems like forever since we were out racing and having fun. We are planning on heading up Saturday and camping out overnight. This is the only course last year that we didn’t race so we are both excited to get started this year on a new (to us) course.
August 1st was the year end championship awards banquet for FTR. I was presented with the class 1st place year end championship trophy and jacket. Sherry and I had a great time and a fun night at the event. Thanks to Matthews Currie Ford for all there support this year as well as Action Power Sports in Nokomis.
1st place… It’s all about the jacket!
Sherry, my biggest fan of all.
I got into this sport when I came across a website called Daveintheusa.com . It was a blog about hare scramble racing by Dave Francis who has been racing just about everything on 2 wheels most of his life. I was so inspired, I started training and racing in FTR. At the banquet a family asked if they could join us at our table and the man said “Hi, I’m Dave Francis, nice to meet you” … Seriously, How cool is that. What a great way to end the season.
My biggest competitor and friend, Jerry Mena. The season would not have been as great as is was without him pushing me though every rut, bump, rock, tree, mud-hole, and whoop. Whoo – Whoo! See ya’ on the line next year bud.
Not bad for my first season… 13 races 2-1st, 2-2nd, 2-3rd, 1-4th, 1-5th, 1-6th, and one 1-7th
11 trophies in a row with the overall Championship and a Championship Jacket… priceless!
The ride to day was awesome. No other way to say it… 20+ FTR’s finest blasting our way through the woods for hours on end playing follow the leader. Great way to practice and have fun!!!!
Jonny’s track is flooded so everyone is meeting at Croom Sunday morning for a fun ride. I can’t wait to blast the trails with some of my FTR buddies. Croom should be perfect with moist sand slightly packed and best of all… No Dust!!! I can’t wait!
Jonny Simpkins is having another ride this Sunday at his place. Awesome!!!
Quote from Jonny via FTR forums
“I will be having another ride here at my house, south of Clermont, on next Sunday the 12th. Last time we had 23 FTR racers show up for the riding, swimming and eating. It was a blast and also great training for the upcoming new season. If you think you can make it, please email me at mxracer36@msn.com I want to make sure I try to keep the number of riders around 30. I want to say it again that this course is single track, not high speed at all, some mud, some water, palmettos, roots, big spiders, face slappers, huge mosquitoes that will take you off the bike if you stop anywhere in the shaded woods. This course is not like Crooms, it is tight and tough and will work you the whole 5 mile loop. The food afterwards is always great and prepared by the perfect cook, Wendy. The pool is always full and some crazies attempt to do back flips. I just did get 2.5 inches of rain here today, so we will need to keep an eye on how much rain we get before Sunday. I will post a note here on Friday and Saturday letting everyone know if I have had too much rain to have the ride. Email me if you have questions,
Jonny Simpkins
www.jonnyjpeg.com “
