Report from Nick Burson
This past weekend I was going to take the weekend off and just rest and relax. I was using it as a weekend to rest up for this coming weekend. I have the last round of the USDR series. Ty called me on Thursday and brought to my attention that the Elsinore GP was this weekend and it would be a good race for me to ride because its good publicity for Husky and they usually have a pretty good pro purse. I thought about if for a day or so and decided, why not. I race every weekend anyway why do I need a weekend off. To me it felt like I still took some time off because I didn’t race or ride on Saturday. The reason I was taking the weekend off was because my family had planned to come down to my house for a little get together. We still had all of my immediate family over at my apartment on Saturday. There were 8 adults, 2 dogs and a 6-month-old baby in my two-bedroom apartment in San Diego, CA. It was a little crazy but fun. It was weird for me not to be focusing on racing Saturday but just hanging out and relaxing with family.
Sunday morning my Dad and I woke up and headed to Elsinore. The GP was being staged where the minor league baseball team plays. I have never done an Elsinore GP before but this year’s was supposed to be as close to the original Elsinore GP as any of them. I got signed up and just worked on my bike getting it ready. I was going to do two races, Open Expert and the Legendary Harvey Mushman race. The Open Expert was just my practice race and I did two laps just to see where I was going and pulled in. I felt confident going into the mushman. It was a 100mile race that was going to last anywhere from 2-3 hours. I really like the long races because my fitness helps bring me an advantage. I lined up on the first row and was surprised at how many people were racing this legendary race. The mayor of Elsinore came by shaking all of our hands and actually waved the green flag to start the race. The race had a lot of spectators and was just a really cool venue.
I got out to a great start. I was leading and about halfway around the first lap I realized I kind of had a pretty good lead. After the first lap I had a 15second lead. I was just pacing myself and riding my own race. About lap 3 Ty Renshaw had caught and passed me. I got a little dusted out and lost sight of him for a little while. A little before the halfway point I started pushing it and realized I was catching him. I was right on him when I had to pit. When I got going again I lost sight of him again and just tried to put consistent laps together. The course had a huge water crossing, probably the biggest I have ever seen in one of my races. It was about 100ft long and 2-3ft deep. There were a lot of different styles through it, I just tried to go a little slower and not get my goggles and hands too wet. With about 3 laps to go I was around 10 seconds back from the leader. I started charging and realized I had a shot at winning this legendary race. With two laps to go I was right behind him heading out. There was no way I was going home with 2nd today. There was a really fast straight away and my Husqvarna pulled his bike and I made the pass. From there I just charged as hard as I could to pull a gap. About halfway through the last lap I looked back and didn’t see him anywhere. I knew all I had to do is ride smooth to the finish. I crossed the line after 14 laps in first place and I was pretty excited.
To go from not racing at all to show up Sunday and end up winning this race that I have been watching all the top guys win for years was amazing. On the other hand I was really happy with my bike and my fitness. I felt strong the entire time and my bike ran amazing. My last lap was 2 seconds slower then my fastest lap, which I was really proud of after 2 hours of racing. I just would like to thank my Dad for helping me pit and get my bike ready. Also the Zip Ty race team, Ty and Steve, for coming out and supporting me.
