Kris Schamp
Hello OBRA racers,
Last Monday we kicked off the second edition of the Portland MTB Short Track Series (www.portlandracing.com) in style. A record 150 racers showed up and 70 of them raced the series for the very first time. Welcome to all new racers!
Here are some updates ahead of tomorrow's short track races.
1) Short track race # 2 is on!
While there are no road races at PIR on Monday 7/17, the MTB short track races will take place as scheduled. In other words, this will be an excellent opportunity for all roadies out there to come check out what the MTB short track craze of late is all about. And for those who don't have a mountain bike, a cyclocross bike will work just fine. It will be a great work-out for cross season!
2) Queen of the Night & other weekly prizes
Christine MacKenzie has won our first Queen of the Night trophy. Her name was drawn among all women racers. Christine wins a $75 gift certificate, donated by our Women's Sponsor Bike 'N Hike! Each week another woman racer will get a chance to win our Queen of the Night trophy, so keep on coming back girls!
Like last year, we also raffle off weekly beer & soda prizes among all our thirsty racers. Go to http://www.portlandracing.com/weekly-prizes.html to find out if you are the lucky winner of a 6-pack of Pyramid Hefeweizen, Thunderhead IPA, Curve Ball Kolsh, or a 6-pack of Thomas Kemper root beer.
3) Results & Categories
The final results of last Monday's races and the series points for the top-15 in each category are posted at http://www.portlandracing.com/results-07-10-06.html.
Your 5 best races out of 6 will count towards the overall series standings, so even if you missed the first race of the series you can still be a contender for the overall. Further, we decided to create a Sport Men 45+ category to split up the large Sport Men field.
4) Photos
If you haven't seen all the cool photos taken at last week's race, check out our photo page at http://www.portlandracing.com/photos.html.
Thanks to Lee Bautista and Tom Hoffman for shooting at last Monday's race and making their photos available to our racers. Lee has even volunteered to be our official series photographer, so he will be posting more action shots on his web site throughout the series.
5) Registration & race plates
We like to remind you that each race ALL racers need to check in at registration at least 15 minutes before their race. Even if you have paid already.
Racers will be using the same race plate throughout the series, so if you raced last week don't forget to bring your plate and make sure to attach it to your handlebars in a way that your number is readable. If our lap counters can't read it, they won't count it.
Tip: to enhance your plate's readibility and durability, you might want to get it laminated (less than $1 at your local copy center).
6) Kiddie races
We were excited to see so many kiddie racers at last Monday's series opener! Our kiddie races are FREE and every week we will give away cool prizes donated by the Bike Gallery, our official Kids Sponsor . So spread the word!
If you raced last week's kiddie race, make sure to bring your race plate. And going forward, we like to ask all parents/guardians of kiddie racers to check in at our registration desk (prior to the kiddie race) and sign a series waiver.
7) Helmets Rule!
Finally, another friendly reminder that wearing a helmet is mandatory at PIR (and at all OBRA races) whenever and wherever you're on your bike. That includes when riding your bike from and to your car.
That's it. Hope to see you all on Monday evening at PIR!
Cheers!
~Kris