Since it was the first race we wanted to go somewhere that wasn't crowded. We decide to go to a new track. The track is called Switchbacks and is located in Butler, PA. They have been holding races there for two years but this was their first race as an AMA District 5 Sanctioned track. Because of this, not many people heard of the track so it wasn't very crowded. The rest of the District 5 racers were probably at another race such as the Spring Series race at Brownsville. There were only 6 people in the 125 B class so the racing was very relaxed. Relaxed but still pretty fast.
The track was pretty nice and we started to get the hang of it by the end of the day. There were a couple of problems encountered during the day. The practice was only 4 laps so we didn't get much time on the track before the race.
In the first moto the start was pretty clean. Marlin got a good start with Josh just behind. On the first lap Josh had a little to much speed going into a turn and bumped into his brother and almost fell. The guy just behind him hit him and knocked him off balance and he fell over. While he was getting up he got hit again so he was very far behind. He caught up and passed one person by the end of the moto. Meanwhile Marlin with his good start lost it by overshooting an uphill double and ran off the track. Trying to get back on the track he was passed by a couple people. He tried to catch up but got tired too quick and settled for fourth place.
In the second moto the start was clean again. Josh had a great start with Marlin just behind. On the first lap Marlin made a small mistake and got passed. He was trying to pass back when the guy in front of him messed up in a turn and almost fell. Marlin was moving at a good speed and drilled him hard in the turn. He pulled his bike back and took off trying to catch up as fast as he could. His bike's front end was all twisted making it hard to ride. Then all of a sudden in a straight away he just fell abruptly. Getting up he noticed his handle bar was broken. Knowing that he couldn't finish the race he hurried back to the pit and rushed back to watch his brother race. Josh did real good in the second moto. He was running in second when an A rider crashed and messed him up while he was getting up. Josh lost a place and couldn't pass back. He ended up with third in the moto and third in the race.
After inspecting the broken handlebars on Marlin's bike we came to the conclusion that the bars broke and caused the crash. This is why the crash happened so quickly. It is a good thing the bars didn't brake on a large jump because Marlin could have been seriously injured. We decide that we are going to start changing bars once in a while to ensure their strength.
Even though they had a rough day the Plummer Motocross Team was in high spirits. They are looking forward to the rest of the season and hope it is successful.