Sunday
The weather has been good to us all weekend, however.. track work has been done overnight and the place needs a lot of water to keep the dust away. So as you can probably guess, the circuit is a mudder and Pingree is first out. Its no secret they dont get as much rain or conditions we get in America. So i was feeling bad for the guy.. i was also checking we brung spare clutch plates, piston, oil, coolant!
A holeshot is priority in these kind of conditions, and especially on a old school GP circuit as it is narrow and tough to pass. Pingree has no hope on a 125!
The gate dropped and he was no where to be seen. He and the bike were caked in so much mud it wasn’t until the next lap i could see the fluo green on the radiator shrouds to know it was him. I didn’t expect him to finish if i’m honest. But the guy did, picking off riders and getting retaken up the long hills. “Man, i should of sat that one out” was the first thing he said as he pulled off the track. I chuckled, thought the same thing but in retrospective, he had gotten the opportunity to race the historic circuit in conditions completely unknown to those back home. He can look back, laugh and have a great story to talk about.
Moto 2 rerun – 22nd.
Now Farleigh Castle is very good at obsorbing moisture and making the soil dry quick. So the next 2 races should be dry. Which is good news for Pingree and the bike!
Race 3 and conditions were possibly the best they’ve ever been all the times i’ve watched or ridden the circuit myself! We got GoPro footage of this race and it is damn good! Very luck also as it was possibly Pingree’s best race as well.
A bad start again (dead last) and i was fearing he may not enjoy sunday. I had no idea how the hell he did it but he’d gone from outside 40th up to the top 10 in just 1 lap! It was game on, he had the spectators on their feet and our hearts racing. I could tell near the end of that moto he was tiring, and who wouldn’t? Eating rocks by 500s isn’t easy.
Moto 3 – 4th. You can watch onboard footage of this race Here
Final race was upon us. The bike had lasted, i had guys congratulating me on making it happen and it felt good. I did have to tell them “No relaxing yet, we’ve got 1 race left. I can’t sigh relief until its over”
Dejavu of race 3, Pingree got sandwiched at the first corner, blitzed through the field. What was special to me during this race was actually seeing his Wife Amber and 2 daughters cheering him on every lap. They hadn’t stopped supporting him since the moment he sat on the bike and to me thats what i love about the sport.
Moto 4 – 4th
Overall – 8th.
The end of a memorable weekend and 10 months of buildup.
I’m not sure how to describe how I feel right now. But I’ll try my best
Since for as long as I remember I always wanted to become a pro Motocross rider. And in reality not all dreams come true. But if I couldn’t become a pro or live a life racing Motocross any more, I would only dream of a pro rider riding a bike of mine some day instead.
I have never felt excitement, stress, nerves in my entire life like I have building up to the VMXDN knowing David Pingree, a guy I watched countless times on my recorded VHS tapes as a kid growing up, will race my 1996 Splitfire Pro Circuit 125 Kawasaki.
What a hell of a weekend it has been!!
A massive thank you to everybody that made this project happen. Davey Coombs at Racer X, Mark Fox at Foxtech, Tom Brown at Motoxtreme, Jordan Carter, Lewis at Unbounded Designs, my family, Chuck and Rick Davies, Clayton Grubb, Terry Adams, Pete Hulbert, all the guys around the world who helped me source parts. Dave King for such an awesome event each year and the Yamaha RFX team for allowing us to have the bike under the teams rig. Fantastic people.
David Pingree and his family are the nicest people you could imagine. From the moment we all met them to the end of the weekend they were so welcoming, thankful & helpful.
You can check out the interview Motohead had with Ping from Farleigh Here
I can ramble on for hours, but I’ve barely slept these last few weeks. I can now stop worrying, smile, remember this moment forever and have zero regrets.
Thanks David, it’s been one hell of a journey! Hope to see you all again in the future.
As they say in the movie Field of Dreams – “If you build it, they will come!”
#90sMotocross
Check out the interview with David Pingree by Racer X Here
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