| Chehalis, let's say it right. The "halis" part is easy hay-less. It's the pronunciation of the first part of this Native American word, that is where most people get lost. "Che" is said softer than the "Ch" in chopper but harder than the "Sh" in Sheila. If you blend these two together and practice you'll get Cha-hay-liss or Chelhalis. |
| Chehalis Classic 2008. |
| By Robin Hannah #960 |
| Sunday 8/10/08 I wake up and there is a light rain on everything. The track would not need to be watered for sure. The conditions that make the Pacific Northwest green were at work and we had a naturally watered,natural terrain European Scrambles style, MotoCross track, just screaming all of our names. You could feel the nervous tension, as riders were suiting up and making final preparations to their equipment. There were riders of great ability and fame, John De Soto comes to mind, and riders who just did good to stay out |
| of other, better riders way. Let me see, Oh that would be the category I fell into this race. Bikes at Chehalis varied in condition. There were Premier almost show condition eye candy bikes, that could be the centerfold model of Vintage MX Playboy and then there were the barn find looking bikes that went like stink. I like to call these the big block station wagons. |
| You know what I'm talking about? When you were a kid out cruising your Nova small block and the guy at the stop light beside you has his Dad's 455 Olds Vista Cruiser wagon? Good luck. One thing is for sure, if you were at The Farm, you were far from alone, with close to 500 entries, 18 motos were needed to get everyone racing with their proper competition. Most motos had 2 gates. |
| Left, Terry Miller, the owner of this little straight piped Honda twin said "I love the way this thing sounds when it's wound out" You know, I did too! |
| Below, Bill Miranda checking out the Race order. I guess he did'nt want to be lining his Open Sportsman Twin up with Hodakas |
Left to right Wayne Gray, Randy Skiver,
Ed Parsons and Robert Borg
Ed Parsons and Robert Borg
| The weather was overcast and cool, with little periods of sunshine. The track, ran clockwise this year and the pits, because of flood repair, were not in the usual, in front of the Barn location. If you've raced The Chehalis Classic before, you can see in this ariel photo from this years event that it was a different set up from years past. If not the pits are usually in the brown square in front of the large barn. |
| Out of the pits and on to the track. I rode third practice. Now I'm not complaining, just saying how it was, I mentioned the light rain so we know where this is going. Saaalick. That's an old racing term. Roughly translated wooobooobooobooooboooo. In the video accompaning this article you can see the current 500 Classic Expert National Champion Doug Grant gathering himself and his bike up after encountering a suprise slick spot. At his level of speed it probably happend quickly, as Doug is a fast guy. |
| The thing I've always liked about Chehalis is multiple lines. This saved me and alot of riders that are not that good in mud. Look in the photo to the right you can see in this corner, like most of the corners at this event, that if you took the inside line it was slick. The outside line though farther around, had some cushion and often a little more traction. Notice how the racer on the inside has to keep his bike more upright, because his line has less grip than his competitor, who is able to maintain higher corner speed on the outside. |
