Thank God I escaped that list, but then I never had a snow... chance of being on it!

Hey all, im sorry that their are somepeople in my class that are mad that i did win. u can call me whatever.but in my defense i dont have much raceing experience. i do have rideing experience. these one hr. long races bout kill me every race.i am new to this xc stuff and i chose to try amatuers to see how i would fair.AND I DID EXTREMELY WELL!!!! Lot better than i thought, i would.i will be moving up next year. 406 and 471 will probably move up as well.if i were really sandbagging i wouldnt have had to battle so hard against 406 and 471.u r certainly welcome to find all my races but the list is short my first race was in 2005 which i broke my leg and ankle year later i broke my leg and arm and wrist the last race of the season. That ended my mx racing. i finished the toro series in 2nd. in am class. 08-09 this was my first year in torn and loved it the people were great and the staff was perfect!!!! i look forward to see everyone again next season. (SMILEY AND DAVID) in the intermediates.David thanks for the pics.

Well that's one reason I posted the lap times ect. Looks to me like you just had a few really good races and the rest were hard fought battles. It feels a lot different when you in a big class like that, it feels like the leaders were gone! LOL
From what I saw I don't think ya'll were sandbagging. There will never be a straight across the board amateur class, ours was as close as I have ever seen this season (over 30 ladies am)
Don't apologize for winning. Be proud and move on from here. Someone has to win and the winner will always be called a sandbagger.
Good luck and congrats!
Liss 215green
Gary 415 white

I want to win a race....... I have been racing for 9 years and I don't see myself getting any faster..... something about turning 40 slows you down. I figured as long as I can just keep riding, that is all that matters.

For the record, I am not mad at Dale or anyone, I just don't think some of the guys in our class made the appropriate decision when choosing to place themselves in Amateur (and choosing to stay there). There is no clear definition of what "amateur" is, and that is probably not possible, so I am not upset with Torn either. Considering Toro races are more difficult and 50% longer, I think that anyone finishing top 5 in amateur with Toro should place themselves in intermediate with Torn. If you would beat several guys in Expert or Intermediate in Torn (see Meridian & Village Creek), maybe you are in the wrong class. Also, I think riders need to give extra consideration to moving up when it is so crowded in AM and light in INT and EXP.

I like what some 50AM kids & parents did after a race or two: move to intermediate for everyone's sake.

I brought all of this up months ago just because I believe what is right is right, but it doesn't effect me other than I would go from 22nd to 18th. So everyone have a merry Christmas and no hard feelings.

Hee hee hee so I guess torn experts should race intermediate and the intermediates race the amateurs in toro? Wow that will set good seeing 95% of the people race both series.

I think I will just trust in Curtis (don't anyone tell him I said that) to put people in the right class.

Ok now I am just picking at ya! Seriously go race any other series and enter the over 30,35,whatever age class amateurs and race with 30 guys. It's the same everywhere. The see how many "intermediates" you get to race.
BTW There is also not a series around here that cares what level you race elsewhere. TORN, TORO or TCCRA.They just care what level you are in their series.

I am working on the move ups, looks like it's going to be over 100 riders going up. Both out of the intermediate and amateur classes. I will put them up in the next couple of days when I finish. But Liss, I did move you to the Over 30 Lad Int.

Sweeeeeeet! Look out ladies! You thought I was in the way before now I don't have to move over......

BTW I call 115green!!!!!!!!

I think that riders that were bumped will suprise themseleves at how much faster they can go when they ride in a higher skill level. You can always go faster in cross country when you have people on the track with you that can push you a bit.