LOON 100 XC RACE RECAP / PORTAGE LAKE, ME / ORGANIZED BY BUDDY COLLINS

What’s going on everyone TJ leech here with a recap video of my March 9th 2024 cross country race up in Portage Lake Maine uh it was the lon 100 New England cross country snow race um buddy Collins his wife and his sister did an incredible job putting this venue

Together I just wanted to start off first by thanking uh him and his sponsors for providing a decent size purse for all the racers uh as well as organizing and setting up the uh organizing the event uh setting up the pits bathrooms uh the um registration tent um

And the track uh Scott Preston and some of his team from neexe showed up and helped up helped set up some of the track so I want to also extend a thank you to him as well but they did that was so awesome and extremely helpful especially for people that were running

Ice setups was they put a strip of snow on the edge of the parking lot so you can just back your trailer up and then take the strip of snow down onto the water the track conditions stayed frozen solid except for one tiny little puddle on the straightaway I was really

Surprised by that just given the really warm temps on Friday um but for the most part we had a solid hard ice tiny bit of snow but that blew off on the the uh main line on the track the track also had a good mix of hair pin turns

Sweepers and straightaways there were really only a handful of like true straightaways there was always some subtle turns put in uh it was just it was just about a six mile track in incredible track it was so so fun and it was a good test of Ice lon’s

Uh skills with with cornering and then also testing some top end speed my sled I had set up for ice um Eric at shocktech can’t thank him enough helped me with um slugging my rear shock and my um front ski shocks down and then we threw our full ice setup in um another

Uh thanks to Ben langis gave me some tips on suspension setup um ordered some parts before the race was able to get them in and get a little bit of testing in the Friday before the race um and it was incredibly noticeable the difference uh in handling with uh with those

Changes I ran the pro open in the morning the um Pro Stock uh Lon 100 race which is actually around 1 oock um it wasn’t the last race of the day which is really interesting um I preferred it uh if the the anyone who was watching or

Spectating they didn’t have to wait till the very end of the day to see the the the pros uh duel it out which um was really cool uh and then there was also an Eliminator race where it was just one lap um all Racers that signed up would

Go at once the top five would qualify for the final which was just one another single lap and then winner takes off which is really cool uh the pro open I was pretty stoked I was able to keep up for the most part um didn’t have a great start but uh top

End and cornering in line choice I didn’t absolutely fall off the pack which was made me happy um I was able to see the front pack I was you know maybe like under 100 yards away and I could see them I actually felt myself gain a

Little bit at times um but until those guys like found the good lines um they then started to pull away and that was evident in the stock uh Lon 100 m race which was 16 laps um I was having issues with overheating and and uh in fuel light I

Ended up having to pit twice just because I didn’t know if I was going to run out of gas uh I’m having uh uh um I I flashbacks to my aquastic race when I ran out of gas and I just didn’t want that to happen especially where my light

Kept coming on at the furthest part of the track away from the fuel stop um it was annoying I was holding third place um and having a great battle with Scott Preston um but unfortunately just car weren’t in my favor for that race um I was pretty bummed after that and I

Wasn’t really looking forward to The Eliminator race but I’m so glad I did it um and and stuck to it because it was that was the most fun race of the day for me uh there was really good battling you could throw a blanket over pretty

Much everyone um in just that one one laap battle came out dead last in the first heat uh and ended up passing and just making my way into that fifth qualf final spot um conin Savage and Eric gleech and myself were just swapping like the last like quarter mile um and I

Rised it all and took the outside line was was able to beat Eric um for that final fifth place position and then in the final I ended up coming in fourth um I got to tip my hat to Luke V kid is so fast and it’s really great to have him

Also racing out west in The Core Power Sports series and then racing here in the East just to kind of put some perspective of how freaking fast those guys are out west and having him come and race us and seeing how much we need to improve there’s a big disparity

Between east and west or you could say Central but um east and west and um it gives me it gives me lights a good fire under me to you know work harder put more time into testing and really get a fast setup and also just get better at

At racing ice again big thanks to Buddy Collins Awesome event he was great uh announcing um great at the awards ceremony you guys like that bring it back next year what maybe I’ll be able to hang with you guys next year I’m going outside practicing tomorrow he at Dean Motor Lodge which

Need to throw another thank you out to that for having us host a banquet there and great food by the way if you’re ever up in Portage Lake stop there uh Saturday night prime rib delicious and then lastly uh big thanks to my sponsors um helping me get a good setup on my

Sled and help me with gear and nutrition and um supplements and and everything I can’t thank him enough um I had a really good time despite the results and uh though it’s the last ice race of the Season I’m really looking forward to next year I’m going to put a lot of time

In the summer to uh really get ahead of the game and put myself in a really good position for that first Ice Race I’d like to come in really well prepared and ready to race thanks for watching this video and I’ll see you guys next Time s