by: Rodney Tomblin
Friday, December 11, 2015 | 1:10 PM
The 2015 Holiday season is in full swing and with Christmas just a few weeks away the air is full of joy and happiness. Uhhhh…Maybe, just maybe I’m going a little overboard here or at least a little too soon but I can’t help but feel some joy as I weigh some news that was kind of released last week. It may be the feel good story of the year in some ways and I think it is a perfect early Christmas gift for at least two of the warmest souls at the ATV Motocross Nationals. A tale that proves the ATV Racin’ Nation is worldwide.
Last week’s Site Lap I mentioned in my contribution that there were some pretty big things going on and the amount of information on the new Maxxis/Liquid Wrench/Elka/Honda Team that there was little time left for the next bit of information I wanted to share.
Anyone who has ever raced the national tour knows that sometimes the biggest obstacle is not talent but expense. Let’s face it. Some folks are blessed with the means. Other folks work hard to make the means and others even manipulate their means just to make it work. On top of that many even sacrifice to make the means possible just to go racing the nationals.
When I think about sacrifice there are many people that come to mind but some of the first to come are a couple of soft spoken, quiet brothers from east Tennessee. In their home region they are the fastest riders around. On the national scene they are competitive and always a threat. The biggest obstacle is that their program is underfunded. They work hard and scrape together everything they can piecing together a machine to make it through the next national. Actually just making it to the national is quite the chore but that is just another hill they climb every race they race.
The two I am referring to are Silas and Lucas Lamons. Silas the younger brother races AMA Pro ATV and Lucas the older brother races he Junior 25+ class. Both are fast and both are competitive and both love the sport to their core. Each time you talk to them they are focused to get through that round and hope they can make the next show. Even to the point where Lucas actually at one point in 2014 sacrificed his bike to his brother so he could compete in the pro class. Lucas would work and help buy parts and let Silas race just hoping they could someday get a break and be able to focus without all of the pressures just to get to the races and have a machine.
Last week I was scrolling through Instagram and came across a post where @silaslamons32 (Silas Lamons) was thanking an individual for helping make 2016 a reality. It read; “A big thank you to @feder269 (Federico Palacios) for making it possible that I can have another year doing what I love! We have some great sponsors behind us and I will be staying on a Suzuki! And with the team we will have @lamons30 (Lucas Lamons) @ekeffer3 (Ethan Keffer) and a couple more from Argentina! More news coming soon!”
And just like that it seems that all their patience and hard work finally paid off. The saying good things come to those who wait and good things come to good people could not ring more true in this instance. Certainly this is a shot in the arm and Silas Brothers Racing is all of a sudden a legit team and they will come with legit talent and legit goals of success. Plus, not only is this good for the brothers Lamons but also for Federico and the Argentinians that will be coming along. The personalities of the team should mesh very well and with the added support the dream is finally coming true for all involved.
Silas and Lucas Lamons dream of running the nationals with a team effort is coming true. Even though nothing is tested, tried or true yet all indicators are pointing up. It may or may not be the boost to put Lucas into a more solid position but it is a huge step forward for this program as Lamons Brothers Racing becomes a bigger player in the game. One thing is for certain, if niceness will win titles everyone on this team will be champions for a long time. However, being nice don’t win races but the talent this team packs just might.
That’s it from me for now. Let’s check into Gloop’s Loop and with Ken “Grizzly” Hill. Till next time, God Bless Your Heart and All Your Vital Organs.
In the Loop with Gloop:
Cole Sepesi is hard at training in his off season.
Nick Moser itching to ride! It will be nice to see a very familiar face back at the races.
Keeping up with Ken Hill:
Can you believe it is almost Christmas! Taking the Thanksgiving break from Site Lap may have helped the time pass but to me, it just seems like this off-season is flying by. It does not feel like it has been over 4 months since we saw the last gate drop of 2015 at Loretta Lynn's! The banquet is history and by cruising through social media, builds are heavily underway for most of the heavy hitters for the 2016 season and of course the news is starting to flow out as new teams are announced. Add to all this the incredibly mild weather for most of us this winter and we have the chance to keep riding right on through the next batch of holidays! That should really help those who normally are just hitting the gym at this point so I expect the first few rounds to be filled with riders ready to go!
Now thinking back to Thanksgiving I have to admit, it is a distant memory. The day after the banquet I rolled out and took my vacation, which ended up being a total flop depending on how I look at it. You may live and breathe racing but for me, it is hunting that drives me year round. It is a lot like racing, you are not guaranteed success, the effort sometimes doesn’t seem to be worth it and it can consume your life in every aspect. You may be fortunate enough to have a track that you take care of, I have my property to cater to wildlife. You have your quad, I have my bow and rifles. All require attention, maintenance, practice and dedication to make them work when its go time. You may get a trophy and I hopefully get food for the family and sometimes, a trophy for the wall.
Now I was feeling destroyed because all my hard work on the property and money into food plots did not pay off in a hammer buck, in all honesty I haven’t taken a buck in 5 years! I don’t take small bucks so it is my choice but the effort is the same. That gutted feeling lifted however when I sat back and realized I had indeed succeeded this season as well as my entire family by filling our freezers and that is the goal even if I did not get to boast about how Grizzly Adams I am by taking the mega beast of the forest. I am cool with that, but at some point I ask myself when am I am going to stop applying this high stress and pressure on myself. Well, if you are like me, you won’t stop and you keep doing everything in your power to do better, get stronger, go faster and succeed. It defines us and makes us who we are. It is something that those who do not compete, even against themselves, will never understand.
My future daughter in-law and wife both scored their first buck this year so I get to spend the next year having it rubbed in my face but that is ok. The steaks off those deer will taste mighty good as I work harder and do more, it will be my motivation. It is kind of the same way with the camera, I just try to out do myself and work as hard as I can regardless of others or factors I can not control. It’s sort of like getting bucked off in the first turn, you don’t just head back to the pits, you put your head down and fight back to take as many positions as you can but deep down, you feel like you let yourself down even when you could do nothing to prevent the events that led to your dirt sample. There is no room for quitters in this lifestyle or in life if you really think about it. So even though we are months away from racing again, keep in mind that you are not alone and you are not going to feel anything, good or bad, that many to the left and right of you on the gate hasn’t felt. That unspoken bond of racers helps get us all through at the low points.
That is enough motivation hidden above to last until next week as I am off to split firewood as the sun comes over the ridge. Talk about lack of motivation, this is a hard thing to do with temperatures expected in the low 60’s here this week! I do know at some point I will be sitting near the wood stove toasty warm as old man winter bares down outside making my efforts once again worthwhile!