Rally West Virginia 2008

Attacking Appalachia

Day 1

February, we were in South Carolina. May brought us to Tennessee. Colorado occupied what seemed to be most of July, and here we are, on August 1 looking at a hazy morning sky over the Blue Ridge Mountains for the first time.

Rally West Virginia is a new stop on the tour for Rally Moto and it looks to be a good one. The roads and scenery here are beautiful and since this is a two-day rally, car teams have flocked from all over to the small city of Elkins. Teams representing american, european, south american and central american countries dot the start list. The entry list for motorcycles is also strong, considering that you must have had some previous RallyMoto experience to be granted entry into this rally.

Safety is a priority at all rallies, but the top competitors know that speed and control tend to be opposing factors and smart drivers need to know when to sacrifice each for the sake of a fast stage time. The organizers of Rally West Virginia are direct in their message that the factor of consequences in this Rally is extremely high. For instance, supplemental bulletins in our competitor packet included three pages of warnings such as this one:

For the crew who just returned from Pike's Peak, a 300 ft drop might not seem as significant as it once was, but that doesn't make it any less meaningful. The biggest question in the minds of our riders is what the surface will be like on these roads. The terrain here is mountainous and this is a part of West Virginia that contributes to the state's reputation for natural resource extraction. The forest roads see traffic from heavy logging machines and the soil, whose color varies along with the elevation, is reportedly littered with chunks of sedimentary limestone of various sizes. On the transits in between stages, the tarmac is severely pocked from the constant flow of ten wheel dump trucks transferring coal from the mines on the mountain to the dressing plant and loading station in the valley.

In sharp contrast to the heavy industry in the area are the mountain villages that wear the heritage of their ancestors on their sleeves, houses and flagpoles. Stages with names such as "Adolph Expressway", "Uber Deutschland", and "From Helvetia in a Handbasket" are more than a cute theme thought up by a rallymaster during the cold winter months - they come from the unincorporated town names of the area. August 1st is a Swiss national holiday, so we wonder whether how the townfolk of Helvetia will celebrate this occasion?

We will honor the first day of the month by tasting of some of the local roads. The cars will run seven stages this afternoon while the motorcycles ride one stage a couple of times at street pace for "recce" and will then commence our first timed stage somewhere in the vicinity of 5:30 pm. We will get an early start on Saturday to tackle 9 stages over the course of 100 miles.

We have eight TEAM MAX BMW riders in attendance, and we will get to test our mettle against a flock of KTMs, one Honda, and the Aprilia ridden by Atlantic RallyMoto Cup points leader, Mark Ely. Doug Morrison, who currently sits in third place in the ARC standings has an opportunity to make up some ground this weekend, as do Max Stratton (currently 5th) and Joe Warner (currently 7th). TEAM MAX BMW comprises 13 of the 46 ARC competitors in the overall standings with only Rally West Virginia this weekend and Black River Stages in September to finish off the season.

Now it's time to commence the ritual of unloading the bikes and getting back in to RallyMoto mode. We'll check in tomorrow to let you know how it's going.

Day 2

What a long, slow day it's been.
A busy day goes by quickly. Today was not one of those days. Although we were fortunate to have a warm day with some cloud cover, the gentle pace to which we were introduced to Rally West Virginia may have been too gentle. The motorcycles arrived at the Elkins Airport for Parc Expose at 11 am amidst the clanking of tools, the revving of car engines and the squawks from scanners picking up the ham radio operators getting ready for the afternoon stages. We enjoyed lunch while the car crews enthusiastically sent their drivers out for their first stage at 12:30. After a quick riders meeting to go over some of the details for the afternoon's activities and to receive our timecards, we watched a couple of small aircraft land and readied ourselves for our first stage of Rally West Virginia.



We left the service area at 2 pm and headed out for two low-speed transits across the stage that we would run under timing later in the day. Cruising the 7-plus mile stage gave us a quick appreciation for the cautions that we had read in the bulletins. Yes, in fact, the mountain does drop away very quickly in many spots on the stage. But the hairpin turns were going to prove to be the trickiest. Following a roll chart while under full power is impossible and without the benefit of a co-driver, there is little warning about the path ahead. After our review of the stage, we spent some time appreciating nature and waiting for the cars to complete six of their stages before they lined up behind us to finish their seventh stage of the day.


It was after 6 pm and some threatening clouds had moved in when the first motorcycle left the time control for our first stage of the rally. The stage, however, was worth the wait. We were released at one minute intervals, which turned out to leave just enough time for the dust to settle between riders. The rolling narrow forest roads begged for throttle, but as expected, the hairpins were a challenge. After a long day of anticipation, the coordination required to recognize the turn, brake, downshift, look, turn, upshift and keep moving was met with varying degrees of success by riders throughout the pack. Luckily, motorcycles carry less momentum than cars and the consequence of a misjudgment on a hairpin was only noticed by the clock. Oh, and in a couple of cases, a video camera.

Doug Morrison was the third rider on the stage today.Joe Warner was proud to wear number "5", a family number he hopes will bring success in West Virginia.
Ben Stratton carried the on-board video (see below).Max Stratton chased Ben through the stage.
Keith Ciampa gets more comfortable with his XChallenge at every rally.
Dan Dupre in the third RallyMoto of his career.Jason Adams has his R100 GSPD back up and running.Tom Bourke flys in classic Captain America style.
Still photos don't always tell the whole story. These three videos show how different riders handled one of the uphill hairpins:

Doug Morrison comes in a little hot, checks up and then gets back on the throttle:

Keith Ciampa is calculating and smooth:

Tom Bourke recognizes the hairpin a moment too late:


We hooked up Ben's bike with a small camera to record some of the stage. In this first clip, you can see what the first minute, including the start, looked like from behind the handlebars.


The second clip is from minute 7 of the stage. This is a good example of how many factors come into play. Sun in your eyes, turns, bumps and an intimidating roadside. Note the skid marks from earlier riders in the hairpin.

After 10 minutes of hard riding, the stage was over. But we had gotten a taste of what we will see on Saturday and headed back to the hotel for a traditional pre-race meal: steak tips on the grill, expertly prepared by our faithful support crew. Greg and Steve voluntarily travel miles and miles for the purposes of making sure we're not hungry, stay well shaded (they are umbrella gorillas after all) and that the service truck is always where we need it to be. Their dedication to TEAM MAX BMW is greatly appreciated and their cuisine may just lure a few of the KTM riders back to the blue and white.

By the time you read this eRider, we'll already be on our bikes for a long day of rallying. Saturday Night Live has just ended, thunder is booming across the valley and we're signing off. Thanks for following along, we'll let you know how it goes.

Day 3

Mixed Messages

Since Rally West Virginia was our first two-day RallyMoto event, Saturday morning just didn't feel like a Saturday. The stage the evening before had helped us shake off the usual pre-race jitters and helped us to sleep more fitfully than is the custom for these events. Grabbing the local newspaper on the way out of the hotel in the morning, we immediately noticed two things: 1.) The Sunday Funnies were in Saturday's paper and 2.) Max and Joe had made the front page.

Both provided equal entertainment as we rolled through torrents of rain to bring the bikes and service vehicle to Rally HQ. Thunder had been echoing across the valley all night long and flashes of lightning, instead of the sun, frequently brightened the sky above us. If the rain kept up like this, the challenges of the day were poised to become exaggerated by poor visibility and unpredictable surface conditions. The frontal storms delivered their last drops just as we pulled into the parking lot of the local high school and day 2 of Rally West Virginia was officially underway.

The day's stages were organized to provide more rallying than transit and we would ride two stages three times each, circuiting around with the cars behind us. Stages 1, 3 and 5 were held on a track through the forest called Adolph Expressway. The start delivered us onto a rocky road that steeply switched back and forth on itself for a 1200 vertical foot climb over 1.8 miles. The stage followed a ridge for about three quarters of a mile before dropping into a series of S-turns and closed hairpins that deposited us at the floor of the next valley.

The transit notes on our roll charts indicated to "watch for coal trucks" at one particular intersection. We discovered why this notation was so important. This intersection is home to the "optional stop sign".

The short transit brought us to High Germany Road for stages 2, 4 and 6. Uber Deutschland, as the stage is known, is similar to Adolf Expressway in that it starts with a climb, but once you reach the top of the mountain, the rest of the stage runs along a ridgeline that offers long views of the surroundings in some spots and exposed areas with sky close by in others.

Dan Dupre opens it up in a clearing on stage 4.

Max Stratton heads beneath the canopy, stage 4.Running the same stage multiple times requires a sharp memory if you want to improve your time. With only trees, scenery and the occasional gate to mark your position on the stage, it was difficult to recall just how sharp the upcoming turn is going to be or what the road does on the other side of a crest. This is where the cars have a huge advantage. To begin with, each driver has a co-driver who is reading notes aloud about upcoming features. He or she can also make notations for the next pass. As a result, the cars carry considerably more speed through turny stages than the motorcycles do.

Doug Morrison, stage 6:

Mitsubishi Evo 1, stage 6:

Jason Adams, stage 6:

VW Beetle, stage 6:

Ben Stratton, stage 6:

TEAM MAX BMW's newest member, Miguel Boullosa, stage 6:

Stages 7 and 8 launched from the hamlet of Helvetia, so the stage title "From Helvetia in a Handbasket" was contextually appropriate. At the last minute, the stage had to be shortened due to the complaints of one of the road's residents - a farmer. Although the stage distance was nearly cut in half, the change was a reminder of just how difficult it is to organize and operate a rally like this. Diplomacy is a requisite skill of any rally organizer. Stage 8 was our last timed stage and we handed in our time cards at the control.

Joe Warner, stage 8:

Tom Bourke, stage 8:

Mark Ely maintained his dominance on the dirt and took 1st place honors back to Michigan with him. Doug Morrison placed second overall and first in Kings, a result that moves him up to second overall in Atlantic RallyMoto Cup points. Official results were being re-compiled as of this e-mail due to some scoring inconsistencies and clarifications

The bikes suffered some minor damage in this rally. Joe Warner's headlight accepted a rock from a rider in front of him, and the back end of Ben Stratton's HP2 came around on one of the downhill hairpins, resulting in a low speed drop onto some seriously abrasive material.

While a number of cars went off the course and 9 cars failed to finish the rally, only one rider retired due to a mishap. Mike Gilkey, who had been the second place finisher at the Sandblast Rally was ejected from his KTM on Stage 1. Mike was shaken but intact and decided that it would be wiser to withdraw than continue. Keith Ciampa's XChallenge suffered some exhaust-related mechanical problems and a couple of other issues that could not be resolved in the service area after stage 4, so Mike Gilkey and Andrew Fekete of Adventurer's Workshop generously arranged a three-way bike swap so that Keith could finish riding the stages on the extra KTM. However, because this change was not approved Andrew and Keith were penalized and will not receive any ARC points for this rally. Andrew's thoughtfulness is representative of the spirit of RallyMoto and the camaraderie that riders in this sport share.

When the results have been finalized, we will post a follow up and also some of the video from Ben's on-board camera. We appreciate all of the support from our eRider community and look forward to bringing you more coverage of the Black River Stages rally from Harrisville, NY in September. Last year, Black River Stages was the first RallyMoto for many of the riders that you have been reading about in these reports. If you're interested in joining TEAM MAX BMW to compete at Black River, please stop by either shop or call Max or Ben Stratton. If you don't want to ride, but would like a front row seat for the action, rallies always need volunteers! Find out more about how to volunteer by visiting www.blackriverstages.com.

For more information on Rally West Virginia, please visit www.rallywv.com.