Rattray on podium at season opener
A few seconds of the TV broadcast brought it all into sharp focus: the first
round of the AMA motocross championships was well under way, and two riders were
at it hammer-and-tongs for position just inside the top ten. As they rounded the
corner, the one bike reared up as it hit a bump. Teetering close to the tipping
point, the bike also slewed sideways. The front wheel was pointed at the sky
somewhere off to the left and the rider stuck his right leg out straight to
bring the whole plot into balance. Throughout all this, he did not turn the
throttle back one fraction of a millimetre. On the contrary - the throttle hand
remained firmly in the position known in the racing vernacular as
"pinned". The squirrelyness and near catastrophe were just two minor
hiccups in the steady stream of forward progress.
This is what true racers are all about. The best results on the track,
regardless of the cost. This holds true at all levels of racing, and once you
move into the rarified echelons of AMA American Championship racing, you simply
know that the competition will be fierce. Fiercer than two pit bulls fighting
for the last sausage in the cage. And when the season starts, there is a full
line up of eager, highly-motivated riders ready for battle. None of this is news
to Tyla Rattray, though. The South African is not one to leave things to chance,
and his preparation has been, if anything, even sharper for the 2011 season.
The season opener was at Hangtown again. This event did Tyla no favours in
2010, but he is not one to cower in the corner and whimper if life hands him a
duffer. He goes out, prepares, makes his weak points his strong points, then
comes back and pummels into submission those circumstances that brought him down
before. He started his race day solidly, if not spectacularly, with the
seventh-fastest time in the qualifying sessions. He is one of those riders,
though, that improves as the race day goes along. The rougher the track gets,
the more it suits his bullet-proof physique and physical strength, so there was
hope yet that a good result lay in wait.
The start to race 1 was not particularly auspicious for the Monster Kawasaki
rider. He launched into proceedings just inside the top ten, and for a few laps
he struggled to find his rhythm. The dreaded arm pump made an unwelcome visit
again, but as the race wore on, the aforementioned superior qualities of Rattray
the robot racer kicked in. Where other riders flagged, he surged, and he gained
a few spots to finish fifth.
Rattray got a much better launch in race two and threaded his Kawasaki into
second spot behind Justin Barcia. By lap 4, he had moved into the lead, and
started pounding down lap after fast lap. There was a green missile homing in on
his rear flank though, in the form of team-mate Blake Baggett. Baggett was
simply on another planet speed wise on the day, and Rattray had no option but to
let him go. Still, he rolled over the line in second position, a much better
result than a year before.
The scorers pulled the calculators closer, but the result was pretty much a
foregone conclusion. Mitch Payton's boys had yet again swept the podium, with
Baggett first, Dean Wilson second, and Tyla Rattray third.
The South African was doing his best Gioconda smile impression as he
discussed the day.
"Yeah, I'm pretty happy with today's result," he said. "It was
much better than last year, and then I had to play catch up all season after a
bad day here. Blake was really fast today, but I was right in the thick of
things, and third in the points standings is a good platform to work from."