I’m running the photos from Gravelrama 48 a bit out of timeline. The show trucks started rolling in about ten in the morning, and the big hill didn’t kick off until after lunch, but I rolled up right at nine in the morning…bright and early for most, but for yours truly, after a four-hour drive from Kentucky. I wanted to get there to catch the Junior Racers as they started their races at Gravelrama’s sand drag pit. With all the bellyaching you read about how kids aren’t into racing and how they don’t or won’t peel themselves away from their smartphone, I wanted to see just how many kids were actually taking part in the series. According to my sources, in this one class there were around fifty individual competitors that brought a nice mix of machines out. You had everything from RZRs and Kawasaki Mule UTVs to basic go-karts with a power bump, Jr. Dragsters on paddle tires and even a lone two-stroke Yamaha quad that I’m pretty sure was a Blaster 200.
What you got to see in these kids as they each lined up and took off can best be called a lesson to the average Saturday night racer on how it’s done. Courtesy staging didn’t have to be enforced, these young guns just did it. Cutting lights was the goal for many of them, all digging the tires in on the bottom yellow. And other than maybe a minor victory powerslide while turning around to exit the track, all the racers seemed to just be happy to be running and weren’t caught up in who won or lost. In fact, you’d see a swarm of kids come up to a winner and congratulate them. And that’s before the parents got involved…Mom, Dad and whoever else was present would be around the line or helping some of the younger racers stage up and get ready, and would be right there waiting on the return lane.
I could’ve watched these kids run all day…I was very impressed by their actions, their determination, and the way they handled themselves. But Elimination Hill was not to be ignored, and there was no way I was going to miss what I’d been waiting since 1993 to see. Stay tuned for the next gallery..the mountain gets it’s due!
Click on a photo below to see more from the Junior classes at Gravelrama, and if you missed the show field, CLICK HERE!
Gravelrama is on my list to see one of these days.