Mark “The Polish Hammer” Tomas: SRC Challenge/Triple Crown Finals

Editorial-RL Policar: “I think we have to change Mark’s nick name from The Hammer to “No Training Required.” For a guy who just had a baby, hurt his back, and hasn’t trained at all in the last 3 months…he’s still manages to perform better than expected.

So we all kinda knew it was going to be wet outside. When I went to bed Friday night, I was wondering how it would be to race in the rain. I’m not talking just some drizzle, we had that at a race earlier this year. I mean real wet, and real dirty. Well Saturday morning when we pulled into the venue, I had a feeling this race was going to be different. Usually its hot, dry, dusty and more hot. This day was wet, cold and muddy. I have only raced Fontana once before, and it was two laps. This time I was doing three.

I still hadn’t been training, or riding at all. But I wanted to finish out the Triple Crown Series. As we got geared up, Team mate Kim Finch showed me a trick to keep the mud off the fork and sidewalls, she busted out a can of Pledge, and sprayed parts of my bike. Did it work? Totally. These parts stayed free of the mud that caked on the other areas. Check out the video. I was real surprised at the turn out.

I was thinking some would have stayed in their warm beds, but at the start line, there were a bunch of racers ready to go at it. When the horn went off, guys were battling for the front spot. At the first turn a few guys almost went down due to the wet conditions. My game plan was simple. Pass on the climb to the water tower, and bomb the single track on the backside as fast as I could. Halfway into the first lap, I found out how a lack of training effects you. My legs felt fine, but my lungs were burning badly. After the long climb we descended down the single track. Guys were flying, and paying for it. I saw a few guys go down pretty hard. One over the bars at a high speed.

Beginning of the second lap the rain started coming down harder. It was hard to know who was in your class because our number plate were soaked and falling off. It was getting muddier, and colder. The classes were all mixed up by now, I had no idea who I was racing, I pushed as hard as I could.

By the third lap, I was having a lot of fun. Sure I was tired, but riding in the rain and mud was putting a big smile on my face. I managed to recognize one guy from the start line on the third climb. I waited until we were right at the top and made the pass before the down hill, I was able to pull ahead on the decent. After it was over I was ready for dry clothes and some Tacos courtesy of the Boss man (who happens to be the coolest team manager ever). I end up placing 6th. Which I was happy with considering my lack of training. Most of all I had a fun time! Thanks to all the sponsors for all the help, and the race team for the support!