Yeeee Haw!

Got 10th place today! I am pretty damn happy with that. I have felt for the series that I was worthy of a top 10 if I was given the chance from the start. Well my good start position paid off. I was the last guy in the front row, on the outside just where I like it. I had a good start, sitting about 6th wheel going into the first turn. I lost a few spots on the first lap, but gained a few in the next couple laps, with the front losing a guy or two due to mechanicals. After about the 3rd lap, it settled down to me and local racer Tim Butler, we battled it out for the rest of the race, and in the end he took me by about 20 seconds. I would have liked to have beaten him, but oh well. I was much closer to him than 11th was to me. But we were no where close to the top group. By the end of the first lap those guys had one heck of a gap, it is amazing how fast those guys are. I still finished just over 2 minutes behind the leader. How do you make that up?

The course was a fun one. Some slick corners, a few short steep climbs, open sections and a few good muddy sections. In some places the grass was soft and slow, and others it was quite fast. It was a cold day. We didn’t get any snow but it flurried throughout the morning with the heaviest part during our race, but nothing too drastic. Once the race gets going, I have no idea what the weather is doing. I only really know it was snowing because I’d occasionally inhale and choke on a cold flake or two.

By the time the Elite men started, the rain moved in and it has been raining off and on since. Pretty hard at times with a good wind. I think that is good for me, as I tend to prefer a soupy messy nasty course to a slicker course. Of course I say that now… the proof will be in the pudding (what the hell does that expression mean?). The funny thing is that I think I will end up with a slightly worse start position tomorrow, since three guys with lower starts beat me, while I only beat two guys that were ahead of me. Not too big a deal though, it will still put me on the second row, and with the wind we will have tomorrow that might be a good thing.

In the big races, Georgia Gould gave Katie Compton what may have been her first domestic defeat this year. In the men’s Tim Johnson won big over Trebon.

Looking forward to tomorrow, my last race of the year, and then the Crusade Awards Party tomorrow night.