The weekend kicked off with me having to work Saturday morning. This worked out OK since practice wasn't scheduled until 5. As I was loading everything up the skies were looking like it was going to rain. Sure enough on the drive there it rained off and on most of the way. I rolled into the track just as the rains had quit. I opted out of riding the wet track for practice so that I didn't risk crashing. A few others who showed up also chose not to ride so we bench raced for a little while.
Sunday morning came without any further rain but was still overcast. We began practice on a mostly dry track but the dirt section was unrideable at this point. By the end of the lunch break the decision was made that the track had dried enough and be would be running the dirt in the races. This was good news to me since I'm quite strong in the dirt sections.
My parents and Grandpa came to watch me this weekend which was great to have the extra support. The last time my parents came to watch me race I ended up winning so I was hoping that they brought their good luck again.
Mom, Grandpa and I
Since I didn't ride practice the day before I decided I'd ride 2 classes: Open Amateur and SM1 Semi-pro.
The Open Am qualifier was first. Since the transponders weren't working the grids were done by points and since I'm at the bottom of the points standings I had a bad grid position. I got an OK start and worked my way to 3rd by the end of the race giving myself a much better spot on the starting grid for the main.
In the SM1 qualifier I got the holeshot over the 2 other riders in the class this weekend and held the lead to the end.
In the Open Am main I grabbed another holeshot and led for a lap before getting passed by Chris Barendregt dropping me second. I held this position until lap 5 when the race was red flagged after Kevin Kiddle crashed hard on the big table top in the back. The race was restarted and set for 4 laps. This time I got a bad start and came out of the first corner in 4th. I got by Krys Nowakowski for 3rd in the dirt then went to work to catch 2nd place John Chemello. It took me all the way to the last corner of the last lap to make a pass on John but I got it done!
Staggered restart
In the SM1 class the moto was combined with the Pro 450 class who were gridded ahead of us. There were 4 people signed up for the SM1 class but only myself and Fred Coeymans made it to the starting line. Sam Harris had bike problems and Alex Scott was off taking Kevin Kiddle to the hospital to get checked out (nice guy!). Off the start Coeymans got out just ahead of me and then a few of the Pro riders got together and Erik McAdam went down in the first corner. I stayed with Coeymans and made a pass in the second dirt section by taking the inside line. From there I tried to ride smart to make sure I didn't throw away this race like I had earlier this season. It all worked out and I won my first race of the season and in the SM1 class.
A little mindset change and some family support made all the difference this weekend bringing home a 2nd in Open Am and a WIN in SM1!
