|
Unfortunatley an early season injury (shattered ankle) force me to sit out the first two eastern rounds of the series. Excited to get to work after weeks of re-habbing and stretching my ankle back into shape I was ready to go for Manitoba. Although my riding was up to par, the unfortunate second moto boycott relegated me to a 23rd position finish.
I felt much better for the Regina round, but became the victim of a second moto flat tire which held me back to a 21st position finish. I felt that I definitley had the speed and fitness to run with the frontrunners.
Calgary turned out much better this time around. My qualifying times were very poor and I was somewhat down on myself coming into the first moto. The furthest two gates on the inside were pointing almost straight at the banners on the side of the track, but thats where I ended up! I followed Blair Morgan through the first turn to a great 8th place start. Unfortunatley two guys went down really hard and the race was red flagged. It was a real heartbreaker to finally get a really solid start and get shut down like that.
For the restart, I discussed a plan of attack with my mechanic for the day and since one of the guys who went down was originally beside me on the gate there was an opening. The plan was to follow BM again, but if I could charge hard enough out of the gate, I would push for an even better start.
I was suprised to come around the first turn at the front of the pack with only Josh Woods in front of me!! I tried to stay calm and focused and managed to make about 14 laps in the top ten. I made a small mistake late in the moto and bounced off a small cliff in the back section of the track relegating my finish to 18th in moto #1.
In moto #2 I got a horrible gate pick and couldnt salvage an even remotely decent start. I worked my way through the pack to end up 13th in my second moto for a solid 16th place overall finish.
I'm looking forward to the race in Nanaimo because I think I can pull out some more solid results. If all goes well I would be happy to finally break into the top 15 in the MX1 class. Wish me luck!
|