After running his second Loretta's area qualifier and only placing 13th, we've come to the decision to sell out of the 50s and concentrate on running in the 65 class now.  If he can't make it to Loretta's on his 50, then there's no reason to keep running it the rest of the year.  We're sad to see them go, but his new Honda CRF150 practice bike helped.  Who knows, we may even be running in Super Mini by the end of the year--the competiton would be great.

I ran my first Loretta's qualifier this past weekend against some of the best riders in the country.  On practice day, I hung in there right with them.  Saturday's rains took a toll on the track for the first round of motos--even the A class riders were dropping like flies.  The mud was so thick that I burnt out the clutch on my bike, my dad had to get mud out of the chain before the bike could even be rolled off the track.  Bikes were smokin, and kids had to be pushed up the bypasses they made around the jumps.  I had a 13 finish in moto one.  In moto two, I got stuck trying to get around a bike pileup, which put me behind again with a 12th place finish.  It was one heck of an experience, but I'll try again at Echo Valley MX in a couple of weeks.

We've now completed 3 of the 10 rounds of this year's Arenacross series.  This year, two of the races have been run at an outdoor track--leveling the playing field a bit for those riders that do better on the bigger outdoor tracks, which has proven to be good for Connor.  He's currently running first in points in the 50 Open class, a couple of mistakes has made him 2nd in the 50 7-8 class, and he's an impressive 2nd in the 65 7-9 class.  He had a great weekend at the outdoor track--getting up the courage to do a huge double that only one of the 10 or so 85 beginners were doing.  He had older riders coming up to him and telling him how awesome he was doing, which was a huge confindence booster for him.  He was even recognized at McDonald's on the way home as "that fast kid on the Cobra".  It's an awesome feeling to finally be riding at the top of the class.  We were even approached by a local Cobra dealer for a potenial sponsorship...

Ponca was awesome!!  Connor says it is now his favorite track--despite all the ruts and breaking bumps as high as some of our local track's whoops.  If he could have kept it on two wheels the entire race, his finishes would probably be top 20.  During one race he had a bike run into him, resulting in a bent front wheel in the first lap.  In another, he got pinned in the first corner and pushed off the track, putting him in dead last.  He fought his was back through, regaining 10 positions.  We are very proud of the way he rode, and considering that he is still considered a 7 year old by NMA standards, he fought a good fight among older riders that are among the best in the country.

Well, this lucky date sure did prove to be lucky for us.  The past month, Connor has been putting in alot of practice on his 65, and we've sent off his suspension on his 50 to Powerband.  This was the best move we've ever made.  He's now flying over the doubles, skimming whoops, and flying through rythms.  It has given him a new kind of confindence, and last night we were told by a flagger than he was completing a double that NO 50 bike had done before.  He nearly lapped the 2nd place rider in his 50 Open main, pulling the holeshot in both classes.  He came off with an impressive 4th place win on his 65, considering it is only the 4th time he's competed on it.  And to top off the evening, the announcer did an impromptu interview over the load speaker with him.  Thanks to the guys at 800 MX!

Connor has amazed us with his abilities on his 65 bike.  He caught right on to the clutch and actually looks smoother on it than on his 50.  We've upgraded his Kawasaki to a KTM so that he will begin to be much more competitive in the 65 class.

We were very excited to find out this week that Connor did make it in the top 12 to qualify for Ponca City.  Ever since it's like Connor is a new rider--he has more confindence and drive than before.  He had a rough start on Sunday's qualifier, he just wasn't fast enough on the track and a bad crash coming out of a double slowed him down the rest of the day for a 6th place finish.  Then he came back the next day and rode hard for a 3rd place finish.  Now he's been practicing more and getting more seat time on his 65, he even raced it for the first time last night at 800MX to take a 4th place win of 7 bikes; pretty impressive for only his 5th time on the bike.

We didn't make it to any Loretta's qualifiers this year--Connor just hasn't been ready.  BUT, we have been planning all along to go to Hidden Valley on Memorial Day weekend to race, and just recently found out that it is a Ponca qualifer, and he says he wants to try it.  With him typically always finishing in the top 5 and with the top 12 finishers qualifying to go to Ponca, we feel like he has a real chance at this.  He'd be stoked just to go watch a National Championship, much less ride in one!  Will post results after next weekend!

Now that warm weather has settled in here, we are really looking forward to getting back on the outdoor tracks.  Our race schedule is full; we've got a race nearly every Saturday between now and November.  But we don't mind.  We've got a new Raptor on the way and will look forward to spending some time together as a family camping out on Friday practice nights.  Today on his first day back out he finished 2nd in the Open class and 2nd in the 7-8 class; a good start to the racing season.  We'll be trying out a couple of new tracks this year, as well as still going to Murray, Latham, and Blodgett.  Hope to see some of you all there!