Place: 6th
Site: Ft. Hood/Killeen, TX
Current Standing: 7th place, 287 points

Yesterday's race was a lesson in perseverance. 53 miles is a long race, and maintaining a consistently fast pace is key. The course was a vast improvement over last year's, with a few desert-like open, rough sections that I really liked and which suit my strengths. I got a decent start, 7th or 8th place, but got passed twice about 7 miles into the first lap. I then took a horrendous line through a water crossing, found a DEEP rut hidden under the water, and barely made it across, then proceeded to spin out on the slick exit bank, letting Curtis Pace (J55) by me. I was in 11th at the end of the first lap. At about this point, I discovered that I'd gotten water under my throttle grip, and it was slipping back and forth, making controlling the bike a dicey proposition. I had thoughts of pulling off, but decided to give it a lap and see how I could do. I eventually decided to just give it my best, as I can't afford to have any poor finishes. I kept plugging along through the second lap, and starting the third lap made a conscious effort to really step up the pace and try and catch some people. 11th place (where I stood at that point) was not acceptable. I caught back up to Curtis, who looked like he was dragging a bit. I got by him in an open section, and it gave me motivation to go even harder in order to keep him behind me and reel in someone else. Midway through the fourth lap I caught sight of Josh Harrison (J56), tailed him through a tight section, then zipped by when the course opened up again. Shortly afterwards, I caught sight of Craig Pundt (J17), who was having a terrific day in his first race back from a serious shoulder injury. I got right behind him entering a straightaway before entering the motocross track and just kept upshifting and pinning it. I slipped by him just before the end of the section and got on the brakes hard to make a right-hand turn onto the MX track. Then my nemesis bit me: motocross. I hate it and don't do well at all on motocross tracks. My front wheel washed out on a right-hand turn on the MX track, letting both Pundt and Harrison back by me. After remounting and straigtening my brake lever, along with giving myself a stern talking-to, I resolved to catch back up with both of them. It took me 6-7 miles to regain sight of Harrison. I reeled him in and zapped him in the most desert-like section of the entire course: multi-lined, open and choppy-rough. I was really feeling adrenaline at this point and going faster than I had the entire race. Shortly thereafter I caught sight of Pundt and reeled him in. Entering the final creek crossing I caught sight of Steve Miller (J10) and really got a charge. Harrison was still close behind. Places 5 through 8 were within 50 feet of one another with only a couple miles left. Miller made it up the slimy bank unscathed, but the other three of us were not quite so lucky. Pundt got stuck, I almost got by him on a (fairly) dry line, but my rear wheel got a bit too much traction and I went over backwards. Harrison was stuck at the bottom with Pundt and my bikes blocking the trail. I assessed the situation and said, "well guys, what the hell are we gonna do now?". My bike was pointing down the hill, but I was very near the top. I grabbed my front wheel and swung it around facing uphill, restarted the bike, walked it up the rest of the hill, made it around the right-hand turn leading to a long straightaway and pinned it, having heard a bike get going close behind me. I glanced back and could see that two green bikes were pretty close behind, one of them being Harrison. As I crested the final long uphill, I sensed someone right on my tail. I wasn't going to look back to see who it was, and I sure as heck wasn't going to let ANYONE pass me at that point. I dashed down the final left-sweeping straight, and caught a glimpse of a green bike on my right, so I began to drift in that direction in order to protect the inside line of the right-hander at the end of the straight. "Oh crap", I thought to myself, "all that's left is the motocross track". I managed to navigate the remainder of the distance to the checkered with a bike right behind me, but succeeded in keeping it there. Approaching the barrels, I saw that the bike behind me was Todd Holder (B65). Had I known it had been him behind me, I'd have let him by. Two riders that had been well in front of me didn't make the final lap for unknown reasons, which left me in 6th place at the finish, not bad for starting the final lap in 10th. I learned two valuable lessons during this race: 1. SAFETY WIRE THE OUTER EDGE OF YOUR THROTTLE GRIP!!, and 2. Keep pushing hard the entire race, you never know who might be tiring or having problems. My 60 points earned from this race should put me into 7th overall. To reach the top six by year-end, I'll have to continue to work on stamina, and it appears my task will be to beat Josh Harrison on a regular basis. He's currently sixth with a 17-point lead on me. Thanks for reading and we'll talk again after Bulcher...

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